Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power

by Julia Digangi

Your success in life—at work and at home—rises when you harness the energy that powers your brain. A neuropsychologist explains how. Your drive to create change, catalyze impact, and build relationships all come from neuroelectrical energy—real, electrical impulses—firing in your brain. Who you are as a person depends on how you work with this energy. When this energy rises within you, you feel empowered and dynamic. But when this energy falls, you feel down, stressed, and defeated. You may feel as if you don't control your emotional energy, that it's an inevitable consequence of the world around you and the forces bearing down on you. But that's not the case. To reach your full potential, you can learn to recognize and harness the energy in your brain. Leading neuropsychologist Julia DiGangi will teach you how through eight "codes." Some of the codes will surprise you. All will fortify you. You will learn why these codes work and how to apply them to your own challenges through exercises and reflections. When you start viewing your life less about the activities you do and more about the natural energies within and around you, your power to live and lead with impact grows exponentially. Energy Rising offers you a provocative and neuroscientifically accurate path to greater emotional power, influence, and connection, both at work and at home. DiGangi's lab and clinical work have been conducted at Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown University, the University of Chicago, DePaul, and the University of Illinois Chicago. Her fMRI and EEG research has helped business leaders, parents, couples, educators, and military leaders. Her work, rooted in resilience after extreme stress, will show you how to effectively deal with struggles you currently face. She tells the stories of business leaders, parents, couples—and even combat veterans and trauma survivors—who used the eight codes to rise. Get ready to feel your energy rising.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Leadership, Neuroscience, Spirituality, Business

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2023

Reviews

[David Fredh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

The book emphasizes that our drive, creativity, and emotional states are influenced by real electrical impulses in the brain. When this energy rises, we feel empowered and dynamic. Emotional power lies in understanding and harnessing the neuroelectrical energy within us. Will read this again soon.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so on point. I love how the author takes these complex human experiences we all can relate to and breaks them down into these helpful nuggets about our emotions and relationships. This book has helped me as a father, manager, friend, you name it. Literally everything in here is helpful.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really helped me reframe some of my thinking and gave me new ways to approach emotional stalemate. If you are working on a better you in the new year, pick this one up!

[Katie Wegner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative, without being boring!

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

What powerful information about emotions that I haven't seen delivered this way before. I especially appreciated "picking a more powerful pain" and how "emotional power" is defined as worthiness. A big lesson is to take responsibility for how we feel so we can show up how WE want to--not dictated by others, but dictated by us. And in that trust in ourselves, we can change relationships, which changes our lives. I also appreciated the idea of self-division. I've called it "self-betrayal" and "self-abandonment" but this might be easier to swallow. I also never recognized that humiliation is a strong feeling that we are all trying to avoid feeling. I've definitely felt that way before and it's what has caused me to play small and not take up space in the past--to shrink and not be seen, really. I'm starting to come out of that in an even bigger way now. I started coming out of that several years ago and the ripples are moving into a wave. I feel grateful for this book! It's a revelation.

“In what I have come to understand as one of the greatest paradoxes of life, the depth of your emotional power relies directly on your ability to work with the energy of your emotional pain. When worked with wisely, it’s the energy of emotional pain that, counterintuitively enough, strengthens you. If you’ve been stuck for long—feeling lost, confused, anxious, uninspired, unempowered—it’s because you’ve been approaching pain the wrong way. To rise to new levels of your emotional power, you will have to accept one core counterintuitive premise: that your emotional pain—all those negative feelings you keep trying to avoid—is often the precise path to your empowerment.” pg. 3

“A common response to painful negative feelings like stress, fear, worry, embarrassment, or anxiety is to try to avoid them. And so, we commonly avoid the conversations, people, places, and memories that cause us pain. The problem, however, is that chronic avoidance of your painful feelings doesn’t end your feelings; it just exhausts you. All that ignoring, scrolling, pretending, numbing, and denying takes a tremendous amount of actual neuropsychological energy. Research shows that avoidance of our negative feelings wears us down. The energy we spend persistently avoiding our painful feelings then creates more painful feelings in the form of exhaustion, burnout, depletion, and numbness.” pg. 4

“While you cannot directly control an emotional state in another person, people are influenced by your emotional energy. For example, a parent, frustrated their child won’t calm down, can’t soothe the child. But when the parent’s inner state becomes calm, the upset child rapidly calibrates to this soothing emotional energy. Similarly, a manager, fixated on ways to engage their unengaged employees, feels unmotivated thinking about how unmotivated their team is. But when the manager finds inner inspiration, the engaged employees attune to the inspiration of their leader.” pg. 6

“Within the range of feeling we’ll call emotional pain, it’s important to recognize that we’ll predominantly focus on the pain you inflict upon yourself. Most precisely, we’ll be talking about the pain that comes from your willingness to self-betray. While plenty of pain can be inflicted upon you—this is, for example, what interpersonal assaults and abuse are—a significant amount of pain in your life comes when you abandon yourself. This pain of self-betrayal—the times when you create pain by abandoning or forsaking yourself—is what I call self-division.” pg. 12

