Timeless Wisdom: Happiness Hour - Will This Make Me Happier?
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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.
Here are thousands of hours of Dennis' lectures, courses, and classic radio programs.
And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, it's the happiness hour on the Dennis Prager Show.
Yes, everybody, it is a very, very important thing, happiness.
Not just because it feels good.
No, Happy people do a lot more good for this world than the unhappy.
All right, let's be clear about that.
I'm sorry if you're unhappy that I'm saying this.
I really am.
But that means that you have a moral obligation to be as happy as you can be.
It is not a selfish pursuit, happiness.
It can be, but it isn't.
It's good for the world.
It's good for everyone around you to be as happy as you can be.
It's an achievement happiness.
It's an art.
That's why I devote an hour here.
The world is better when people are happier.
Not only are you happier, the world is a happier place.
This is not a cliche, folks, because people don't think that way.
They think of happiness.
I used to.
I'm totally guilty.
I used to think of happiness as a selfish pursuit, then realized, my God, the world is so much better when people are happier.
Okay, now made the case for happiness and why I devoted an entire hour to it every week at this time.
Today, I'm going to give you a very basic, basic key to being happier.
If I can convince you of what I'm about to say, and it is so self-evident once I say it, you'll kick yourself for not thinking about it more often or even thinking about it at all.
I have a very simple suggestion today.
It's not simple to enact, but it is simple to understand.
Ask yourself as often as possible, will the following make me a happier person?
That's all.
When you decide what to do, ask yourself, will I be happier as a result?
Not permanently happy necessarily, but just will it make me happier?
My theory is, otherwise I wouldn't be saying this, my theory is that by and large people don't do that.
That people do things by and large either because they just have to, obviously, so we'll leave that aside, but where there is a choice, they do things because that is the immediate feel-good thing to do.
My best example is television watching.
I ask you, and your answer may be yes.
I'm not saying don't watch.
I'm only asking you before you sit down to watch television.
I am asking you to ask yourself this question.
Try it for one week.
That's all.
If you're serious about being a happier human, you must try this experiment.
Go through a few days asking yourself before you do or don't do something, will I be happier as a result of doing this?
Or will I be happier if I don't do this?
Will I be happier if I do something else?
Or will I be happier if I don't do that?
So for example, here's an example.
One hour of television, and most people don't watch one hour, they watch hours.
But one hour of television, will I be a happier person if I take one hour away from my television watching and read a book?
And remember, I am not talking about will you be deeper, smarter, brighter, sharper?
Nothing.
Nothing.
I'm not talking morality.
I'm not talking about education.
I'm not talking about any of those wonderful things.
Just happiness.
On just those grounds entirely.
I want you to ask yourself, what will make me happier?
Now, you may answer an hour of TV.
Fine.
All I'm asking you to do is ask the question, what will make me happier?
See, that is the, it's very, people don't do that because the immediate pull of something tempting is so much greater than the long-range thinking of what will make me happy.
Many men who don't get married, many men who don't get married at least for a very long time, are a classic example.
Not all, but many are a classic example of this, where they don't think long-range.
They think now or they think erroneously on this question.
Hey, why would I get married?
That's commitment.
That's monogamy.
It's all the stuff that runs against my nature.
Hey, free to go to have serial monogamy or just play around or just live in my own world and do whatever I want whenever I want.
And there were single women who were beginning to think that way too, but it's mostly men.
So they don't ask themselves really, or they do ask themselves, which is even more troubling.
They will ask themselves, what will make me happy?
And then they decide that staying single, even though by every measurable data that we have with all the problems that marriage may have, and that marriages often do have, singles are not as happy as marriage, especially among men.
So if a man were to ask, what will make me happier over the long run, building a home with a woman, building a family with a woman, establishing myself in that way, or living as a bachelor the rest of my life, if he asked the happiness question, most and not everyone, I acknowledge it.
Remember, I'm not telling you what the answer is.
I'm telling you what the question should be.
That's very important to please understand that.
