Welcome to Take Two: Beginnings, where we share a helpful resource to offer inspiration or support.
A podcast, book, article or meditation . . . a place to begin.
This week on Beginnings: Emotion Commotion in Trying Times: Showing up to pain & accepting what is (episode #709): Dave Asprey interviews Susan David, Ph.D., a Harvard Medical School psychologist.
Dr. David is the author of the best selling book Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life and did a TedTalk that’s been seen by over 7 million people. Dave Asprey is the author of Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever.
In the interview, Dr. David shares how people can deal with stress and difficult emotions in ways that lead to more emotional “agility,” which she defines as the ability to bring compassion, curiosity, and courageousness to every emotion we experience, no matter how difficult.
A few highlights from their conversation:
Our difficult emotions are signposts to the things that we care about. There’s nothing inherently “good” or “bad” about them, but when we push hard emotions aside in unhealthy ways, we lose our capacity to adapt to the world.
There is a proven benefit to creating “linguistic space” between you and your thoughts, mental stories, and feelings. For example, instead of saying “I’m sad” try saying, “I’m noticing I’m sad.”
We shouldn’t signal to children that certain emotions are “good” or “bad,” but rather help name and label them. Let kids know they are seen and loved regardless of difficult feelings. She mentions she devotes a chapter in her book to how we can help children develop emotional agility (I just ordered my copy!).
If you’re interested in learning how to deepen your OWN emotional resilience, Take Two offers a 28-day course that incorporates much of this research into actionable steps through writing prompts and guided meditations. Note: You will need a copy of the Take Two Journal to take it.
May we all deepen our own agility —
Kate
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This blog is created by Take Two: a Journal for New Beginnings, a self-guided journal that shares tools, activities, and writing prompts designed to build resilience. The Journal will be released July 28, 2020 and is available now for pre-sale. Published by Chronicle Books. FMI, see the Take Two book trailer.
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