Why Your Emotions Don't Have to Control You

What if the secret to emotional mastery isn’t avoiding negative feelings, but learning to use them as tools?

Psychologist Ethan Kross joined me this week to discuss his groundbreaking book Shift and the science of emotion regulation.

Kross runs the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan, where he’s discovered that all emotions—even anxiety and anger—evolved to help us excel in specific situations. He shared three categories of “shifters” we can use: sensory tools like music and touch, attention deployment strategies, and perspective-shifting techniques like talking to yourself in third person.

The key insight: remarkable people aren’t those who never feel difficult emotions—they’re those who've mastered the art of shifting them strategically.

Listen here now!

Mahalo!

Guy