Timeless Wisdom: Happiness Hour: A Year To Live

In this episode of the Dennis Prager Show’s Happiness Hour, host Dennis Prager argues that imagining you have only one year left to live can dramatically increase happiness. He frames the idea as a constructive, albeit morbid, mental exercise that heightens gratitude, reduces trivial distractions, and forces a re‑prioritization of time toward loved ones. Prager stresses that personal happiness is not selfish; it benefits everyone around you, making it a moral obligation. Throughout the show, callers share personal stories that illustrate how confronting mortality reshapes their lives—ranging from a survivor of a severe head injury who stopped wasting time, to a veteran who lives each day as if it could be his last, to parents wrestling with the trade‑off between earning money for college and spending time with their children. The conversation also touches on potential misuses of the mindset (e.g., addicts justifying risky behavior), objections about long‑term planning after a misdiagnosis, and the broader cultural tendency to postpone meaningful experiences. Prager repeatedly urges listeners to appreciate everyday moments, limit media consumption, and focus on relationships, concluding that a heightened awareness of mortality can lead to a more fulfilled, grateful, and happy life. The episode intersperses sponsor messages for Christian Healthcare Ministries, which are not central to the philosophical discussion. The overall narrative moves from introducing the one‑year mindset, through practical implications for family, work, and personal habits, to addressing listener concerns and objections, and finally reinforcing the core message that living with an awareness of limited time is a powerful tool for lasting happiness.
Chapters
Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com.
It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour. Yes, it is. Happy, happy, happy, happy hour. It's the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Every week at this time, every Friday, an hour devoted to subject of happiness. It almost does not matter what is happening in the world, I will still devote the hour to the subject of happiness. I devoted 10 years to writing a book on it. Happiness Is a Serious Problem is the book, and I changed my life. The intention of the book was to change the readers' lives, and I hope it has. But it really changed my life. I came to realize how unbelievably important happiness is. I used to think of it as a selfish pursuit. I no longer think of it that way, even though it might be in its origins. Hey, I want to be happy. The fact is, it is one of the most altruistic things you can do in your life, is to become a happier person. Everyone around you will thank you for it. Your children, your spouse, your parents, your siblings, your friends, your coworkers, the people you're seated next to in an airplane, anyone. We want to be around happier people. All of us do. So it is a moral obligation to be as happy as you can be, and the world is made better by happy people. The unhappy do a lot more damage than the happy. Even though there are certainly good unhappy people, there's no question, but by and large, the people who do harm to the world tend to be unhappy. Anyway, that's my opening statement every week on the unbelievable significance of this subject: happiness. I have a, I have a thought for you which might sound a little morbid for the happiness hour, but I'm willing to take the risk because if you start thinking this way you will be happier, even though it may— it's an unhappy thought that will have propelled your greater happiness. Is that clear? Nah, probably isn't, but doesn't matter. Now, I think it's clear, to be perfectly honest with you and myself. Now, my friends, I want you to imagine that you have been told by a doctor that you trust, or by a series of doctors after a number of second and third opinions, that, uh, it looks like you have a year to live. I want you to think of that possibility, and I want you to imagine how you would change your life if in fact that is what you believed. That you had some terminal illness with about a year to live. And my recommendation is that by and large we live as if that has been the news given to us. That may sound morbid to you— walk around living as if I believe I have a terminal illness, like I'll die in a year. But my friends, I do believe that it is very constructive, constructive and instructive to do that. And what I remember, what propelled this— I had mentioned this a long time ago, and it really kills me. Somebody's got to do the research because I got to dig that book up in the, in the thousands and thousands, many thousands of books that I have owned. It has gotten lost somewhere, but maybe one of you is familiar with this book. I would say I— it must have been written about 15 years ago. A Swiss lawyer was in fact— a prominent Swiss lawyer was told he had a year to live, and in fact he did have a year to live. And he spoke in the book about how he changed his life knowing that he had a year to live, for the better obviously. And one of the things I remember was he watched much less television. See, I believe that thinking that we— as we all do, and of course we all do, and then— and we— it's totally natural to think that way, that, hey, I have more than a year to live. You, uh, you waste time. And remember, I am very strict about the subject of this hour. This is not a morality or ethics, uh, hour. It's not a character hour. It's a happiness hour. So I am only addressing that question of how to increase your happiness, not your excellence as a human being, not your— not the development of your character. That we do a lot of other times, right? Just happiness. On happiness alone, I believe, and I will give you a number of reasons why, if you acted or if you simply asked yourself