Jake Pearson  00:00

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 our guest today is an author and teacher who is a dealer of hope, sharing positive disruption around the globe. Tony Rubleski from Grand Haven, Michigan, United States, it's a pleasure to have you. How are you?

Tony Rubleski  00:47

Good, how you doing [unintelligible 00:49] Jake, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you!

Jake Pearson  00:51

Doing really well. Thank you. And I'm excited to have you here. And I love your shirt Hope Dealer. What does that mean?

Tony Rubleski  00:56

Well, it's a title that one of my friends said, No, you are a hope dealer. And I look at it as a fun way to say, you know what, I like to share with people to don't give up. And to look at it today with what the old proverbial [phonetic 01:07] of Faith, Love and Hope. And if we lose hope, especially us as global citizens, the game is over. So I don't want to be negative, disturbed. But every day to me is a fresh approach of living. And I'm very hopeful that the human race will continue to make progress no matter what conflicts are going on.

Jake Pearson  01:26

Wonderful. So this is all about what makes you happy. And I have a feeling it's going to tie in to something that you've just mentioned there, but let's go with it anyway. Tell me what does make you happy, Tony.?

Tony Rubleski  01:40

There are several things that come to mind. An ideal day of happiness would be taken a walk along the boardwalk. I live near Lake Michigan, it's a huge freshwater lake, looks like the ocean. I walked that pier almost every day when I'm not traveling in the summer in the fall. It's stunning. So I love to see the sunset water to hear nature, to see the seagulls even if they're kind of flying by and trying to get you [phonetic 02:02], it's beautiful to wake up and have fresh air and be out in nature in a beautiful space. 

I also love music. Music, to me is the soundtrack of life and some music will bring it down. I look at as a great way when I go workout or I'm hiking or outside nature walking to keep my spirits up. 

So I love the backdrop and how you can create what you want to blow many times with the power of music. A couple other quick things here. I love to be outside and just contemplate things. It's always interesting when you're walking the some of the downloads you have, instead of worrying, I'll go take a walk. It's much more productive than me sit at my desk or trying to overthink things like, you know what, up out of your chair, physically move, get into action, get positive energy going in oxygen. And many times the best ideas come from being out in nature. So that meditation, that movement to me is critical. 

Other things that turn me on I'm kind of geeky as I love knowledge, I'm constantly learning and watching podcasts at x videos. That keeps me happy because I can't get bored. I want to throw this out for your global audiences. If you're ever bored, go over to YouTube and pull up comedy. Pull up a TEDx talk to get you thinking differently to interrupt if you're having a bad day, people always [phonetic 03:25] think as a writer and a speaker all over the world. And I'm always happy. I have bad days too Jake. What I have learned though, is how to deliberately override myself get into negative thinking for too long. If it continues for hours, it takes hours to get out of it sometimes. If it's a few days, everyone in my circle, my team knows that my clients can send some like you're not as happy as you normally are and I think Human I'm 50 years old this year, and I have some mileage on the road of life. And I go wow, I'm grateful that I made it this far. And what does the future hold? 

So there's more pragmatism in the last five or six years to see that life can throw some real tough things at you. I'm a former compulsive gambler. I've had a divorce. I have older children that I love that, you know, there's been challenges raising them through divorce and then getting through their teen years. But I just am very optimistic that you're always learning even from temporary setbacks. So I know that's a lot to process. But to me, everyday is a gift. I don't look at life in Black and Whites and it's Technicolor. What can we go out and explore? What can we create? What good conversations? What good concerts can we go to? How do we live life in full Technicolor?

Jake Pearson  04:37

You've given so much food for thought. But if you're a listener, it doesn't matter that you probably didn't hear all of it. Just take the one thing that you think resonates with you and go and explore that concept because there are a few things there that you touched on. And there was one thing that I really liked. That probably ties into probably the advice that you would give to our listeners if one of them came up to you and said that they were struggling with happiness or that they were having a bad day. Did you really want to retouch back on that, going to YouTube, and watching a video or something like that, wasn't it. 

Tony Rubleski  05:09

So to watch the evolution of online internet, bringing the world together, I look at it me and you can access all this great content at any point in human history, you could never find it. So I don't know if people get bored. So if you're having a bad day, so you know what, I'm struggling with depression, I'm having tough thoughts. I'm having anxiety, you might find a TEDx talk that you go I needed that right then and there. Use the power of Google, use the power of search to get yourself out of a tough spot.

Jake Pearson  05:38

I could not resonate with that more, because I've listened to podcasts when I'm having a bad day and it's probably like most of the time when I'm driving and I'll just hear one thing and I've just got a pause that because that thought is shifting something in my brain right there and then and I love that go and watch a video, go search up a piece of content, and you never know what is going to be said that you're going to resonate with and it might just help you take that next step forward to a day. Tony, it's been an absolute pleasure to talk about all things that make you happy. We really appreciate your time today. 

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 whatmakesyouhappypodcast.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!