Joe Rogan Rants about Happiness

Now these people that live this life Do they have something they're working towards do they have an idea that they're working towards? I mean when you when you press them on it and ask them like why you here do you ever plan on leaving? Do you ever see yourself going somewhere else? It's a really good question. I asked them all those questions So no, they felt like that was their calling They're calling they were doing what they were supposed to be doing and That they were committed to that lifestyle so no they weren't there was no thought of going back There have been monks that have left the monastery just wasn't the right lifestyle for them Mm-hmm, but the monks that were there when I was there, you know 50 years that they were committed and they're not going anywhere When they say that's what's confusing to me. Like I understand that they're enjoying and I understand that they're they they like that life But that that it's a calling like the calling to do nothing or just think Saccists sacrifice. Mm-hmm serve God Live a life of purity. This is not right. I couldn't do it. But I think that's kind of the mindset around it and Step away from The regular life that they were living what's interesting is that they weren't born into the monastery, right? A lot of these guys made this decision in their 20s 30s You know, so what were their jobs before they did it all over the board all over the board literally One guy I mean one of the monks was a lifeguard as a teenager Wow, I mean just all over the board So but regular jobs just always felt connected to God and connected to this higher living a life just You know under these terms Why what's fascinating to me is that you're saying that they're so happy because if you get a rammy how many how many people were in This monastery eight and they're all male Yes, eight men if you get eight random men in there, you know, what's the youngest age of the guys of 35? 35 yeah 70 years you get eight random 35 to 70s and asked how many of them are happy actually truly happy Maybe two right. How many people do you think are happy? Well, they just did a study There's a famous Harris study on happiness in this country. I think 67% of people are unhappy that is fucked. Here's what here. I did this Joe. You know, this is a good test Maybe you'll want to do this. I did this when I was speaking at an event for 500 Wall Street people Recently and it was fascinating. I'll take you through it. You can tell me if you're comfortable with it But if you take all the areas of your life and put them in a blender Okay, so take where you live your relationships your finances your health you everything everything put it in one fucking big blender and blend it up and on a scale of one to ten with a ten being the Dali lama of Happiness and a one being a guy that's at rock was zero being someone that's at rock bottom What's your happiness number? Me? Yeah, I'm pretty fucking happy Well, I don't know. I wouldn't do it that way. I definitely wouldn't give it a number. Okay, cuz I feel like that you're you're making something you're you're turning like a constant state of thinking and expression and Consideration you're turning it into a number and I just I don't like that idea I don't like that idea because I think it's a management issue I think a lot of what happiness is is a management issue and Decisions that you're making right now like you could be in a shit state of mind right now But you could make some decisions to adjust that and over the next couple hours You'll get to a much better place and these constant management decisions They waver in and out of your life on a daily basis like this idea that you could have a good mindset Then all of a sudden you'll be happy. That's horse shit. Like it's that's like it's like the tide It comes in and it comes down There's gonna be days where you're just not feeling so good physically and that's going to affect the way your happiness level is It's never static. It's neither the exactly the same true But if you looked at it overall at 30,000 feet and you had to give yourself a grade we happy as fuck is what I would Say, okay, so you're happy. Okay, so I'll take that I'll take that most people in that room. Yeah raised there I said if anyone is seven and not you know for anyone that listening that wants to do it Raise your hand if you're you know Seven or below I don't want to put anyone on the spot and majority of the room stood up Being a seven and thinking you know, like sevens a pretty happy number. Mm-hmm, but a seven If my son comes home with a 70 on a test It's a C minus right and All I'm saying is but what's interesting about the test though If you do actually go through the process for those that like go through and get a number in their head or whatever Do you want to give theirself a grade? Your brain or automatically goes to a 10 and then subtracts the two or three things pop in that make you that'll bring your happiness Down. It's a great way to identify What's making you unhappy and that you know what I mean, right? Like you started a ten You're like, oh fuck my relationship or this or that Usually it triggers an automatic like this is what's fucked up in my life response, right? And you can it helps you identify But it's interesting we have benchmarks in so many things in our life You have an IQ test you have tax brackets to measure your your wealth or financial statements You have IQ tests, like I said, you can get on a scale to measure your weight, but you're right happiness is one of those things It's like how do you benchmark it? You know what I mean? It kind of fluctuates and it's like hunger. I mean, it's it's it's it's something that's go it goes in and out It's always there but happy as fuck is a good answer Yeah but I this is something I've cultivated for a long time and avoided things that make me unhappy and figured out what those things are and been very rigid about Eliminating them from my life and one of the big ones is eliminating Interactions with people that are negative that is gigantic and Because I've realized that I'm not really as independent as I used to like to think I was I used to like to think that My thought process was independent and that I don't give a fuck what anybody thinks that's Nonsense people say that because they absolutely care what people think and it bothers them So they say I don't give a fuck but that I don't give a fuck stuff is almost entirely nonsense You do care and you care in both ways. You care if people are critical of you care of people are positive you But you also care if people are living positive lives and they're motivating you That's that's a big one people are fuel and other people It's one of the reasons why I like talking to people one of the reasons why I like to do Podcasts because I get a lot out of you know Like just talking to you about your time in the monastery or your your push to get to that hundred miles like you get Energy out of people