that question, if I had a year to live What would change in me, or how would I change my life that that could in fact increase your happiness dramatically? That thinking that we, we have, you know, unlimited time, or limited, but, but, you know, limited way, way down, way, way, way up ahead, you know, 20, 30, 40 years, that it enables you to do things that hurt your happiness. For example, for example, I believe that if you are a parent and you were told that you had a year to live, there's a very good chance you'd spend more time with your kids, right? Now, why don't you spend more time now? Because you figure you can next year. Ah, I gotcha. See, if you start thinking in the way that I'm suggesting then you undo the damage to your happiness of thinking, oh, I can do it next year. There's a great phrase, let me see if I have it right. It is a prominent rabbi of the Talmud who said, do, let's see, do not do to others, he summarized his religion as do not do to others what you don't want done to yourself. The rest is commentary. Now go and study. But no, that's not— oh, that's not the one. But then he said— oh no, that's it. No, this is it. There's a different phrase. This is it. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? And I want you to think of that one. If not now, When? See, we, we think, all right, you know what, I don't, I don't need that time with the kids now because I, I could do that later. But then they grow up and it's over. Especially with children, it needs to be now. Especially. I have mentioned to you that it is, it has been my policy, and I don't say this to, to try to offer myself as this ideal father, this hot— that is not even in my mind. I'm only telling you this because I, I know how difficult it can be for a busy parent, but I will tell you that it has worked out in my life, that basically I have a policy. I have a home office. At any time, any time, any of my children come in and start talking to me, and I realized it very early on as a parent because I could always say incorrectly. Oh, we'll do it. We'll talk later because I'm in the middle of something right now. Because I'm always in the middle of something. That's just a fact. Any busy person is always in the middle of something. So therefore, you will always defer that time with your child to another time. But next time, you'll also be in the middle of something. Or you'll wait to what I— what this, this terrible notion of quality time. Well, I won't give time all the time at all, but we will definitely have a great family trip in August. Now, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't. It's great to have a family trip in August, but it is much better to talk all year round in, in snippets than it is to just have a family trip in August. Both are good anyway. One of the things I suspect you would change if you adopted my attitude, hey, I may die in the next year, is time with loved ones. Not only mean children, could be spouse, could be— I say loved ones, friends too. Loved ones. The loved ones is a very good phrase. I'll give you another one. You may, you may not have spoken to a family member in years. You're angry. You have a disconnect. Do you want to die having that disconnect unrepaired in some way? And so it just— even to be civil with that person. So that's something you might want to consider now. You know, a lot of people die suddenly. A lot of people do in car crashes, heart attacks, whatever it might be. I was just reading about somebody who, uh It's incredible. Oh yes, as a— I think it was a football player on a local team, uh, uh, in Southern California. I think it was a 20-year-old who just, uh, or some team who contracted some bacterial infection and died. 20-year-old, that's just, you know, fine one day, dead the next week. That could happen to any of us, and it's important to know that. I'll I don't think that it adds to your happiness to walk around thinking you're invulnerable to anything happening to you. I don't think so. It doesn't— that wouldn't work for me anyway. I don't like to delude myself. Anything could happen any day to me or to anybody I love or to anybody. I have much more on this. How does this strike you though? Is it morbid to you? Is it enlightening? Because the biggest change in you I haven't even come to. If you adopt the attitude you have one year to live. 1-800-PRAGER-776. 1-800-PRAGER-776. You are listening to the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
All righty, everybody. Dennis Prager here. A very different approach here to the subject of happiness on this, the Happiness Hour, on my program. And that is, I, I think that if you adopted the attitude that you had a year to live, as if you had been given that news by a doctor, and asked yourself what would change, I think that you would actually increase your happiness quite, uh, quite dramatically. And I spoke about how You, well, you just waste less time. You would just know, I, I have limited time. But you see, my point is we all do have, so to speak, a terminal illness. It's called life, and we don't know when it'll end. It could end tomorrow for any of us, any of us. And I, I wonder, by the way, if, if, if any of you listening think that can't happen to you. I really do. I— it would be interesting for me to find out. But in any event, that attitude can really focus the mind on what is good to be a happier person. And I spoke about time with children, time with loved ones. Less television would be inevitable. But the biggest single thing I think would be you would appreciate life, you would be grateful for life much more. Anybody given a, a, a verdict of terminal illness by a doctor appreciates everything so much more. And I want to induce that daily appreciation in you to make you happier, because I have worked on myself to have that, and that intensity does pervade my thinking. Oh God, I could die tomorrow.