Now, obviously, I think marriage will bring you greater happiness in the long run than staying single your whole life, but that's not my point.
My point is just that you ask the question.
Will an hour of taking piano bring me more happiness or an hour of television?
That's all, not make me deeper or anything like that.
If when I go to bed tonight, will I go to bed happier having played piano or watched TV?
1-8 Prager 776 is the number, 1-8-P-R-A-G-E-R-776.
The question could be asked on every single level.
Will I be happier if I have this dessert or if I don't?
Now, by the way, sometimes the answer is you will be.
Remember, I am not anti the fun or the immediate joy.
Immediate joy is also part of being happy.
It is, absolutely.
So please don't misread what I am saying.
There are times when just a great meal with a great dessert will have contributed to your joy of life, which contributes to your happiness.
Absolutely.
Just ask yourself, though, that question.
And it is a great little guideline or big guideline for what intelligent choices to make in your life.
Will I be happier?
Now, there are two things people do that are wrong.
One is they don't ask themselves the question.
The other is they ask themselves the question and then come to the wrong answer.
And that's the saddest when they choose A over B, thinking A will make them a happier person.
Like the single guys who think, oh, I will be happier if I never get married.
But there are cases where that may be.
But by and large, that is not the case.
Do you understand this?
Do you have a problem with it?
Have you done it?
That's what I need you to call in so that this is perfectly clear.
I just gave a talk on happiness, and I see the faces as I talk, obviously, and I know how to read reactions.
I've given, I think I just figured it out recently, I've given in my life approximately 4,000 to 5,000 public lectures.
That's an incredible number.
So you obviously learn things from doing so.
And I'm not talking about radio broadcasts, just public lectures.
And I see faces.
And when I spoke about this, just ask yourself, will it make me happy?
This is a good question for those of you in forgetting married people, single people on having sex.
Will I be happier after having had it?
Will I be happier in the morning if I have sex with this person?
Now, I am not talking here religion or values.
This is a happiness hour.
You know I have strong religious values, but that is not my point here.
By the way, that is to a point.
Will I be happier if I if I you could ask that in general?
Will I be happier with a religious commitment or without one?
Most people in our society who do in fact join with a religious community in some way do end up being happier.
By every, again, every study done by seculars, seculars, that's funny, by secular people, like professors, that having a faith community adds to people's longevity and to their happiness.
Now, that's not the only reason to be religious, obviously.
It's just a utilitarian one.
But I am talking utilitarian here.
I'm asking you to ask and tell your kids even to ask.
Will it make me happier?
It's a powerful question to ask.
And ironically, people profess the desire to be happy, but they don't ask this of themselves so much of the time.
Because happiness and immediate pleasure are often in contradiction, and that's a problem.
Alrighty, there are some people who do follow this or don't agree with it and so on.
And I want your calls.
Does this make sense to you?
1-8-Prager-776, the happiness hour on the Dennis Prager Show.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Now.
Hi, this is Pharmacist Ray Solano with your Healthy Choices update sponsored by Prescription Dispensing Labs Pharmacy.
For decades, caloric restriction and fasting have been the gold standard for longevity.
But a recent study published in Aging Cell reveals that eating freely without restriction may prove just as effective.
Unrestricted eating may be okay, but choose nutritious and satisfying foods.
The study goes on to suggest non-digestible fibers such as nuts, seeds, berries, lentils, slows the absorption of sugar, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces chronic diseases.
However, nearly doubling our protein intake and lower carbohydrates shorten lifestyle.
Conclusion, choose those nutritious, satisfying foods this season, but leave out the sugar.
The pharmacists at PD Labs are now offering a free 15-minute nutritional consult as a gift to our listeners.
Call 888-909-0110 and ask for the 15-minute console.
Check out our website, pdlabsrx.com, for our holiday offer.
Remember, you have a choice in healthcare.
Back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
If you're listening to the Dennis Prager show, this is a different approach to happiness.
This is the happiness hour, and today's approach is so, when you hear it, it makes so much sense, but when you try to apply it, it becomes more complex.
