Where there is hatred, I will show love.
Where there is fear, I will show trust.
Where there is doubt, I will show faith.
Where there is apathy, I will show compassion.
Where there is violence, I will show peace.
I vow to show others another way.
Tag: love
Fear, Worry, & Doubt.
Fear.
Worry.
Doubt.
My three familiar friends.
Keeping me from my passions.
My mission & purpose.
Goodbye, my old friends.
Today, I will let you go.
For I only have one life and I intend to live it.
I hear a knock on my door!
Three new friends have arrived.
Love.
Trust.
Faith.
They even brought gifts.
Love brought joy.
Trust brought excitement.
Faith brought freedom.
Thank you, my new friends.
I look forward to our new journey together.
Abandon Ship!
Unexpected storms.
Unbearable winds.
Unavoidable destruction.
Your ship is broken.
Years of neglect.
Storms breaking it piece by piece.
Abandon your ship.
Let go and go into the great unknown.
Dive deep into the darkness of the sea.
The water is coldest at the bottom.
Unbearable pressure.
Suffocating pain.
Keep going.
As the storm passes, you will see a light.
Follow it.
Do not get accustomed to the darkness.
Do not wish for your old ship to rise from the depths.
Through the pain, we can grow.
Through the suffering, we can heal.
As you reach the surface you smile.
New life has been given.
Gratitude shining from the sun.
As you wash ashore.
You’re full of joy.
Curious about this new island.
Excited about new adventures.
New beginnings have been given.
New experiences to enjoy.
Fighting for Peace.
Fighting for peace.
Shaming for love.
Anger spilling into the streets.
Not an ounce of compassion.
How will they ever know peace if all we show them is violence?
We must show them another way.
The way of peace.
Our life is our message.
The message of peace.
The message of love.
The message of compassion.
Go to the streets.
Go to them in peace.
With love.
With compassion.
Anger can’t stomp out anger.
Only love can.
Violence won’t stop violence.
Only peace can.
Apathy won’t end apathy.
Only compassion can.
Gratitude.
I breathe in.
I smile.
How wonderful it is to be alive!
Joy pulsates through my body.
A smile lights across my face.
My heart beats with compassion.
My lungs full of gratitude.
Grateful for pain.
Heartbreak.
My breath.
And Joy.
Grateful to be alive.
I will smile.
I will laugh.
I will dance.
For life is impermanent.
Thank you life.
Thank you impermanence.
Thank you.
Innocent Living Beings.
By just being alive I will cause suffering in the world.
But I strive to negate as much as I can.
I vow to look at all living beings with compassion.
I vow to look at the suffering I cause in the world.
I vow to take action to alleviate suffering in all living beings.
Rape, torture, and death.
I see a tear go down a mother cows cheek.
I hear the last squeal of a suffering pig.
How we call ourselves peaceful while supporting such violence?
Blinded by industry lies.
Cold with apathy.
Myths.
Outdated traditions.
Wake up to compassion.
Wake up to peace.
Wake up to 2018.
A time of abundance.
A time where we don’t need animal products to survive.
There is another way.
A way of peace.
A way of compassion.
A way of love.
Will you join me?
The Broken Dam.
Pain.
Anger.
Confusion.
Suffering.
The pain of loneliness.
Isolation.
Fear.
Building up like water flowing into a mighty dam.
Cracks form.
The wall deteriorates.
Until one day the walls scream in pain.
The dam is broken.
Suffering overflows into the world.
The river mourns.
The birds cry.
Innocent beings swept away by the waves of suffering.
I have no answers.
Only questions.
How can we prevent suffering from spilling over?
How can we live in peace?
How can we heal our nation?
Welcome To Heartbreak.
I cried.
I begged.
I promised I would change.
I poured my heart out.
I suffered alone.
How could you not want me back?
Why can’t you forgive me?
How could you be so cold?
How could you be so heartless?
Welcome to heartbreak.
The heartbreak of rejection.
The sadness of regret.
The pain of looking in the mirror.
Self-hatred.
Anxious days.
Depressed nights.
Through the pain, I learned how to be the lotus flower.
For the lotus flower grows in muddy waters.
Through suffering comes joy.
Through suffering comes peace.
Through suffering comes transformation.
No mud, no lotus.
My heart is now filled with gratitude.
Thank you for letting me suffer and grow.
Thank you for letting me go three years ago.
Thank you, Alicia.
Hope all is well.