Look at this.
Look at what— God, do I appreciate everything. You know, stop and smell the roses, you know, that cliché. Well, there's truth to it. Because flowers would become far more beautiful if you knew you couldn't see them in a year. There's no question about it. I'll talk more about that in a moment. Let me take some of your, uh, some of your calls here. Tom in St. Paul, Minnesota on the Patriot. Welcome to the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Hi, Tom.
Hey, Dennis, how are you?
Okay, thank you.
Yeah, when you said time, 18 years ago I had a closed head injury and the doctors told my mother that I have a 5% chance of living. Well, when I came out of the coma and everything, the thing that hit me the hardest was, you know, my life was— I was having a good time. Having fun, but I wasn't happy, and how much time I was wasting. I realized that, hey, this isn't an infinite event that's taken place. It's a finite event that's taken place, and I had to really focus myself into doing what I wanted to do.
So you did less of the frivolous stuff that you had before?
I stopped it.
Yeah, exactly. By the way, did you get married?
Absolutely.
You were not married prior to that?
No.
Right. I figured that out because they told your mother, not your wife. But go on.
Exactly. Good thinking. But I was 39 years old, almost 40 when I got married, and I knew the woman that I wanted to marry for 5 years before this.
But hey, we could do it in 10 years.
Really? I'm having fun. Don't interfere with my fun.
That's right. I'm having fun, but I'm not happy.
You know, and it— my head injury was I was— had my butt beat in a bar. And you know, when I came out of a coma, I thought, what a hell of a way to die, you know.
Yeah, it isn't dignified, I will admit. Tom, that's a critically important call for which I thank you. That is exactly right, is a perfect example. Uh, let's go to, uh, more of your calls. Julian in North Hollywood, California on KRLA 870. Hello.
Hey Dennis, I love you, man.
Thank you so much.
I hate to say I disagree with you on this one, but I work with drug addicts here in Los Angeles.
Yes.
And too many of them like to say— what's their motto? I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so I'm gonna do this methamphetamine, this cocaine today.
That's a very good point. I'm not sure we're in disagreement. There may well be people who will decide, hey, I have one year to live, it's a great idea to go on drugs. But I suspect that they're already on drugs and they use that reasoning to keep themselves addicted. I don't think that anybody chooses to be addicted based on the notion— I don't know any of— if anyone told you have a year to live and they immediately went out to get some cocaine.
Hmm, well, I mean, I think of heroin addicts that I've worked with, and, and wow, they will definitely be sober for years and then get some kind of news like this, and then they go on what I call a blunder.
I believe that because they are— they they were already, uh, they, they were controlling themselves, uh, but they had already been addicted. And you're, and you're right, we're not in any disagreement. I think you're right, there probably is a percentage of people that may, may do some, uh, very irresponsible things as a result.
Well, is irresponsible going to be synonymous with self-destructive, like jumping out of airplanes with a parachute?
That's it. Well, well, that's not self-destructive. Most people survive that. That's not an issue.
But, uh, hang gliding?
No, no, whatever it is, you're right, they may do— that's correct, there may be people who will And by the way, I'm not saying that they shouldn't. If you feel that the greatest happiness you could achieve in your life knowing you have a year left is to take tremendous gambles with your life, then, you know, so be it. I have to take the risk giving this advice that some people will use it in ways I don't want. I think 99% of people thinking they had a year to live would live life better and more intensely, not more foolishly.
Interesting.
Okay, so we're not all in disagreement, my friend. You're right, there is that percentage of people, but I'm not— I, you know, and that's the way it is. There's, there's no way around it. By the way, and thank you, this is very important because I want people to understand my approach generally. I, I am told frequently that, uh, that some ideas that I present will be used by some people irresponsibly. I agree. When I tell, for example, and I think of this because I just got an email on this about somebody who's, uh, so I don't know, but if someone listening to my show said, well, uh, her friend or his friend, I don't remember even was a he or she wrote it, but this woman friend, her husband had, uh, had been unfaithful to her. Now she wants to divorce. What, you know, and, and this per— the letter writer knows that I don't believe that infidelity should lead automatically to divorce. Now when I say that, people often write to me, ah, now you're giving a green light for people to cheat on their spouses because you say that people shouldn't automatically divorce. Listen, if somebody listens to that phrase of mine, don't automatically divorce and throw away all those wonderful years and break up a family because your spouse committed an infidelity. If somebody gathers from that, ah, now I have a green light to commit an infidelity, there's nothing I can do. I have to talk to the majority of people who will take the advice and, and run with it responsibly, like with this idea of one more year to your life. But it's very important, uh, what, uh, what Julian said, and I, and I thank you for it. Okay, uh, let's take, uh, more here. Let's go to John in Pocatello, Idaho. Uh, John, Dennis Prager, hello.
