Psychology Archives

Emotional Agility by Susan David: Book Overview & Takeaways

Do you tend to bottle emotions or brood in them? Do you believe narratives that simply aren’t true? Susan David’s Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life explains that most people react instinctively to the way they perceive events. And, these perceptions are based on emotional, often-untrue narratives explaining why those events took place. Continue reading for an overview of this book that can help you get unstuck and move on in life.

False Narratives: When Your Brain Misinterprets Sensory Data

Are your emotions accurately informed? Are you viewing reality through the faulty lens of a false narrative? Our brains create narratives from sensory inputs to help us understand the world around us. But, sometimes our brains misread sensory information and create false narratives. Clinical psychologist Susan David explains how these narratives mess with our view of reality. Keep reading to understand how false narratives are created and how they control us.

Bottling Emotions Will Only Lead to an Explosion: Let Them Out

Are you a bottler? Do you tend to hide your emotions away and pretend they’re not there? It’s only natural to want to avoid feeling negative emotions. The problem is that ignoring them doesn’t make them go away; it only allows them to pile up until they can’t be contained any longer. In Emotional Agility, clinical psychologist and management consultant Susan David discusses the problems associated with bottling emotions. Read more to understand how bottled emotions are a ticking time bomb.

2 Lousy Ways of Dealing With Emotional Pain: Bottling & Brooding

Do you ignore emotional pain? Do you wallow in it? Susan David explains that we all have narratives in our minds that make us feel certain ways. Sometimes, they cause pain. She discusses two unhealthy responses to these controlling narratives: bottling emotions and brooding over emotions. Keep reading to understand these two ways of dealing with emotional pain and why they only cause more trouble.

Accepting Your Emotions: Give Yourself Permission to Feel

Do you give yourself permission to feel what you feel? Do you allow yourself to struggle and even fail? Clinical psychologist and management consultant Susan David promotes emotional agility. That means having objectivity about what happens and how you feel and then deliberately responding in a healthy way. Part of emotional agility is accepting your emotions as they are. Read more to learn about the importance and the process of giving yourself permission to feel.

Ask “Why?” and “Why Not?” to Learn, Create, and Discover More

How often do you ask “Why?” How can asking “Why not?” lead you down exciting new paths? In A More Beautiful Question, Warren Berger highlights the fundamental questions (or question starters) “Why?” and “Why not?” He explains how these words form the basis of questions that can increase your knowledge, challenge your assumptions, and invoke your creativity to solve problems. Continue reading to discover the power of asking “Why?” and “Why not?”

How Mindfulness of Emotions Can Help You Sync Up With Reality

How do you feel right now? What’s going on around you at this moment? It’s important to view your emotions with objectivity. Clinical psychologist Susan David says that, when it comes to your present emotions, mindfulness can help you be real about what you’re feeling and why. Read more to learn how to achieve mindfulness of emotions and stay in sync with reality.

How to Understand Your Feelings: Be Objective About Them

Are feelings experiences or truths? Are emotions connected to personality? How should your emotions about the past be understood differently from what you’re feeling right now? Susan David explains that most people react instinctively to their perceptions of events. She argues that you can break free of these controlling narratives by practicing emotional agility. She shares recommendations for understanding both your present and past emotions. Read more to learn how to understand your feelings by being objective about them.

The 4 Fundamental Questions: Why, Why Not, What if, and How

Are you always that one person in the room who’s asking all the questions? Should you be? In A More Beautiful Question, author and journalist Warren Berger highlights four fundamental questions: Why, Why not, What if, and How. He calls them “beautiful questions” and contends that they form the basis of larger questions that can help you succeed in life both professionally and personally. Read more to relearn how to raise the questions you almost certainly asked all the time as a child.

How to Determine Your Values: Envision Your Ideal Life

Are your values based on the truth? Are they truly your own, or have they been imposed on you? Susan David advocates cultivating the skill of emotional agility, and she outlines four steps you can take to get there. The last step is to choose your values. It starts with figuring out whether your current values are based on reality and whether they’re truly your own, and it culminates in envisioning your future. Read more to discover how to determine your values with David’s process.

« Previous