Jared Akers

Mindfulness In Plain English and the Benefits of Meditation

by Jared Akers

Love yourself and love for others becomes automatic.

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”
-Dalai Lama

While researching the term mindfulness as it relates to kindness, I came across an amazing little book titled Mindfulness in Plain English (Amazon *see bottom of post to find out how you can read it online for free) by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.

Henepola Gunaratana was born in 1927 and became an ordained Buddhist monk at the age of 12 in Sri Lanka and has been teaching and learning ever since; let’s just say he’s qualified.

Since mindfulness is an essential aspect of practicing kindness and meditation facilitates mindfulness, I figured what a better time and place to talk about mindfulness and the benefits of meditation. Plus I couldn’t wait to share all the amazing things I discovered in this great book! [Read more…]

Happiness is to Live and Let Live: 9 Ways of Letting Go

by Jared Akers

Lately I’ve been studying the term Live and Let Live.

This may mean something different to you, but what it basically means is stop trying to manipulate things you have no control over, i.e. letting go.

I think this definition from TheFreeDictionary.com sums it up nicely, “to accept other people as they are, although they may have a different way of life.”

Regardless of where I’m at spiritually, the Serenity Prayer most often comes to mind when I think of letting go.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

For me, this prayer and mindset can be used in almost any situation regardless of your belief system. This list could possibly be just to recite this prayer nine times, which has worked for me before. But that would be too simple and if you’re like me, I sometimes think I need options. Here are 9 ways of learning to let go: [Read more…]

Some Thoughts on Grace

by Jared Akers

I heard someone suggest once that you could experience Grace by planting a seed.

I know how to grow a plant; put a seed in the ground and water it. I don’t know how to get sun or rain. There are just certain things that are out of my control. I used to always think it was ALL me or NOT me at all. Maybe the things that have to come together to allow us and a seed to grow, come into being, or return to the earth is Grace. Initially I looked up Grace at the FreeDictionary.com, but that just confused me. I like this idea of Grace that I heard once on the radio: Grace is God’s reaction to our action. I like that. [Read more…]

Potholes and Emotional Pain

by Jared Akers

Life can be a lot like potholes; you start to learn where they are and how to avoid them. But what happens when you keep hitting the same ones? Maybe you should start thinking about a new route. Pretty simple huh? So why don’t we apply the same thinking to behaviors that continually cause us emotional pain?

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
–Albert Einstein

Most people avoid pain if possible; much like potholes once they know where they are. Albert from Urban Monk post titled False Patterns, False Meanings reminded me how strongly I had clung to “my story” for so many years. Most of us have a story (or two) that defines us, influences our decisions and has a lot to do with our perception of the world around us. The amazing and almost scary thing about my story, was I didn’t even realize I was living it. I can see my old story clearly now that I’m living a different one. [Read more…]

How to Find Happiness Within Yourself

by Jared Akers

Finding happiness within ourselves is the key to long-lasting happiness.

If you’ve researched enough on how to be happy, this is no big news to you I’m sure.

But exactly how do we find the happiness which everyone is referring to… this happiness that’s supposedly already inside us?

One way is by taking out the trash. In the book and movie The Way of The Peaceful Warrior, the master tells his student to “take out the trash.” The trash is all the crap inside our heads that gets in the way of us realizing the potential and significance of each and every moment. Sometimes we forget that we have the ability to choose peace and happiness for ourselves. We get so caught up in the process of being right or understood; we forget that we have the ability to choose happiness and that in fact, the key to how to be happy lies within us already! [Read more…]