Jared Akers

Goodbye For Now, Dad

by Jared Akers

dad and me — Dad and me running on the beach, Florida 1980

On June 26th my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Yesterday, on July 6th, 2010, he passed away.

I had been working on several posts talking about what I’ve experienced emotionally and spiritually over the last 10 days, things like Matching Calamity with Serenity, Fear, Sadness, Grace, Inner-Peace and Gratitude. However, since so much has happened over the last few weeks and days, I’ve decided to post them at a later date while keeping them in the context they were originally written—or something like that.

Over the years—as a result of my spiritual growth—I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about my father through changes in myself. I’m thankful to have spent some time with him on Monday the 5th and was reminded of his kindness, humor, and dedication to his family and the love that surrounds us all.

As I’m still somewhat in shock, I do feel an inner-peace that everything is right with the world. Losing someone we love dearly can be tragic and sad, yet if we let it, can be a beautiful thing. Although right now it’s hard to put in words anything beautiful about it. But I’ll try…

Today my wife, mother, sister, 4 year old niece, and I were looking through photos to show at the funeral service. My sister had explained to my niece what had happened and as we were looking through photos she said, “it’s too bad grandpa died, but it’s great that we have pictures of him.” That’s beautiful I think. I’m so grateful I have memories of a loving father and a great man.

Right now it’s the little things that are huge, things like seeing his watch and socks still sitting where they were yesterday; knowing he’ll never be putting them on again.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to posting the before mentioned articles; but here are a few articles I’ve written in the past about my dad and relevant topics:

Today Could be Your Last Chance; Make it Count! (Jan 18th, 2010)

Learning My Fathers Love Language (May 27th, 2009)

Where I’m Supposed To Be (Jan 20th, 2009)

Does Everything Really Happy for a Reason? (March 29th, 2010)

Matching Calamity with Serenity: Finding Peace in the Midst of Chaos (June 27th, 2010)

Spirituality for Non-Spiritual People: 6 Ways to Practice Spirituality

by Jared Akers

Regardless of whether or not you believe in God, higher power, creator of the universe, etc., you can still be a spiritual person. Whether you realize it or not, you probably practice spirituality without even knowing it. The simple fact that you’re here reading this implies you’re seeking something. Welcome.

Maybe you’re wondering how one becomes spiritual or what the benefits are of being a spiritual person.

The definition of spirituality is that which relates to or affects the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. Spirituality touches that part of you that is not dependent on material things or physical comforts.
– Living Words of Wisdom

Sounds good to me

A Glimpse into the Practicality of Belief

My family attended church every Sunday until I was about 6 years old; so I was told and vaguely remember craft time in Sunday school. We then moved 60 miles away to “the farm;” away from town, churches, and the routine of going to church. My father’s dream was to farm. And he did for many years until we had to sell the farm and move to the city when I was in junior high. Well, “city” for me had a population of 3,000. The point is that spirituality or church (which meant the same thing to me) was not a part of our daily lives; but work was. However my mother has always been a women of faith.

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The Spiritual Power of Running (and why running and reading are keys to Life)

by Jared Akers

Just to make certain we’re all on the same page, I’m talking about physical running here; with your feet and legs. Not running emotionally… for anyone who was looking for validation to run away from your problems. Sorry, won’t find that here.

One of the side-effects of living a life filled with spiritual love is the desire to live a healthier life style. To be healthy spiritually, we should exercise not only our mind and spirit, but also our physical bodies.

Leather interior and heated seats are nice, but those features won’t get you to where you need to go if the car is out of gas.

As a cross-country runner in high school, I hated running. I remember standing with my foot along a white chalk line with 100 other guys thinking “I’m about to sprint for three miles, this sucks!” [Read more…]

The Power of Spiritual Love and 22 Ways It Will Change Your Life

by Jared Akers

You’ve probably heard the saying, “We’re spiritual beings having a human experience.” I have no idea who originally said that… but I believe it to be true. Do you?

The first question you should ask yourself before getting too far into this subject is: do you believe you are a spiritual being?

No? (stick around and see what you find)
Yes? (keep reading)

Here’s a guide on Spirituality Without Religion.

Call it intuition, a heightened sense of awareness, enlightenment, etc., the idea that we’re spiritual beings is nothing new yet people still seem confused on what this actually means. For me, it simply means I’m part of something bigger, i.e. I’m not the center of the universe.

Whether we believe this something bigger to be God or some creator, who knows and honestly… who cares. We can live a spiritual life, and find spiritual love, without defining what or why we should believe in something. More importantly, we can allow others to do the same. Now that we have that out of the way…

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Book Review – The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

by Jared Akers

A few months ago I was sent a copy of the The Shadow Effect (Amazon) co-authored by Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, and Marianne Williamson.

If you’ve been a reader of How to Be Happy for any length of time, you know the importance I place on living an authentic life and being true to yourself; specifically we’re as sick as our secrets. Accepting ourselves for who we truly are takes knowing ourselves completely; accepting and dealing with some of the aspects of ourselves which we have kept hidden or are afraid of showing others.

Although none of the information I found in The Shadow Effect was groundbreaking or likely to cause additional transformation in my life, it does a great job of explaining just how and why we often self-sabotage ourselves.

The Shadow Effect is the result of living with a divided self. A self or image we show to the world and one which we keep hidden away due to shame, guilt, or fear. Yet it is from these fears and darkness we have the most to learn. From the introduction:

We will assert that it is because of our unexamined life, our darker self, our shadow self where our unclaimed power lies hidden. It is here, in this least likely place, that we will find the key to unlock our strength, our happiness, and our ability to live our our dreams.

One thing I really enjoyed about the book was the different writing styles and experiences shared by the three different authors.

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