“In moments like these, you abandon the truth of your own energy—and when you do this, you show yourself you’re willing to be your own betrayer. . . We’re talking about the times we abandon ourselves not because there’s any objective danger but because it feels too emotionally intense to stay aligned with the truth of our energy.” pg. 13

“To understand if you’re dividing yourself from yourself, consider the following:
- When you’re exhausted, do you allow yourself to rest—or do you force yourself to ‘push through’?
- When you want to say no, do you respect your boundaries—or do you choose people-pleasing?
- If your feelings have been hurt, do you honor them—or do you minimize, push down, or ignore them?
- When you want something for which you don’t feel entirely comfortable asking, do you advocate for yourself—or do you expect others to read your mind?
- If you’re upset and want to talk about something, do you address your desire—or do you avoid it?
- When you realize you’ve made a mistake, do you speak to yourself in a reassuring way—or do you compound your pain by becoming self-critical?” pg. 15-16

“If you divide your energy persistently, you will weaken your energy because your behavior lacks integrity with your emotions. With enough time and after enough self-division, you will find the strength of your energy severely depleted.” pg. 16

“Until you have a bad feeling, you do not have a problem.” pg. 17

“The meaning you make out of your life rises on the energy of your emotion. Neuroscientific research shows that emotions bridge the external world to inner meaning. Emotion also modulates cognition. You can’t pay attention without emotion, can’t imagine without it, can’t create without it, and can’t make decisions without it.” pg. 18

“If emotional pain is self-division, then what’s emotional power?
Wholeness.
The depth of your emotional power depends on the degree to which you stay whole, and your wholeness depends on your refusal to divide yourself from yourself. The degree to which you refuse to deny your authentic emotions is the clearest measure of your emotional power. Said another way, your willingness to work with your negative emotions is a powerful sign you believe in your wholeness—that all of you belongs, even the parts that are challenging or inconvenient.” pg. 18-19

“If pain is the resistance that separates you from achieving what you desire, then power is the energy that allows you to achieve what you desire. Examples of this occur when you:
- Speak up even when it’s hard.
- Trust yourself even when others disagree with you.
- Believe in yourself even when you make a mistake.
- Go after your goals even when others tell you they’re unreasonable.
- Do what you believe is right even when you’re afraid.
- Seek to understand yourself even when others won’t.
- Believe in your worthiness even in moments that don’t give you clear evidence of it.” pg. 19

“I want you to think about emotional power in another way, too. Another word we’ll use to describe your emotional power is worthiness. Worthiness means you believe in your inherent wholeness—that all of you belongs and that all of you has value. Not just the happy parts, not just the smart parts, not just the good-looking or hardworking parts. All the parts belong.” pg. 21

“The desire for worthiness is universal because it’s the desire from which all other desires flow. You’ll never be able to access the emotional power required to express yourself freely, rest when tired, accept abundance, require respect, and allow kindness if you don’t first believe that you’re worthy of it. The greater your sense of worthiness, the stronger your emotional power.” pg. 21

“It’s clarifying—steadying, really—to realize that there is absolutely no scenario in which you magically avoid all pain. Now, ask yourself a power question: Which pain do I choose? Do I choose the pain that comes from feeling disrespected, unappreciated, and parental? Or do I choose the pain that will likely come when I attempt to expand into a relationship with more self-respect, partnership, and intimacy?” pg. 34

“Regardless of what you decide, it’s soothing to realize that if you want to engineer your life in emotionally powerful ways, there’s really only one mistake you can make: continue doing the same thing you already know is hurting you and expect a different result. Your emotional power expands at the edge of your old behaviors.” pg. 36

“The price of true self-respect is indeed great. To be self-respecting, we must be willing to deeply honor our own energy even at the cost of other people’s approval. In the moments we prioritize our own respect, we stop living our lives in accordance with other people’s preferences and start living in alignment with the truth of our own energy. We honor our sacred yeses and heed or sacred nos. For many of us who attribute our very success and safety to being pleasing to others, the decision to become deeply self-respecting is utterly terrifying. To minimize this truth is to hinder our effectiveness at achieving change.” pg. 37

“There’s something to understand about the way your brain processes pain that is quite astonishing: it is often the anticipation of pain that is more painful than the pain itself. . . in this code about expanding your emotional power—it’s important to remember that it’s your fear of pain that is often more painful than the actual pain you experience.” pg. 39

“More relevant to your life, if your underlying pattern is not expansive enough to hold possibilities beyond your current pattern, you will block your own evolution.” pg. 57

“The pattern detection abilities of your brain are fundamentally invested in predicting your survival. Everything else is secondary. Do you know what the surest test of survivability is?
Familiarity.
If you have been here before—no matter how bad you felt—it’s familiar enough that your brain is certain you can survive it. This is good for surviving, but deeply problematic for thriving. Your brain does not calculate familiarity by the facts of a situation. Instead, familiarity is measured by the feelings you feel about a situation.” pg. 58

