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Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, I am Dramas and this is the Street

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Speaker 1: Stoic Podcast, bringing your daily dose of timeless stoke philosophy

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Speaker 1: remix for the hip hop generation. We are combining ancient

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Speaker 1: philosophy with lyrics and quotes from some of the greatest

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Speaker 1: who ever grace a microphone. Now, with that in mind,

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Speaker 1: let's get things started with your daily shot of inspiration.

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Speaker 2: Now today we are going to be focusing around the

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Speaker 2: stoic idea of gratitude and man, whenever I am looking

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Speaker 2: for some positivity in my life, I'm looking to just

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Speaker 2: have a little bit of a pick me up. Nipsey

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Speaker 2: Hustle is definitely one of those people who I revisit

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Speaker 2: and today I found a quote from him that I

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Speaker 2: thought really matched up with the idea of gratitude, particularly

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Speaker 2: how I want to talk about it today, and nip says,

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Speaker 2: I'm at peace with what I'm doing. I feel good

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Speaker 2: with what I wake up doing and about my lifestyle.

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Speaker 2: And I think, to me, this speaks to the idea

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Speaker 2: of the importance of gratitude right because gratitude brings peace.

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Speaker 2: That's what Nip is talking about. You know, when you

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Speaker 2: don't feel like there is somewhere else that you want

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Speaker 2: to be right. That is peace right there. And I

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Speaker 2: think a lot of our unhappiness as human beings, it

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Speaker 2: comes from our lack of presence, right, and finding the

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Speaker 2: good in a current situation.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: Our inability to find the good in a current situation,

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Speaker 2: I think is probably the root cause of much of

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Speaker 2: the unhappiness that we oftentimes face as human beings.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: And I love how he's just sort of, you know,

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Speaker 2: talking about his his lifestyle and it being something that

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Speaker 2: he's proud of, right, And that's obviously a conscious effort

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Speaker 2: in create his lifestyle, and also feeling good about what

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Speaker 2: he wakes up getting to do. Right. That sort of

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Speaker 2: appreciation and that excitement to be able to wake up

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Speaker 2: to something that makes you happy, right, that automatically brings

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Speaker 2: that gratitude if you can kind of get present to

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Speaker 2: all that you're blessed with. And this brings us to

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Speaker 2: a quote from one of the stoics, Seneca, where he

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Speaker 2: says true happiness is to enjoy the present without anxious

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Speaker 2: dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either

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Speaker 2: hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have,

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Speaker 2: which is sufficient for he that so wants nothing. The

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Speaker 2: greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.

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Speaker 2: A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it

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Speaker 2: may be, without wishing for what.

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Speaker 1: He has not.

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Speaker 2: That was a very kind of doctor Susie type of

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Speaker 2: quote right there, But I think it reminds me of

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Speaker 2: another sort of simplified quote that I had heard one

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Speaker 2: time from someone that I had in my other podcast Life,

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Speaker 2: and they said that they had heard once that depression

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Speaker 2: comes from dwelling on the past and that anxiety comes

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Speaker 2: from focusing on the future. And this really resonated with me,

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Speaker 2: and I think it kind of speaks to that idea

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Speaker 2: that both Seneca and Nip are talking about, where the

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Speaker 2: sort of sweet spot is the present moment, right when

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Speaker 2: you're not worried about what's coming next, or you're not

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Speaker 2: fixated on what you don't have, or you're not fixated

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Speaker 2: on what someone else has, but instead you're taking the

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Speaker 2: time to enjoy all that you do have right, all

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Speaker 2: of the luxuries that you have, big or small, and

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Speaker 2: reality is regardless of the situation that you find yourself

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Speaker 2: in right now, there has to be something that you

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Speaker 2: can be present and be grateful for right I mean again,

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Speaker 2: the fact that you're listening to this podcast, which is

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Speaker 2: something that I always tend to bring up from time

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Speaker 2: to time. It puts you in a percentage of people

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Speaker 2: privilege that a lot of others in the world, you know,

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Speaker 2: don't have access to a phone or a computer to

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Speaker 2: be able to listen to something like this at their leisure. Right,

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Speaker 2: even just being grateful for something small like that, knowing

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Speaker 2: that you know things could be far worse and you

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Speaker 2: have a lot to be grateful for, I think begins

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Speaker 2: to unlock your ability to find happiness even in what

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Speaker 2: appears to be mundane everyday life.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: And for me, I relate to this in a really

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Speaker 2: deep way because I've always been somebody who kind of

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Speaker 2: struggled with depression and bits of anxiety. And one of

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Speaker 2: the biggest things that I think has helped me at

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Speaker 2: this point in my life that I've begun to sort

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Speaker 2: of unpack was trying to get hyper present, right, Like,

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Speaker 2: what I realized was that much of my depression would

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Speaker 2: come from thoughts about something other than the present moment.

