Thank you for joining us for episode 440 of Live Happy Now.

In difficult times, sometimes we're left wondering if it's selfish to focus on pursuing happiness.

But this week's guest is here to explain why right now it's more important than ever.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and this week I'm talking

with Matt Daronbacher, solo rabbi at Congregation Best Shalom in Columbia, Missouri.

In the face of violence and uncertainty in the Middle East that have affected many of us here

in the U.S., Matt sat down to talk with me about the importance of seeking happiness in hard times

and what we can do when we're not sure what to say. He also gives us some great tips for managing

the anxiety and overwhelm that accompany uncertain times. Let's have a listen. Matt, thanks for being

with me here today. Thanks for having me. We needed to have a conversation because I reached out. I know you've been doing a lot of interviews. You've seen you in the newspaper. You're doing some radio, some TV. This is just a really difficult time. You know, there's horrific violence going on in the Middle East. We have the conflict in Ukraine

continuing. So I wanted to know from your perspective, how do you start the conversation

with people who are struggling with all the things that are going on right now?

Thank you. That's a very important question. A lot of times the conversation's already

started with so much access to

information through social media, through news, through conversations, it's something that,

especially with things going on in the Middle East right now for the Jewish community in particular,

we think of like three degrees of separation,

but for a lot of communities, it's one degree of separation.

Someone knows someone or has family members.

One of our charter members, one of the founding members of our congregation,

his daughter and son-in-law were killed a little under two weeks ago. So for a lot of people,

the intensity of all of the conflicts across the globe, there's already an internal dialogue

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