Dennis, I love your show, it's great.
Thanks a lot.
My mom was just diagnosed with the second for the second time with cancer, and I think one of the keys is that she, she's trying not to concentrate on her illness, and she wants to hear about my son, her grandchild, and about his day. And it's such a new concept because we have so many statistics on living nowadays and how long a person can live.
Well, that's what she needs to know. She needs to know that, you know, this— that having cancer the second time is hardly an automatic death warrant.
True.
That, that's the truth. You're not fooling her. She has every reason to have hope. We'll be back in a moment. I'm sorry about that, John. I really am. We'll be back in a moment.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Alrighty everybody, it's important for me to take calls on the subject because it, it's— I need it, I need it to be clear to you because it's, it's a different way of thinking and I don't want you to take it to a point of sickness. Obviously what I'm suggesting here on this, the Happiness Hour, and you know, for the Happiness Hour it almost sounds unhappy, but it is not. I want to heighten your love of life, your appreciation of everything that is out there, from, from the sunset to your children. And one way to do it is to realize that you can die at any moment. And I know that sounds morbid, and we live in denial of that fact, but I don't, I don't know, I don't know why. I mean, you read about the tens of thousands of people who die every year in car crashes. They woke up that day and they, they died later that day. And I don't believe for a second— and you know how strongly I believe in God— but I don't believe that I have this, this, uh, this warranty from heaven that that won't happen to me. That's why I wear seat belts. And so I, I long ago in my life decided, wait a minute, my God, if I can go any day, man, I want to have this experience as intensely as possible. Now, please don't think for a moment I don't waste any time. Believe me, I do. You know, I fully acknowledge my— I don't know if addiction is not the word, but my love of Spider Solitaire on the computer and reading stereo journals and so on. And I'm not sure I would change that, frankly. If I had a year to go, I might. I might, in fact. I would become more intense about getting out certain works that I want published. But, but putting that aside, you— we have to live as if we might perish within the next year. We have to, because that makes you love and appreciate what you have and not dawdle, because the time may come and it's too late. You don't spend time with your kids now, that's it. They're not kids long. Okay, let's go to some more of your calls. 1-800-PRAGER-UH. 776. And, uh, Aaron in Minneapolis. Dennis Prager, hello. Hi Aaron.
Hi Dennis.
Hi.
Um, to make a long story short, I've lived a pretty full life. I've dealt with some tragedies. Uh, the death of my first child, pretty senseless tragedy.
What happened? What happened?
Well, to make a long story short, he got tangled up in some clothesline in the backyard and basically hung himself. This was back in 1987. So I've had a lot of time to—
How old was he?
2 and a half.
I'm very sorry. Go ahead.
I've also dealt with alcoholism, drug abuse in my family, infidelity, pretty much the entire gambit. So at 41 years old, I'm pretty satisfied with my life. I've lived a pretty full life. And I know that a giant rock can fall from the sky tomorrow and wipe us all out.
That's right.
So I do my best not to get too worked up about the minutia.
Uh-huh, that's right. That's, that's a good one, Alan. We got to put that down. It's one of the— that's one of the good consequences. You don't get worked up about minutia. I like that. Go ahead.
Uh, most recently I, I have been working a job. I, I, as a fry cook for about the last 2 and a half years, and there was an individual in the store that made the job pretty much hell for me and for other co-workers. I know of 6 people that I could name that he drove away from there just because of his personality. But I put up with it because I have to pay my bills. But I decided within the last few months that I had to get out of there because it was harmful to me. I'm not very healthy. I don't live a very healthy lifestyle, and I'm doing everything I can to eliminate stress. So I had to quit this job. Now, I did everything I could for as long as I could. I tried to line up other employment ahead of time. And it just— I mean, there are no guarantees. I reached the end of my notice date and I still didn't have a job. Now I have another one lined up. It looks real good. I got a chance to get into it. However, my wife tends to get really upset over things like this because—
you mean over you not having a job?
