Jake Pearson  00:00

Are you trying to figure out the secret to happiness? We're here at what makes you happy with Jake Are you trying to figure out the secret to happiness? We're here at What Makes You Happy with Jake Pearson. We want to make that happiness more accessible for you in your life. So stick around as we interview everyday people, inspirational leaders and your favorite celebrities on what makes them happy.

Welcome back to the podcast where we ask the question, what makes you happy?

My name is Jake Pearson. And today we have with us the podcast host of Transacting Valyou. We have Josh Porthouse from Virginia, USA. Josh, how are you?

Josh Porthouse  00:39

I'm good, man! How you doing?

Jake Pearson  00:40

Yes, I'm doing really well. Thank you. And you go by another name on your podcast? Aren't you? 

Josh Porthouse  00:45

Yes. So I go by a few names, depending on the characters that are in the interviews. But yes, overall I am Porter.

Jake Pearson  00:51

Well, pleasure to have you on the what makes you happy podcast Porter, would you mind starting with what does make you happy?

Josh Porthouse  00:58

What I stumbled on the most is 'happiness is fleeting', you know, it's momentary. Maybe that moment, last seconds, maybe that moment last months, or years or weeks. But it's fleeting. And for me, the more I thought about it, really what it comes down to is just improvement. Whether it's me making improvement, compared to who I was, watching family members, people, I care about friends, clients, learning and becoming new versions of them.

Jake Pearson  01:28

Really resonate with that. I think I'm in a similar boat too, you know, I've just enjoyed my own personal growth journey and seeing me, you know-- Do you look back to the challenges that you've overcome, and how you've grown and reacted to those situations you think well done? You know that makes me proud.

Josh Porthouse  01:44

Oh, yes. You have to, you know, you have to. It's so easy to get sucked into this sort of seduction of pessimism as humans. And- Oh, well, that was horrible. I'm such an idiot, I could have done that better. Whatever. This person did it better than I do. Doesn't matter. How many times have you stopped and thought about actually, here's what went [phonetic 02:03] well. This was good.

Jake Pearson  02:05

They've got a segue into something really- maybe often a bit. So I was driving to my girlfriend's house when she lived far away. And I was just in a mood, like really feeling down focusing on the negatives, so bad. And I was listening to this podcast, and someone said, something this podcast that made me just stop it right there and then- And my mind just exploded, I realized that I was focusing so much on the negatives, I never ever stopped to think, Hey, what's going well for me right now. And that was probably 6, 8 months, 10, maybe even a year ago. But from that moment on, it was just, whenever I get into a space where I find myself being pessimistic or negative, it's hang on! What's the opposite? What is going well for you, and I list off all these little things that have gone well, and I feel like 10 times better and whatever foul mood I was slipping into was gone.

Josh Porthouse  02:52

Yes. So let me jump on that for a second, right? Think about this, talking about positive thoughts or positive mental attitude. You're on the other side, almost the opposite side of the world from me. I've never met you before, we've never really talked before. And what we're discussing is, let's just couch it as positivity. But anybody on any other form of social media, who they've never met before, never interacted with, aside from that respected platform, generally focuses or centers around some sort of centrism, or negativity, whether it's talking, or pranks, or jokes, or bullying, whatever. But it's all surface level stuff. And those are the relationships that you tend to make. When you focus on negativity. I think like this as an example, when you start to talk about this sort of campy phrase of positive mental attitude, you start having more substantial relationships, where as people, you start to grow together and become better people. But on a deeper level, even if we never talk again, you and I, as people, I think it adds another layer to your character and it makes all the difference, but it takes positivity to do it. I think.

Jake Pearson  04:11

I really agree with that. And it's great that we can be on the other side of the world. And we've come across something very similar in our own journeys. And I think there's a lot of things when it comes to building a positive mental attitude or just happiness in your life that overlap in a lot of different- in everyone's lives. And that's what we're sharing here. But could you share for us, Josh, what you would suggest to our listeners who are all over the world who may be struggling to find a little bit of happiness in their lives?

Josh Porthouse  04:44

• One, value still hold value. And it's not just a matter of, can you communicate them or convey that in a secondary school classroom, in a high school auditorium, in an elementary school coloring book, you know, it doesn't matter where and how, I think it matters more that you identify where you are and who you are as a person and what your values are and what sort of character you want to become. So I've got a theme for 2022 on the podcast called the Character of your character. And so it's who you see yourself becoming when you look your values in the mirror, that's the price. So values still hold value for that reason. 

• But secondly, you may learn through life alone, because it's only in your head, how you interpret whatever catalysts occurred. So you may learn alone, but you don't live alone. You may live by yourself, right? Don't get me wrong, but you don't live alone. You're still a human and this sort of combine and conquer philosophy makes a huge difference when it comes to your character, your success, your fulfillment, whatever, just as a human and I think those are the big two points I'd bring up.

Jake Pearson  05:59

Beautifully said Josh! It's been an absolute pleasure to talk about all the things that make you happy. 

Thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope it gives you something to think about on your quest to discover what makes you happy. Make sure to check out whatmakesyouhavethepodcast.com to connect with today's guest and follow us on all our social media platforms. And to stay up to date on what's happening next and what makes you happy. Don't forget to share this episode with a friend and we'll see you next time!