I have a very simple thesis today, and it is in my book.
My book is Happiness is a Serious Problem.
And I would imagine that any of you who were moved by this particular hour each week will have read it.
I wouldn't understand why, but not every show is in the book.
But this particular idea is I am, of course, fleshing it out here.
And that is very simply, ask yourself before you do something or don't do something, will this make me happy?
And as Alan points out, you can't be happy and lazy.
This is another example of how laziness works so against our ultimate happiness.
See, if you did what you wanted, if laziness could, in fact, dictate your day, you'd stay in bed.
But the longer you stay in bed, as it happens, the less happy you will be later.
It is when you get up, you clean yourself up, you shower, you get ready for the day, you take it on, you do something that you could look back on that brings you happiness.
Happiness is often and usually is, in fact, the product of something.
Now, ideally, you will have joy doing it, but not always.
There isn't joy in every moment of raising a child.
I think that you know that.
But when you look back on it, it is for most people.
It's a source of pain, by the way.
There's a lot of pain in child rearing.
And very few kids grow up to be the exact image that a parent would have wanted the child to be, and that's just inevitable, as we are not our parents' image.
But there is a happiness there that is available that is because of all the work you put in.
Now, let's go to some of your calls here, asking the question, will it make me happy?
Brian in Denver on KNUS, Dennis Prager.
Hi.
Hey, Dennis, how are you?
I'm well, thanks.
Hey, Dennis, this is the first time I've ever called, and the reason I took the opportunity is because I think this is such a great, great question and challenge.
And I differ, I agree with you that it's a great question to ask in the big picture of life, but I think where I disagree is that I don't think it applies to every situation.
Okay, tell me where it wouldn't.
Well, in your example that you used before regarding having this dessert or watching an hour of TV, I think that that is such an, in my opinion, an insignificant decision that it would be premature or even it would be difficult to know whether or not that is going to make you happy or at that time.
My assumption is that you are not overweight.
Is that correct?
I am not.
Right, exactly.
For the vast number of Americans who are overweight, the decision on whether or not to have dessert is of enormous consequences to their long-term happiness.
And as regards television, how much TV do you watch a night?
I'd say probably an hour or more a night.
Well, an hour or more could be, of course, an hour or six hours.
Sure.
I'd say no more than two hours per night.
Okay.
Let me ask you, if I said to you, Brian, you have to watch five hours a night the next month, do you think that each night you're and over and after the month you will have been a happier person or not?
Or you think it's immaterial?
I don't think I would be able to answer that question, to be honest.
Okay, well, I am offering an answer based, and really you should look up on the internet, television watching or television and happiness.
And it is remarkable how consistent every study is by any way we can measure happiness.
And I admit that it's not easily measured, that after about an hour and a half, an hour doesn't go this way or that way, which is what you tend to watch, or an hour to two.
But beyond that, and it depends what you watch, sporting events is very different from a sitcom in the effect on people's happiness, for example.
But although obviously excessive sports watching has its own problem.
But in any event, you are dismissing the significance of two things that I do think play a major role, how people eat.
Listen, to be overweight, certainly by any large number of poundage, clearly works against one's happiness.
So how can you dismiss whether or not eating desserts is an issue of happiness?
Well, I guess, well, that's the reason I called, Dennis.
I mean, I was trying to apply it to myself, and I didn't think the way that that's why I knew you were thin.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Okay, take care.
Let's go to more of your calls in Corona, California on KRLA 870 Ryan.
Ryan Dennis Prager.
Hi.
Hello.
Hi.
Hey, how are you doing?
I'm well.
Thank you.
You are a moral beacon, Dennis.
If I can grow to be half the man that you are, then I will have an enormous amount in this lifetime.
You're making me blush.
Thank you.
My question is this: how do you define happiness?
I actually, I'll go ahead.
You posed the question: if you would watch an hour of TV or to read a book, which would make you happier, my answer to that would be both.
Both would make me happy.
That's right.
