Welcome to the Happiness podcast. I'm Dr. Robert Puff. We make a lot of decisions throughout our week.

We make decisions about what we're going to eat, what we're going to do that day, who we're going to hang out with, what activities we're going to

participate in. Some of them are very conscious. Others of them are more subconscious. We're not

really thinking about them. We just automatically do them. For example, on Monday mornings,

we may get up and go to work or school because that's what we do. But it's still a choice.

We could call in sick. We could not go to school. We could quit our jobs. There's still

choices being made throughout our day, many of them. Some of our choices are rather benign.

I mean, which sock do we put on our foot first, the left or right? Really doesn't matter that much.

But then we make other choices where we may decide when we're driving to work. If someone cuts us off,

we're going to make sure we honk at them loud and hard. Or when we decide ahead of time that if we get cut off

or if we're in a situation that causes us some stress when we're driving,

we're just going to let it go and focus on getting to work safely. But throughout the day,

we're making a lot of choices that influence our life. And these choices influence how we turn out in life, how we experience life, how we flow or fight life. At one extreme, a person who wakes up in the morning

decides to get up and go for a run, and then come home and have a healthy breakfast, and then

goes through the work that he or she likes, and then comes home and perhaps watches a documentary

on Nova, and then continues by reading a good book and then spending some time

with good and supportive and loving friends. And then perhaps at the end of the day, before he or

she goes to bed, they meditate so they can find peace and tranquility in their life. That probably

has good effects, and there were choices that got that person there. But on the other extreme,

let's say a person is living on the streets, and their first thought in the morning when they get up

is, how will I get my fix? Where will I find my fentanyl so that I don't feel so much pain in my heart

right now in my body? And in order to achieve this fentanyl goal, they may sacrifice

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