With Aloha,
Johnny Hoffman
Backstory: 3 years ago in Feb 2015 my life changed forever. I finally told my fiance that I cheated on her. She left me that day. I felt heartbroken, fearful, and anxious. I had to sit with myself. Sit with the anxiety, pain, and loneliness. Sit with the self-hatred. Through that suffering I found a new way of life. A one of meditation, mindfulness, and joy.
(Main photo: Kanye West, 808’s & Heartbreaks)
Happiness is an Inside Job.
Happiness is something to become, not to acquire.
I used to think happiness was something to achieve or acquire. I would think “once I get that promotion, lose weight or graduate from college I will achieve happiness”. I achieved all of these things and found out that I was still unhappy with my life. Happiness was always around the next corner. The next promotion, weight loss, or achievement. Sure, I was very happy the month after I graduated from college, lost weight, and got a promotion within my corporate job on the mainland. This happiness was very short-lived because I wasn’t content with who I was as a person. I was holding onto years of emotional baggage, insecurities, fears, and stories of the past. Stories that only spoke of half-truths, more focused on the negative than the positive. I have learned in the last year that happiness is not something to achieve but something to become through our actions in the world. Happiness is getting out of your comfort zone. Long lasting happiness for me is living in line with my core values instead of what feels good or is more comfortable at the moment. True contentment for me is spending more time on what I’m truly passionate about and less time focused on wealth and status. Through living in line with my values, I have felt more joy than I have ever thought was possible.
Happiness is always an inside job. Your job, relationships, money, and material goods are just “icing on the cake!”. You want to make your cake(life) as delicious(happy) just the way it is. No amount of material goods, fast food, drugs, alcohol, or sex will bring long-lasting peace. These are just fillers that mask true happiness and leave us craving more and more until we feel sick inside.
This lesson was truly learned when I moved to Maui last year. I thought going to beach, hiking, and living on Maui would make my life cherry (Local slang for good). I was still not happy and I couldn’t figure why! I had to look myself in the mirror and slowly start to live in line with my values. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing great comes out of being comfortable all the time. By inquiring within, I have shown compassion, forgiveness, and love to myself. By letting go of what was causing me mental stress, I have become more peaceful.
I suggest writing down your core values on a piece of paper or word document. Next, write down what you do all day and cross-reference your values with your actions. You choose your values and you choose to live in line with them. No one is forcing you to live more intentionally other than yourself! Here are my core values and what I let go of(or added) to live inline with my values
Peace- Coffee, Sales job, unlimited data on my phone.
Compassion-Meat, dairy, eggs, and plastic water bottles.
Love- Self-hatred, and judgments.
Contribution-Started a charity:water campaign(https://my.charitywater.org/jonathan-hoffman-1/clean-water-for-all)
Health-Cigarettes, alcohol, processed foods, oils.
I don’t feel deprived at all! I drink green tea, kombucha, and eat healthy anti-oxidant rich plant foods! These are just trade-offs for a more peaceful, healthy, and happy life for myself. Everyone’s journey is different, there are no right or wrong paths but only different ones!
What are you willing to let go of to be at peace? Choose love over fear and you will find that you will be living a life you love instead of a life you fear.
Inquire within.
With Aloha,
Johnny Hoffman
The Path of the Peaceful Warrior.
The path of the peaceful warrior is one of infinite strength. The human heart has an infinite amount of compassion. The Art of Peace is a direct response to the Art of War. If we believe war is always inevitable then there will always be war. The Art of Peace allows the opportunity for another path. The path of peace.
Sadly, we mistake physical strength for emotional strength.
Many believe strength comes from rage, anger, and hatred. True strength comes from mercy, compassion, and love. When someone is hateful, they are in a weak state. They are tense, frightened, and fearful. When we are compassionate, we are loose and free flowing like a strong rivers current. We must show others another way. Not judge or hurt our opponent but to show pure compassion towards them as well.
The peaceful warrior trains his mind, body, and spirit. Eating a whole food plant-based diet trains all three of these. A peaceful warrior does not create more suffering into the world that is unnecessary. By being alive, we will cause suffering but we can do our best to not add more on top of this. There is true strength in showing mercy to innocent animals. We build our body strong through eating this way. It will give us the energy to strengthen our body, mind, and spirit right now and into old age. It will strengthen our muscle of compassion. It will strengthen our message of peace. How can we believe in peace and contribute to animal cruelty, torture, and suffering? This is not the way of the peaceful warrior. Our actions must be inline with peace. Peace is the way.
When my opponent shows apathy, I vow to show compassion.
When my opponent shows hatred, I vow to show love.
When my opponent shows war, I vow to show peace.
When
With Peace,
Johnny Hoffman
The Narrow Path 