That's fine.
Then do both.
Remember, I didn't say don't watch television.
I just said ask yourself the question.
No, I'm not looking for you to answer, to tell me which is the correct answer for me.
Okay, right, exactly.
But I just want you to, I would like for you to kind of define happiness.
Is that what you're asking me?
Yeah, real basically.
All right.
Let me answer you with a, may well be a totally unsatisfactory response.
I cannot define it.
And I make that clear in my book.
I actually put in some dictionary definitions, all of which do nothing but just push the question further.
I feel about happiness after 17 years of lecturing on it and 10 years of writing a book which became a number one bestseller and having this show every week.
I continue to believe that it is not definable, but that one knows it when one has it.
Can you define beauty?
I mean, many of the most powerful things in our lives cannot be fully defined.
We live in the age of scientism, of the worship of science.
So if you can't bottle it and measure it and reenact it in an experiment, then it doesn't seem real to people.
But most of us know when we walk around, are we in a largely happy state or not?
That doesn't mean at that moment every happy person has unhappy times.
I need you to know that, and that includes me.
Just as every healthy person gets sick sometimes, if you had the flu and I asked you, are you a healthy person?
You would say yes.
Right now, I have the flu, you would say, but I am healthy.
So too with happiness.
So it's not worth working on a definition.
It'll just confuse you.
By whatever definition you give it, I just ask you to ask this question as often as possible in the next week.
Will the following make me happier or less happy or have no effect?
We'll be back in a moment.
I'm Dennis Prager.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Hi, this is pharmacist Ray Solano with your Healthy Choices update sponsored by Prescription Dispensing Labs Pharmacy.
For decades, caloric restriction and fasting have been the gold standard for longevity.
But a recent study published in Aging Cell reveals that eating freely without restriction may prove just as effective.
Unrestricted eating may be okay, but choose nutritious and satisfying foods.
The study goes on to suggest non-digestible fibers such as nuts, seeds, berries, lentils, slows the absorption of sugar, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces chronic diseases.
However, nearly doubling our protein intake and lower carbohydrates shorten lifestyle.
Conclusion, choose those nutritious, satisfying foods this season, but leave out the sugar.
The pharmacists at Pedi Labs are now offering a free 15-minute nutritional consult as a gift to our listeners.
Call 888-909-0110 and ask for the 15-minute consult.
Check out our website, pdlabsrx.com, for our holiday offer.
Remember, you have a choice in healthcare.
Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
I'm Dennis Prager.
I'll tell you, the more I talk about this particular aspect of happiness, and this is the happiness hour on my show every week at this time, the more I realize how important it is, and I have to explain so much about it.
Now, remember what I'm saying.
And if you got on, stay on, folks.
In other words, I'm saying to the callers here.
Now, during the break, I was thinking again of Brian's call in Denver, how he called and said, well, if I ask myself, will eating cheesecake, or not forget cheesecake, will having dessert, because I use dessert, I often use cheesecake, which is a bad idea because actually there are desserts that are more fattening.
But in any event, will having this dessert make me happier or less happy?
He said, but Dennis, that's insignificant.
It's not an issue.
So I immediately knew that he was thin.
Remember, that's why I'm not telling you what will make you happy.
Remember that.
It may well be that on many occasions, having a good dessert will increase your love of life, your joy, your contentment, and the things that do help add to happiness.
Absolutely.
My statement on the dessert was not anti-dessert.
It was to ask yourself the question.
You can ask it about anything, anything, and that's what I want you to do for a week.
It's a great little experiment.
Listen, we have one life.
Even if you believe in reincarnation, you don't know who you were in the past anyway.
So as you are, you have this one life.
It's best to explore yourself as best as possible.
And of course, I believe in exploring life.
So here is one way to better know you.
It's a terrific little idea.
One week, that's all I ask you to do.
It's fun.
It's like a diary of one's emotions or one's mindful cognizance of happiness.
Before you do something and after, just monitor, am I happy?
Will it make me happy?