Yes, she's very afraid of the unknown. Things are pretty good right now. I'm looking—
the reason is women are the primal nest keeper. And when there aren't twigs to make the nest, they— they— there is an internal panic. It is— it is very— although it is upsetting, and I understand that, and I'm not defending, I'm explaining, because that is her natural instinct. What will happen to this nest? You have children?
Yes.
Well, it's particularly— it's particularly exacerbated by that fact.
Oh, I understand that. But see, now because I don't get worked up about it, she thinks I'm either patronizing her or that I just don't care. And I'm unable to make her understand. I've already decided that we're going to obtain counseling.
Yeah, you should. And I'll tell you, you know, this is one of those painful moments for me because I would love to sit with the two of you for an hour. I really would. Because, you know, I would love to hear her side, but I've heard yours and I have great sympathy. We'll be back in a moment. Much more on this subject coming up. Alrighty, my friends, Dennis Prager here. And you know, whenever I read about people, you know, dying— and I had mentioned just earlier about Jerry Nachman of MSNBC just dying at 57, a man I knew fairly well. Didn't know he had cancer. Apparently it was diagnosed a year ago. We had spoken 8 months ago, but he didn't mention it to me. And he was 57 years old, and you know, he had every reason to assume he'd live another 40 years, 30 years, 40 years. Why not? Absolutely, why not? I mean, that's, that's the way it should be. But for millions of people it isn't. And all I'm saying to you, and I don't mean to depress you, but that's the last thing I want to do in the Happiness Hour, But I do want to rivet your mind on what do you do with your life, uh, and how you would focus on what's important. What did that other man say about, you know, not, not be overtaken or overwhelmed by minutia? That's why it drives me nuts when people get unhappy with, by, by things that are relatively trivial or get upset by, by that stuff. There's not enough time to ask anybody, ask anyone who's in the, you know, later stages of life ask them a change, changes that have taken place. Now, almost all tell you, you know, they don't let the little stuff bother them as much because as you get older, you face more your mortality more, more, more readily. It's just a fact. And so the little stuff, you know, that really drove you nuts 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago just doesn't anymore because you have a better perspective on what really matters. And I'm telling you, the same with gratitude. You just drive down the street and you, you take in people better. Everything becomes heightened. It's like if you lose your sight, your hearing is so much— it is so heightened. You have such better hearing if you, if you, if you, if you can't see. That's, by the way, why I like when I really have the time to listen to my music, not, not while I'm working, but actually just listen. I almost always close my eyes. I hear the music better. Even at live concerts, I close my eyes. I hear more that's going on. It's— you heighten your sensations when you are deprived of another. If you think you'll be deprived of your life, you really heighten your sensations. All righty, uh, David in Louisville on WGPK. Hello, David.
Yeah, good afternoon. That's a super program, Dennis.
Thank you.
At 18, I volunteered for the draft and shortly thereafter found myself in the 82nd Airborne Division. It wonderfully concentrated my mind on the fact that I might get sent into combat or I could die in a parachute jump, and it was a blessing that has carried— I'm 61 now— that blessing has carried through all my life, that every morning when I get up might be my last day alive.
That's very— it's a very important call. You were forced at a young age to know you're mortal.
Yes, and it was— but it was a blessing.
That's right, it is a blessing. That's exactly right. A silly, a silly romantic view of life that denies these realities doesn't make you happier, right?
You know, incidentally, on the subject of losing one sense and, and another one improving, my wife and I took up a long time ago scuba diving when we lived in Massachusetts. You can't hear anything on scuba except your own bubbles, but you certainly see things much more intensely.
That's an interest. I never heard that. That's a very good example. Listen, I, I thank you, David.
Well, thank you for a super show. Yeah, coming.
Well, thank you. It's very sweet of you. Well, he's good. That's right. I, I would be very interested to know about folks who have fought in wars at the young age. How it affects their happiness later, uh, not in terms of the fighting, but in terms of the realizing that you can go at any given time. That's very interesting. All righty, let's go to— let's see here, uh, Ed in Redondo Beach, California. Ed, Dennis Prager, hi.
Hello.
Hello, Ed, you're on the Dennis Prager Show.
Hi, Dennis. Thanks for taking my call, Dennis. I I just wanted to comment. We kind of touched on it last couple calls, but I think it would be misleading to a lot of the callers to think that you need to live your life as if you had a year to live, because while that may prioritize things and it might help you not sweat the big stuff, suppose after a year the doctor says, oh, misdiagnosis, you have 50 more years to live.
