A Basic Skill We Should Have Learned as Kids

To cease to know what we feel is to cease to experience what things mean to us, which is to be cut off from our own context. And it is just this state that most of us, as children, were educated to regard as normal. Let me emphasize that I am speaking here and throughout about feelings and emotions, not about actions. I am not suggesting that we sh

The more you know and pay attention to your emotional state, the more your work and leadership will flow from an authentic place, and the more you will be able to pay attention to others and lead in a healthy and empowered way. You have to tell yourself, “I’m not going to be dominated by my emotions, nor am I going to deny them. I’m going to be awa

experiencing them. Instead, the goal is to learn to identify our emotions, analyze their cause, and if they’re not actually part of our rational decision process—and more often than not, they aren’t—dismiss them as sources of information.

When we are able to stop overemphasizing emotions, we are able to start feeling the emotions and are invariably surprised how enjoyable, peaceful, and equanimous an emotion can be.

Avoidance always has its reasons. The organism is trying to protect itself, ensure its well-being, and preserve self-esteem—but in the wrong way. Since emotions, negative and positive, express our assessment of the significance of different aspects of reality for ourselves, when we bury feelings and emotion we also bury ourselves. This is what it m