Understanding Emotions with Susan David

Susan David is a psychologist on faculty at Harvard Medical School. She’s also the co-founder and co-director of The Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital and is CEO of Evidence-Based Psychology. Along with speaking and consulting, Susan is also the author of Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life.

In this episode, Susan David and Eric examine how we can experience, interpret, talk about, and relate to our emotions so that we live a life that is more intentional and deeply rooted in what we value. 

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In This Interview, Susan David and I Discuss Understanding Emotions and…

• Her book, Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life
• The problem of going on autopilot through our habitual actions
• The problem of going on autopilot through the habits of our internal world
• The benefits of taking time to think about what we value and then examining our habitual patterns to find ways they might be out of alignment
• That we own our emotions, they don’t own us
• Values as qualities of action
• Engaging with choice points in life Actions as votes towards the person we want to be
• The mistaken view of emotions as good or bad
• Emotions as signposts for the things we care about
• That emotions are data, not directives
• How to decipher whether emotions are old habitual patterns or present-day valuable signals
• Asking, “Is my believing this emotion opening me up to thrive or shutting me down into something small?”
• Being compassionate and curious with difficult emotions
• Hearing yourself when you describe your emotions
• Utilizing emotion granularity to more accurately label and better understand emotions
• The skill of noticing our emotions so that they don’t define us
• Differentiating emotions from thoughts
• Emotions during times of uncertainty
• Gentle acceptance as a prerequisite to change

Susan David Links:

susandavid.com

Emotional Agility Quiz

Ted Talk: The Gift and Power of Emotional Courage

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Susan David on Understanding Emotions, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

Susan David (February, 2019)

Hilary Jacobs Hendel

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