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Speaker 2: Right in the present moment, I wasn't unhappy, I wasn't suffering,

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Speaker 2: I wasn't you know, without a roof over my head

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Speaker 2: or was without whatever. And I realized that the depression

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Speaker 2: comes from taking myself out of those moments, right, And

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Speaker 2: what I've begun to kind of do now when those

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Speaker 2: bouts of depression begin to kind of creep up or

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Speaker 2: those negative thoughts, is I really just kind of fight

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Speaker 2: back and push back against this narrative in my head

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Speaker 2: about whatever dark thought is popping up, and I try

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Speaker 2: to bring myself to be hyper focused on my current

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Speaker 2: life right and remind myself my current life is amazing,

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Speaker 2: you know, and I have to fixate on all that

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Speaker 2: I do have and all that I have to be

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Speaker 2: grateful for and the fact that I'm breathing and I'm

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Speaker 2: still here. I'm able to have another day on this earth,

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Speaker 2: you know, doing something that I enjoy doing, or giving,

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Speaker 2: you know, my dreams another go, right and listen. It's

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Speaker 2: going to be a back and forth battle, right, But again,

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Speaker 2: it works. I don't find myself sitting in these elongated

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Speaker 2: periods of depression anymore because I'm fighting back, and I'm

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Speaker 2: fighting back with gratitude, which is something that is always

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Speaker 2: available to me. Right now, we have heard from man

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Speaker 2: one of my favorites Nipsey Hustle, one of the Stowic Seneca.

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Speaker 2: I've given you some insight into my own life and

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Speaker 2: how gratitude has just been this incredible tool for me

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Speaker 2: to you know, find happiness and consistently be happy. Now

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Speaker 2: let's talk about how you can make it your mantra

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Speaker 2: for today. But first let's take a quick break and

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Speaker 2: then we'll be right back. All right, so we have

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Speaker 2: heard the words of Nipsey Hustle, one of the Stoic Seneca,

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Speaker 2: myself all on this topic of gratitude, right, and now

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Speaker 2: let's talk about how you can make it your mantra

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Speaker 2: for today. And I think for me, what always tends

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Speaker 2: to be the best pieces of advice are ones that

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Speaker 2: are incredibly practical, right, things that I can apply to

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Speaker 2: my life immediately with little to no effort. And I

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Speaker 2: think one of the best things that I could sort

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Speaker 2: of suggest based upon my own personal experiences, is trying

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Speaker 2: to create a team throughout the day that keeps you

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Speaker 2: in this place of gratitude. Right. And for me, it

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Speaker 2: looks like, you know, waking up and even if I'm

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Speaker 2: exhausted and I'm mad at my alarm for going off,

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Speaker 2: I quickly try to remind myself like, oh man, this

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Speaker 2: is such a blessing that I got to wake up

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Speaker 2: another day, Right, and just keep looking for those little winds,

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Speaker 2: you know, along the way I make my bed. I'm

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Speaker 2: proud of myself that, even though I was half asleep,

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Speaker 2: I took the time to make my bed before I

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Speaker 2: went downstairs. Right, all those little pats on the back

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Speaker 2: that you give yourself are are going to keep adding

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Speaker 2: to that gratitude that fights back against the negative thoughts

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Speaker 2: and again throughout the day, continuing to remind myself of

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Speaker 2: all the positive things. Right, if I check something off

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Speaker 2: my to do list, I make sure I take a

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Speaker 2: second to remind myself of what a great job I'm doing.

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Speaker 2: And all of this sounds a bit silly, you know,

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Speaker 2: a bit sort of mundane, but it's the only way

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Speaker 2: to truly kind of push back against our mind, which

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Speaker 2: loves to sort of reminisce on things from the past

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Speaker 2: or sort of anxiously try and predict the future. And

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Speaker 2: I think that's what creating a routine around just finding

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Speaker 2: gratitude in the smallest things, you know, talking nice to yourself,

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Speaker 2: you know, bigging yourself up when you are completing even

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Speaker 2: the smallest tasks, Like you're then creating your own happiness, right,

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Speaker 2: and you're not waiting for something or some moment or

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Speaker 2: someone to give it to you. And and I think

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Speaker 2: that is sort of what cuts out the middleman. And

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Speaker 2: oftentimes again that middleman ends up being where the depression lies.

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Speaker 2: Right in those moments where you're waiting for something or

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Speaker 2: someone to give you that outside happiness or validation, that's

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Speaker 2: where those depressive thoughts can creep in and really just

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Speaker 2: kind of take a hold of you. So now to

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Speaker 2: recap on this conversation around gratitude, right, you have Nip

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Speaker 2: just talking about the idea of peace, right, and I

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Speaker 2: think the two lines that follow that him talking about

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Speaker 2: being good with his lifestyle and being good with what

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Speaker 2: he wakes up doing. That's him being grateful for his

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Speaker 2: life and the life that he's living, and that is

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Speaker 2: bringing him peace. And what Seneca talks about happiness is

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Speaker 2: to enjoy the present. That idea. I want to remind

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Speaker 2: you of that quote I said, where depression comes from

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Speaker 2: dwelling on the past, anxiety comes from focusing on the

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Speaker 2: future and just remembering, like, we want to exist in

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Speaker 2: that middle ground, right, that sweet spot the present moment

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Speaker 2: that is where your happiness will lie at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day. And then for me personally, I've applied

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Speaker 2: this to my own life. You know, I've taken my

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Speaker 2: own advice here the little practical steps that I'm giving

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Speaker 2: you about how to treat your day each and every day.

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Speaker 2: I've applied those things to my life, and I've seen

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Speaker 2: a drastic difference in my mood or the way that

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Speaker 2: I'm able to bounce back or snap out of, you know,

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Speaker 2: negative thoughts or or you know, just a bad day

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Speaker 2: that I'm having, how I can quickly get back into

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Speaker 2: the present moment and back into being happy and at peace.

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Speaker 2: Right now, with that said, thank you so much for

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Speaker 2: checking out the Streets podcast. Do your best to apply

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Speaker 2: these concepts that we discussed and see everyday life, and

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Speaker 2: I will catch you next time. The Street Stoke podcast

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Speaker 2: is a production of Iheart's micro Dura podcast network. H