And then afterwards, and after the week as well, ask yourself the question: what made me happy during this week?
Not what was fun.
What made me happy?
Because clearly having dessert is fun, but sometimes it didn't make you happier.
A lot of people who are overweight have dessert, have fun, but they're so guilt-ridden, it actually decreases their happiness, which is a terrible, sad combination.
All right, so that's very important.
Now, where is the one here?
I want to do, here we go, perfect.
Roseville, California, KTKZ.
And Beth.
Beth Dennis Prager.
Hi.
Hi there.
I'm searching for some clarity.
I have children.
I love dessert.
I'm not heavy.
I don't watch TV.
There are things that I will tell my children that you need to do, even though you don't want to do.
They're not going to necessarily make you happy, but they're necessary to your survival.
Or like what?
Your homework, cleaning your room.
Well, hold on.
If, in fact, cleaning their room or homework will not in the long run make them happier, it's something for you to really think: why is it important?
I attribute so much importance to happiness that, you know, I believe, I believe a clean room will ultimately make you happier.
I would agree because a clean house makes me happier than seeing things that need to be done that are not complete.
Exactly.
So there you go.
So then there is a happiness answer.
There's just that isn't fun cleaning it.
In fact, cleaning the house may be the perfect example of that which doesn't bring, which is not fun or joyful during it.
I assume that that's true.
I'm not sure you sing through laundry.
No.
All right, so there you go.
But that is, by the way, that is why I have another, which I, Alan, I'm going to put this down.
I have to do this again another time.
How do we make the stuff that isn't fun into more fun?
What is the mundane?
Yeah, doing the mundane isn't necessarily what's going to keep us happy.
Well, no, the mundane will make you happier because if you didn't do the mundane cleaning of your house, it would be an unhappier home.
There's just no question about that.
I agree with you.
All right.
By the way, though, it is worth asking yourself: at what level of happiness are the returns minimal?
Say it again.
In other words, at what level of cleanliness will I now go beyond what is necessary for my happiness and enter into some realm of obsession?
Obsessive, exactly.
That's right.
No, people really might have to do that.
Okay.
I mean, God, God bless them.
My parents and their whole generation, this is a very funny thing from my parents' generation, would put plastic on the sofas.
Oh.
I don't know if you've ever seen that.
My husband's aunt does that.
Okay, well, there you go.
And, you know, so there you had a level of cleanliness that couldn't be beaten.
You can't get a dirty sofa if it's covered in plastic.
But did you ever sit on a sofa covered in plastic?
We'll be back.
That was a very important call, Beth.
I thank you.
I will deal with that, not today, but I will deal with that another happiness hour on making the mundane more fun.
I have a lot of thoughts on that, and it's in my book.
We'll be back in a moment.
All righty, everybody.
You're listening to the Dennis Prager Show.
This is the happiness hour.
Every Friday at this time, I devote an hour to the subject of happiness.
Gives you an idea of how important I think it is.
Not only because the obvious that it's good to be happy, but happy people make the world better as a general rule.
We don't expect the happy to commit acts of terrorism, for example, or to join the Nazi party.
A happy Nazi is somewhat of an oxymoron, I think you would acknowledge.
So, happy people is a big deal.
Now, today's subject is: ask yourself before you do anything, will this increase, decrease, or have no effect on my happiness?
That's all.
It's an interesting project for you to engage in over the next week.
And ask yourself that over the long term.
Will staying single, you men who don't want to commit, will staying single make me a happier person.
20 years down the line, will I be happier for having not made a home with somebody?
That's all.
Just ask yourself these questions.
Maybe you will.
I'm not telling you what the answers are.
I do that on different hours when we talk about values.
Today is just happiness, or not today, this particular subject.
Naples, Florida, WCNZ.
And Pete, hello, Pete, Dennis Prager.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi, I'm Pete Starsman.
I wanted to tell you why I agree with you on the matter of reading a book for one hour is more pleasurable than watching TV for the one hour.
Yes.