like that and you think about this energy and you think about this inspiration when you're doing other things And it also sets in your mind that when you meet these exceptional people that move you like what are the characters? What are the qualities that they have? What are the characteristics that they that they possess and those things become? significant and important to you whereas if you live around a bunch of people that are complaining and Bitching about everything and they see the negative and everything and they're always whining Those people are the opposite of that. They're the opposite of inspiration and they're just they're they're mud You're just like well, it's like you're up to your ankles and mud. You try to trudge through life. It's difficult You're not light. It's not it's not pushing. It's not a wind at your back the winds in your face and it's rough you know and Over time I've learned that these people you just you're not gonna fix them I used to want to fix them when I was young I used to want to go hey, man I see what you're doing like dude. Don't do that anymore Listen, just try just just do this and and stop doing that and start doing this and if you just work towards this You could be successful and then a week later the guys doing the same shit. You're like, okay I'm wasting a significant amount of my energy on someone who doesn't want to waste any of their energy on themselves and so Managing the the community and the tribe that you're in making sure that you're a good member of that tribe That you're doing your part, you know, and there's a lot of cynicism in these days about Inspiration and about motivation because there's a lot of fake shit, you know, you can go on Instagram and you see a million of these inspirational quote pages and they're run by people that are probably depressed You know, you see a lot of people that are you know, talking about how to get ahead in life But they're not really doing anything themselves. So there's a lot of cynicism involved in that but there's also Sincerity in it and you can get if you just look at it with a pure heart and a pure mind You can get a lot of energy out of that and when you're around happy inspirational people that are successful it makes you feel better and you get inspired and if you act on that inspiration Your life will be more fulfilled and it's not just inspirational in terms of financial success but in terms of doing difficult things whether it's running a hundred miles doesn't pay you a goddamn thing other than the the the wealth of the knowledge that you can push yourself to such an extreme or Anything else whether it's someone who becomes really good at playing chess or someone who's really good at martial arts or or whatever it is There's there's a great feeling in these Overcoming these difficult things because life is never this just constant state of I'm at a nine all day And when I'm with my wife, I hit ten. Yay, and I stay like that. That's not real. What's real is like You saying that you went to this monastery and felt all this this angst about Meditating and being alone and not having your phone and not having the input But then when it comes out of it, then you have this reward So you you push through this and you have these uncomfortable feelings and you came out of those uncomfortable feelings with this newfound appreciation for time and this newfound this respect for your own Existence in your own space and carving out three hours for yourself a day. That's where it all comes from It all comes from life lessons and the lessons are learned through struggle And I think that there's a lot of people out there that think somehow or another you're gonna get to some place where you Live in in silk sheets and you get your toes done while someone's dropping grapes into your mouth. I don't want that I've never wanted that you that guy's not gonna be happy. He's gonna be bored hour into the grapes You can get those fucking grapes away from me. Stop painting my toes. What am I doing in this bed? I got to do something I'm not stimulated the human organism the animal that we are needs Constant stimulation because it evolved trying to find food and escape enemies and find shelter Escape nature escape the elements try to survive and this is the great joy that you have in taking care of your children So you can protect your children from the elements and the enemies and feed them and and it's also the great sadness that you see In losers when I see a loser. I see some guys 43 years old lives in his parents basement. He fucking hates the world. I'm like that was a baby man This is a baby that somebody just gave shitty nutrients to whether it's nutrients in the forms of food or in the form of thoughts and ideas and Examples and this kid developed these horrible self-defeating patterns of behavior that have led them to this point Where there this this middle-aged person with no future and no idea of how to get out of this rut and probably never will escape It and might just wind up sucking on a gun You know I mean this is this is the world that we live in today and I think Part of that world is because we have been fed this line of horseshit that you're supposed to seek comfort And I don't think you are I think you're supposed to seek lessons and you're supposed to seek difficult tasks and and and and Accomplishments and through those things and through doing things that are hard to do even if it's just a fucking 90 minute hot yoga class I do a 90 minute yoga class man those last 20 minutes I do not want to be there man And I definitely don't want to give a hundred percent and I can cheat I can I could kind of half-ass it I can but I can but if I don't and I get through it When that time is up and the lady says namaste and everybody gets up my fuck man. I made it You know I lost 15 pounds my fucking yoga mat is drenched to the point where I could literally ring it out fill up a Jug up with water, but through that struggle I will now have a better day and I better fucking do it again tomorrow or do something else Because if I just think well tomorrow, I'm just gonna coast and eat Twinkies and watch TV. Oh Hello sadness my old friend hello depression because when you're not doing anything you feel like shit And that's just a part of being a human being and we can pretend that we're something other than what we really are And we can pretend not me man. I'm just cool. Just chillin doing nothing bullshit. You're a fucking human You're a human being you're you evolved from the fucking hundreds of thousands of years of hunters and gatherers and people that were struggling Those were human reward systems are carved deeply into your DNA and if you don't respect that if you don't respect the mechanism of happiness and Fulfillment and what you really need to do in order to feel satisfied in life camaraderie love family friendship Struggle testing yourself learning all those things are imperative. They're all a giant part of being a person