That's right.
Most people don't live for a year. They got to work, they got to plan for 50 years, put their kids through college. So to sit there and say that, you know, we're gonna—
wait a minute, why would you— wait, if you had kids and you wanted them to go to college, why would knowing you had a year to live change your planning for your children?
It would, because you would make a lot more, uh, a lot less effort to earn more money, you know.
All right, all right, this is a great call. Now, okay, let's say that happened, and what would you do? Would you, like, travel more, let's say? What would you do?
I would sit there.
I would do pretty much what callers have said, spend more time with them and take that as the priority. Yes, I should.
Okay, then you know what? That's what you should do now.
But if you did that, yes, you would somehow—
I mean, no, then you won't send them to— wait, wait, wait, then you won't send them to an expensive college. You ask any kid in the world, you want more time with dad or to go to an expensive college? This is the call of the hour. I can't, Dad, I can't overstate how important this is. You have made the case for me in a way I never thought of. Yes, if parents are spending less time with their children in order to send them to college later, they are making a terrible decision.
I don't think it's that cut and dry.
No, no, well, but you're the one, wait, wait, wait, you're the one who offered me that cut and dry scenario.
You're taking it to the extreme. Extreme that that's the only reason why I worked is to send them to college. That's not true.
I didn't say that.
Over their heads to do all these things.
Oh, you would still do that. You're not going to deprive your children of a house if you have a year to live, but you might deprive them of college, uh, of college expenses, and that's okay.
I understand, but you also, like a caller earlier said, look, you know, the junkies say, well, if I'm only going to live a year, then I'm going to go wild. Well, that may be true You know, if you only have a year to live, are you going to go to the gym and work on your body to make sure you last a long time, or are you going to pig out on donuts? I mean, if you only have a year to plan, that'd be one thing. I think it's more of a better point to say, you know what, take the things that are important for a year and try to make them a lifetime, but you can't do all of it.
Yeah, all right, listen, you're right in the theory. In reality, I don't suspect that people told that they have a year to live spend the year pigging out on donuts. They might, I don't know, I don't know. They might not. For one reason is because there is still a hope, and everyone should have, if I take care of my body, I might live more than a year. We'll be back in a moment, but that college point I want to develop as soon as we come back on the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show. Back in a moment.
This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
All right, my friends, so we already reached the final segment of the Happiness Hour, and I, I tell you, the last call is very important And I understand that every point, every point any of you made has been valid, by the way. There's not big disagreement here. But I— the last call does necessitate the following: if you are spending less time with your children or your child because you are working so hard in order to be able to send them to college— now, if it's so hard in order to be able to sustain a home I understand that, and I understand the needs to earn money. I utterly relate to it. And, and it's— you can't have all the time you want with a child and work a lot. I mean, that's just true. I understand that, and it's only sympathy you get from me. But if in fact it is, well, you know, I'm working, I'm depriving myself of my time with my child or my children in order to earn the money so that they can go to college. Spend the time and worry about college later. There are free colleges and there are inexpensive colleges. It is infinitely better. I— did you hear the interview I had with, with Dr. Halliwell, this child psychiatrist? It was, it, it was— they were gems coming from his mouth. How this false god— he called it the false idol of grades, good grades and good, good schools— and what it does to the happiness of children. Infinitely, infinitely better that your child have time with you now than that you have the funds to send your child to Princeton later. Better your local community college later and time with you throughout the child's childhood than, than less time with you and money for Princeton or any other college. So don't think that way. Remember, I started by saying, imagine you're gonna die in a year. You got that news. It will focus your gratitude on everything you have, your attention on sunsets and and people, and you will enjoy people, and you will, you will, you will know what's important and what's trivial. And the fact is, we are all in that situation because there isn't a single person listening to me who knows for sure that they will be around next year. I don't care what your age, if it's 15 or if it's 95, we don't know. I don't know. Fixing one's attention One's gaze on that fact can have a tremendous impact on leading a more happy, fulfilled life, reconciling with people you're alienated from, appreciating sunsets, spending time with loved ones. That's why I raised this issue. Judy, Randall, Lynn, Chris, Jim, everybody else is trying to get in. Please forgive me. I know you have a lot to say, and I would look forward to your emails through DennisPrager.com. Don't go away, my friends. We continue on The Dennis Prager Show. Happiness to you.
This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.
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