The reason why I say so is the mind-numbing performance that you see on the television, it just leaves you void.
Well, if you spend an hour reading, at least your imagination gets fired.
If you get something done, I feel like if it makes me feel better about my mind and who I am.
But the same thing is true in so many other aspects.
You're talking about hours watching television, or let's say spending an hour talking with your child.
That's right.
I personally would say staying a hour with my child or an hour in the gym vis-a-vis spending an hour on the internet.
I'd say spending an hour in the gym.
Right.
But in every example, you're right, Pete.
I agree with you.
But in every example, the tougher choice was the one that brought happiness.
And that is why I cited Alan's point, my producer, Alan Estron.
That's why I cited his point about how laziness is one of the key obstacles to happiness.
Because that which, when you give in, when you do the easy thing, you are probably doing the thing that will decrease your happiness.
The easier thing is not to work out.
The easier thing is to eat what you want.
And by the way, I need this message as much as anybody.
Don't think whenever I say these things that I have imbibed these ideas entirely.
No, I haven't.
I fight laziness all the time.
It's my, you know, I could vegetate.
Well, not vegetate in the sense of stay around.
I could never watch TV.
That I acknowledge.
But I could, you know, I could just do my hobbies all day.
Absolutely.
There's no question.
And so you have to figure out ways to get around your nature.
But at least one way is to think.
That's why we have the mind versus the brain.
The brain wants to sit.
The mind wants to work out.
And I'm appealing to your mind.
What will make you happier?
I thank you, Pete.
That was correct, what you said.
And let's go to Richard in Los Angeles on KRLA.
Hello, Richard.
Hello, Dennis.
First of all, God bless that you do this show.
I think it's a great thing for everybody to have.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good, thanks.
The reason I'm calling is, and actually thinking of what a lot of the other people said, I have been, and I, for a long time, a depressed person.
Somebody who's in depression, bottom line, does not want to do very much of anything.
That's right.
And the more that I do not do things, the more it is easier to continue that sort of pattern.
And that leads to, of course, I'm sure you know, not being happy.
Exactly.
It's a horribly vicious cycle.
Right, and there's no action.
The thing that is lacking is action.
What is happening is inaction.
So it's like if you don't want to, let's say, do something, it's almost like in a lot of cases you need to do the opposite.
So if you don't say, well, I don't want to go out and go to the park or something for whatever reason, say, no, it would be good to go to the park, go there, walk around, do something, because that is something that would be the opposite of what you would be thinking of doing, being depressed and not wanting to get ready to go or doing anything like that.
And it's something that somebody who is in my situation that I have difficulty with because...
Are you on an antidepressant?
Yes, I am.
Is it working?
I, to be honest, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure because I still feel like I'm depressed.
Can you go to work?
Nope.
All right.
So you're on a level where it actually paralyzes you, your depression.
Yeah.
And what pill are you taking?
What medicine?
I take, hold on a second.
One is called Remaron, and the other one is called Welbutrin.
I actually take two.
Yeah, well, butrin should give you a little perk up, but it doesn't.
It's not so much of an anti-class.
I've been taking these long enough that I want to.
Well, why don't you take other ones?
There were so many to choose from.
Are you under the care of a psychiatrist?
Yes.
I think at this point, because of how long I've been taking this, I think that I need to talk to my doctor because I still don't.
I feel that I'm not getting better as far as being able to get out and do that.
Obviously not.
Obviously not.
And my heart goes out to you.
But I'll tell you, every year is a lost year.
And I don't want to depress you further, but I want to give you a sense.
You may well have it, but I just want to give you a sense of urgency to that.
There are so many different medications out there that maybe, look, maybe it's not doable.
I don't know.
And as well as talk therapy.
Anyway, good luck, my friend, because I feel for you on that.
Let's go to someone who claims he can define happiness.
That's a bold claim.
Shalom in Los Angeles.
Hello, Shalom.
Shalom, Shalom.
Shalom, Dennis.
Rabbi Denboxley, but you can call me Shalom, please.
