Hi there. This is Josh. Welcome to Dharma Punks, New York, Tuesday night meeting.

Yeah, if you like the talks and the work that I do, the way it's sustained is entirely by donations.

I don't charge for anything, so whatever is appropriate for you, whatever doesn't cause stress, whatever you feel,

that's always how just as a Buddhist pastor in a 2,500-year-old tradition, I survive.

So the Venmo is Dharma punks with an ex-Nyc.

And there you'll see there's also PayPal links on our website as well as Patreon.

So anyway, if you choose to support this work, any way you do it is just great.

And it's basically is what keeps me doing what I'm

due. So that's about it. Tonight's talk, we're really going to be talking about the value of

our emotions in making decisions, in guidance, and we'll be talking about when to trust our emotions and when not

and when there are mixed emotions, how to choose which one to go with, to follow, what impulses.

And so I hope this is a talk that will be of some value to you.

We tend to have a kind of diminished, incorrect conception about emotions. This is not our fault. By any means, it's culturally

ingrained. It's instilled in us that somehow emotions

are inconvenient. They're entirely irrational. They interrupt a well-ordered life. We're even

told that emotions are holdovers from ancient, pre-rational brains that modern life requires we override.

From our very earliest years, parents, teachers, school administrators demand that we announce what we were thinking after we do things.

You know, parents might say, what were you thinking?

Why did you do that?

As if we should be able to provide a rational explanation for every behavior.

That's in no way how behaviors actually are activated,

but people still seem to believe that from their children should have a reason

...