Dennis Prager says on his radio show: "We think that emotions are what makes us happy. If I feel unhappy, I’m miserable. But if you let your emotions dictate how you look at life and how you act, you are doomed and everyone around you is doomed.
"Emotions are wonderful but they can’t control…how you act. Politically incorrect is merely a modern term for truth."
"Many women suffer from Pre-Menstrual Syndrome. This is a clear example of where their hormones affect their mood and their behavior. It’s understandable and a lousy way to lead a life. You know you are a prisoner of your emotions… You need to understand that those are my hormones talking, they are not real life. It is very hard to not let your emotions rule you.
"The trick about emotions is to say I see you, I feel you, but you won’t rule me… If you don’t do this, you’ll become volatile like a teenager."
"You want to know a beautiful trait you can have? To be predictable. You know you can rely that tomorrow when you encounter them, their mood will be pretty much the same as today. Do people with emotional predictability not have emotions? Of course they do. But if you allow your happiness to be dictated by your emotions, you’re doomed and everyone around you is doomed.
"This is an area just not taught any longer. It was in the past. It was a major subject in the wisdom passed on by older people to younger people."
"You should be able to say, ‘I feel awful now but I will not allow it to make me unhappy.’"
"I suspect some people are prisoners of their emotions because they feel a power in unleashing their emotions and controlling others as well. I wanted my children to feel that when they came home from school, their dad, no matter what happened, would be a happy guy."
"It all depends on how your emotions affect your behavior. I am a very emotional person. I tear up easily. I had to work on this. Crying is not a tragedy. Does it subvert your happiness? Does it hurt others?"
A woman calls. "It makes me very uncomfortable to pretend to be something that I am not."
Dennis: "It shouldn’t. When you are in a bad mood and you are pretending to act happily, you are not being a fraud. You are doing a heroic thing. Is it pretending to be clean if you are smelly and dirty and you take a shower? Is it pretending to be groomed when you shave your legs? The authentic you has hairy legs. All the time we do things to present ourselves to others."
"For most people, life is consistently difficult. Celebrate all the good days."