I teach classes here in Los Angeles on happiness and relationships and other things.
And my thing in general, you want to feel much happiness, but you say some things you can't define.
Right.
And I always stress that you need to define things otherwise because we can fool ourselves into thinking that we have something.
All right, fair enough.
What's your definition of happiness?
Happiness, my definition, is the emotional feeling you get when you focus on and appreciate that which you have or which you are doing.
I'm quiet because I'm ruminating over it.
It is the emotional feeling that you have when you focus on what you are doing.
That which you have or that which you are doing.
That which you are doing.
So for you, happiness is an emotional state.
I think that is for everyone.
All right.
We'll be back in a moment.
We'll continue.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Hi, this is pharmacist Ray Solano with your Healthy Choices update sponsored by Prescription Dispensing Labs Pharmacy.
For decades, caloric restriction and fasting have been the gold standard for longevity.
But a recent study published in Aging Cell reveals that eating freely without restriction may prove just as effective.
Unrestricted eating may be okay, but choose nutritious and satisfying foods.
This study goes on to suggest non-digestible fibers such as nuts, seeds, berries, lentils, slows the absorption of sugar, stabilizes blood sugar, and reduces chronic diseases.
However, nearly doubling our protein intake and lower carbohydrates shorten lifestyle.
Conclusion, choose those nutritious, satisfying foods this season, but leave out the sugar.
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Remember, you have a choice in healthcare.
Now, back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Dennis Prager here, and Rabbi Sholem and I should have a long talk on this, and I thank you for your call only because of time, Rabbi.
I'm not continuing on your call.
But I'll tell you the immediate problem, and if you want to email me or, you know, even I would allow you to call again, you know, even though we try to take different calls each week next week, is that the problem with relying on an emotional state in any event for a definition of happiness, to me at any rate, is that take the lady who is cleaning her home.
The emotional state while cleaning is not, you know, for the thousandth day in a row doing the laundry is not going to necessarily be a happy one.
But having done it, there is happiness because the family is in better shape.
In fact, if you're still on, are you still there?
Yes, I am still here.
How do you clarify?
Yeah, go ahead.
Certainly, I agree that relying on your emotions will not determine your happiness.
If you listen to the definition, your intellectual, your thought process determines your emotions.
But you gave emotional state as part of your definition.
Yeah, correct.
I'll repeat it.
It's the emotional feeling based on your way of thinking.
When you focus on and appreciate that which you have or that which you're doing is a way of thinking.
Oh, okay.
So the way you think determines your emotions.
All right, fair enough.
Okay, thank you.
Because I believe that we can't, obviously you now do too, or have before, and I just didn't hear it correctly.
That's why I say in my book, I appeal to the mind rather than the emotions on the issue.
All right, let's see here.
You know, it's a prolitzy in Gordon.
You can do something that makes you happy as you're doing something you don't like to do.
Yes, yes, you can.
In fact, that's why a lot of people listen to a show like this while they're doing some mundane task.
That's a good example.
Or listen to music.
Absolutely.
And, oh, boy, let's see.
Jennifer and Phoenix, you got a few seconds.
Give it to me.
Hey, Dennis, happy Friday.
Thank you.
Say, I just wanted to make a quick comment and just let you know that, you know, in all of my 34 years of being an incredibly happy person, the irony of it was I was very judgmental about people who said they were depressed and on medication.
And I was very judgmental.
Like, come on, get it together.
Because I didn't understand it.
And then I was in a serious accident where I was burned pretty bad, and I had to be on narcotics for a few months.
And part of my experience with the narcotics is I went through brain chemical highs and lows.
And let me tell you something.
I get it now.
It is debilitating when you have this chemistry that goes on when you don't want to leave the house.
You know, you don't want to function.
And now I'm a much happier person that I've experienced that and that I have compassion and understanding for people who are.
Well, I am glad I got to take your call, Jennifer.
How do you develop empathy?
Alan, that's a subject.
How do you develop empathy?
How could the thin guy, how could he empathize with the overweight?