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[Applause]
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good morning to all of you and what an
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honor it is to be here at ARK I've been
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looking forward to this this is a a
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movement that's now worldwide that I'm
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so delighted to be part of thank you to
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Philip aroud and to Jordan Peterson who
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has my unvarnished admiration and
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amazement and to all of you for being
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part of this movement they asked me to
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come here and talk about well to pick up
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where Jeff left off on the science of
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Happiness see that's what I teach at
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Harvard University I'm a behavioral
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science scientist dedicated to the
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neuroscience and and and social science
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around happiness seems like a weird
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subject to teach at a business school
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perhaps but it it really isn't I teach
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the business of life you are all
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entrepreneurs in the the sacred
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Enterprise of your own life you're the
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founder you're the
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CEO but you have to know the currency of
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the fortune that you're trying to
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accumulate it's not money or power or
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pleasure or Fame admiration no it's love
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and happiness do you know how to
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accumulate that do you know how to bring
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that to others well that's what I teach
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as a matter of fact I'll be teaching
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that tomorrow morning in the classroom
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at the Harvard Business School and I
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want to tell you what I'm teaching them
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in the next 13 minutes and 50 seconds
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I'm going to give you the entire
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semester now not really but I'm going to
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start with the biggest mistake that that
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people make about happiness in this
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world today that think it's a
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feeling it's not the feeling of
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happiness is like the the smell of your
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dinner it's evidence of dinner no no
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your happiness is something that that
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you can actually understand change your
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habits for and and get more of if you
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know what it is happiness is a
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combination of of three
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macronutrients enjoyment satisfaction
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and meaning
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and when you know how to get more of
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those you can have a better life and you
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can fight for those things in our
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society our culture and our public
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policy to bring it to a world that needs
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it so much so let me tell you how to do
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that in just a few brief words in the
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time that I have with you now there are
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a lot of misconceptions about these
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things the the mistake that people make
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of thinking that enjoyment is the same
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thing as pleasure it's not pleasure is
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an animal thing enjoy joyment adds
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people and memory to make it uniquely
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human satisfaction is the joy that you
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get from accomplishing something hard
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with struggle only humans want that and
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finally there's meaning meaning the idea
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of the coherence of your life the
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purpose with goals the significance that
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your life matters the our Outlook or are
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good practices no on the contrary
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wonderful research that actually looks
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at identical twins that were separated
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at Birth and adopted into separate
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families this is not a diabolical
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Harvard study that did this it just
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happen
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naturally when we reunite these people
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at the age of 40 and give them
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personality tests and and and and tests
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about all different parts of their lives
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you find that about 50% of their
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difference in happiness is is
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genetic your mother literally made you
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unhappy this is important to understand
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because what this means is not that that
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happiness is out of your control no on
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the contrary the same studies show that
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that 50% of your tendency to abuse
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alcohol also genetic but if you came to
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me and said H my parents drank too much
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and my grandparents too so I guess I'm
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going to be an alcoholic I'd say oh you
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missed a step because you know this you
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can turn that genetic proclivity to Zero
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by not drinking that means habits are
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important if you know
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yourself so the first 50% of your
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tendency toward happiness
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genetic the next 25% is circumstantial
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the good things and the bad things in
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your life and and my students they think
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that's everything if I can just get
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better circumstances the job the money
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the position the family whatever it
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happens to be great but but that's
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transient that's evanescent it turns out
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that it's true that in any given moment
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nice circumstances will drive your
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happiness up by 25% or or down by 25% if
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you're exper experiencing unfortunate
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circumstances but it doesn't last what
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you need are good habits that will give
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you systematically better circumstances
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and that's the last 25% which is what I
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want to talk about with you today for
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you and your kids and our society the
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happiness
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habits now these are the things that if
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you you pay attention to them and
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cultivate them and practice them every
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day will give you 25% of your happiness
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under your Direct
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Control they will allow you to improve
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your circumstances and manage your
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genetic
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proclivities but you got to know what
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they are now I could give you 10,000
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little habits but they're trivial
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there's only four that really matter all
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of the science all the Neuroscience
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Behavioral Science unhappiness it comes
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down to these four here they are here's
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what you need to put in the accounts
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every day this is your your happiness
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Pension Plan make a deposit every day in
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these four accounts you ready your faith
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your family your friendship and your
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work those are the
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four now when I say faith I don't mean
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my faith I'm a Roman Catholic it's
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literally the most important thing in my
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life but as a thank you we got some
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Catholics
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here but as a social scientist I will
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tell you that my path toward happiness
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is not necessarily the only path what
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you need is not a particular religious
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path again metaphysically is a different
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matter entirely but for happiness what
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you need is a path that will help you to
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transcend
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yourself see we're stuck in the Psycho
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Drama of life every day my job my
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commute my money my lunch my television
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shows it's so
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boring what we need is relief and peace
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and perspective and the only way to do
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that the only way to do that is to get
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small and make the universe large to cut
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our
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narcissism and pay attention to the in
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awe to what's greater than us lots of
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ways to do that some people like to
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study the stoic philosophers and other
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people like to walk in nature without
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devices for an hour before Dawn or study
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the fugues of yan sasan Bach or to
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practice vasana meditation or like me to
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practice with serious ious the faith of
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your youth but you need something to get
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small and to not let the narcissistic
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World take over your soul that's Faith
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second is family family life you know
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family life is a is a mysterious one I
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could explain the Neuroscience the the
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hormones and neuropeptides in the brain
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that that tell us who are our people and
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our people belong to us but it's still
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like a miracle when you see those people
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and it's like the 4th of July in America
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inside your head how important that
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really is and there's so many things
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that are ripping us apart one in six
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Americans today is not speaking to a
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family member because of
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politics that's falling prey to somebody
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else's culture War don't let it happen
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to you there's one reason to have Schism
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with your family and that's abuse and
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and news flash differences of political
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opinion are not abuse
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they're an opportunity is what they are
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to understand each other and to live
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with with each other in love and then of
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course there's the culture that says
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that marriage and kids are for
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suckers no that's the fast rote to
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happiness third of course is is
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friendship friendship and and there have
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been so many so many forces that have
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militated against effective friendships
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in our society Zoom friendships don't
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work social media friendships that's not
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real friends and then of course there's
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the whole professionalization of
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friendship I make a big distinction in
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my work between real friends and deal
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friends you know the difference if if
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you're wondering deal friends are the
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useful people to you real friends are
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the useless people to you do you have
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enough useless people in your
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life I don't mean worthless I have them
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too so so so
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this is important and these are
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relationships well there's one more
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which is work work is so critically
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important but I have studied work in my
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my my profession as a social scientist I
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was trained as an economist and I've
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looked at different kinds of jobs and
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different kinds of jobs don't predict
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happiness they don't bring joy or
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different levels of income or education
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that doesn't do it either no no no no
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there's only two things that predict Joy
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from your work earning your success and
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serving others I don't care if you're a
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bus driver or a politician or a
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CEO you need to earn your success and
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serve other people that is the essence
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of Joy from work now earning your
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success means that you're creating value
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with your life and value in the lives of
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other people that means you are being
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rewarded and acknowledged for merit and
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hard work and personal responsibility
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that is why there is one economic system
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that brings joy to work and that's the
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free enterprise system that's the only
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one that we've ever invented
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but more
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importantly we need to be needed the
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essence of dignity is to be needed the
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essence of Despair is to be managed like
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a liability which is why our our welfare
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systems do such a poor job they they
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treat people at the margins of society
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like liabilities to manage as opposed to
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assets to develop you need to be needed
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in so so do I and that means in your
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work you need to serve other people and
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see how you're helping other people to
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live better lives the free enterprise
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system does that too now I talk about
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capitalism and free enterprise a lot not
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because I'm worried about GDP growth I
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am but that's not why because I want
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more human dignity because I want more
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happiness this is the essence of the
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four values that I'm talking about here
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it's not a political agenda at all it's
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an agenda of human flourishing and if
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you want to be a happier person these
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are the accounts in which to put your
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your attention and time and energy AFF
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and affection every day your faith work
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on it seriously every single day your
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family life your
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friendships and your work that serves in
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which you earn your
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success now there's one big concern that
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animates Ark which is not just you
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leaving this beautiful place and having
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this great experience and being happier
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yourself no no no you're here because
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you want to change society and so do I
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well it turns out that when it comes to
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happiness we're almost literally in a
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world of hurt the happiness indices are
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going in the wrong direction in almost
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every oecd country in my country the
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United States we've seen this secular
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decline in happiness going back to about
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1990 with big dips that have happened
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especially since the turn of the century
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why
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people pay attention to the weather as
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it were the weather of Happiness the
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storms of Happiness the Corona virus
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epidemic the financial
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crisis the onset of social media and
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those things are all bad don't get me
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wrong but we tend to neglect the climate
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of happiness and that's a that's a
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that's a bigger problem that little by
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little by little is driving down the
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well-being of people all over the world
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today and you know what it comes from
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the same thing that will ruin your
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happiness
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a lack of the big four look around what
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will you see for people under 35 today a
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decline in faith the year I was born in
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the United States 1% had no religious
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affiliation today is
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34% look around people are saying
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they're lonelier than they've ever been
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they're walking away from Marriage
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they're not having children they don't
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have a vocational sense of their work
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and they're turning against the free
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enterprise system those are the
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stakes look if we want to be happier
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people and we want to live in a happier
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Society those are the things to fight
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for those are the things to stand up for
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don't let anybody
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say that you're you're fighting for
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Faith and family and and community and
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friendship and the free enterprise
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system because it's all about your
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politics or it's all about the tax rate
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no no no no no this is what the world
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needs
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pay attention to these things in your
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life if you pay attention to these
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things in your life here's what I
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promise you the same thing I promis my
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students the same same things I practice
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myself you will get happier for the rest
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of your life furthermore if you leave
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here and you you work for these
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institutions more faith in our Society a
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greater sense of family values with more
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marriage and more babies cuz babies are
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awesome with closer friends with more
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coherent communities with a capitalist
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system that brings everybody in from the
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margins for more
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opportunity and where we're dedicated to
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loving and serving each other that's how
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the world gets better that is not a
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political agenda that's an agenda for
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greater World happiness and we need to
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be part of it join me thank you