“No matter where you are in your life—no matter what’s happened to you or how behind you believe you might be—there’s always space for your evolution. Always. If you look at your life as a constant work-in-process, a dynamic work of art that is forever evolving, you start to free yourself from the oppressive clutches of time. In my work with my clients and patients, I often remind them that we are on a journey with no destination. When you take the pressure of the destination away—when you release the frenetic sense that you need to be anywhere other than where you are—something profound happens: you find the freedom to engage fully with your life exactly as you are, precisely where you are. And this is the place—the only place—where lasting transformation ever takes hold.” pg. 63-64

“As a neuropsychologist who regularly treats people who have endured horrific traumas, I see how chronic anger, an extremely common and understandable emotional reaction, quickly becomes a position of emotional stuckness. People get angry again and again in an attempt to provoke some type of change and yet their lives do not improve. Focusing on anger can’t really drive the change you’re seeking because it’s not the source of your pain. Fear is. The only reason you get angry is to protect something you’re afraid of losing.” pg. 68

“I know—professionally and personally—how much humiliation hurts. That’s what makes us so desperate to avoid it. But if you immediately run from your energy of humiliation, you can never defuse its painful influence on your life. There are two central reasons you want to clearly understand how the energy of humiliation works.
First, unaddressed humiliation is so dangerous because it alone destroys the integrity of the good self. In other words, it is only humiliation that can take your power. Sadness doesn’t take your power; anger doesn’t take your power; frustration doesn’t take your power; fear doesn’t even take your power. It’s only humiliation that destroys your belief that you’re powerful—or worthy—enough to hold anything good: love, attention, compliments, safety, rest, wealth. When you’re unable to hold meaningful amounts of these things you’ll live a very painful life. And this is precisely why your brain is so vigilant about fighting off anything that might humiliate you.
Second, there’s something humiliating about admitting you’re humiliated. Most people are either unaware or unwilling to admit that another person contributed to their sense of humiliation. As someone who routinely works with teams, couples, and families in tremendous pain, I can tell you that humiliation energizes all kinds of ‘downstream’ painful situations that—to the untrained eye—look like they have nothing to do with humiliation when they have everything to do with it.” pg. 72-73

“What energy does a lack of mattering always produce? Humiliation.” pg. 73

“Remember, your brain���s number one function is to protect you—and your brain is damn good at its job. Your brain does not wait until you are humiliated to take defensive action. It’s hypervigilant, patrolling the perimeter of your life looking for anything that might, could, maybe, possibly, sorta, kinda be even a tiny bit humiliating to you.” pg. 75

“Pain and power are two sides of the same energetic coin. Within that, humiliation is your root pain and worthiness is your peak power. Your peak emotional power is an unwavering awareness of your own inherent sense of worth—the connection that there’s still something energetically good about you regardless of any situation. You dramatically expand your edge of emotional power when you fend off your deep fear of humiliation by strengthening your sense of worthiness.” pg. 77

“With that, here are two steps—steps that, on their face, may seem simple—that can actually have a profound effect on engineering an enduring sense of emotional power—of worthiness, self-trust, and self-confidence. They are:
- Releasing them
- Choosing you” pg. 77

“The ‘overs’ are all a defense against anxiety. The logic goes: if I work more, give more, and think more, then I’ll be safe. All forms of anxiety—from the mild to the pathological—can be understood as a dysfunctional relationship with certainty.” pg. 84-85

“…you must understand that every interpersonal problem comes down to two competing drives of the brain:
- The drive for independence
- The drive for dependence
Independence is just another word for difference. People have a deep drive for freedom—freedom to think differently, work differently, feel differently, and relate differently. Whether you call it independence, difference, choice, preference, autonomy, or freedom, the semantics do not matter because the underlying neurology is about an individual’s drive to choose a life that makes the most sense to them.” pg. 118

“Every single relationship ‘problem’ on the planet comes down to difference, the complicated duality between independence and dependence. It’s like our brains are saying, ‘I really want to be connected to you and there’s just one simple catch: I decide how we do things around here.’” pg. 119

“The root of command energy is your lack of trust.
You only seek to control what you do not trust. . .
You might think you command other people because you don’t trust them. But the truth is you don’t trust yourself.” pg. 130

“When your actions arise from the right energy—when you act inspired because you feel inspired or when you act generously because you feel generous—relationships are strengthened. . . it’s when people choose to follow your lead because they want to that you’ll know you’ve built the most powerful relationships of all.” pg. 135-136

“If you feel like the power of your magnetism is not as powerful as you know it could be, chances are high it’s because you’re cutting yourself off from the full range of your magnetic energy. Remember our definition of emotional power: it’s your refusal to divide yourself from yourself; it’s your wholeness. When you are emotionally whole—when you honor the fullness of who you actually are—your emotional leadership becomes inevitable. People’s deep and universal desire is to be accepted for who they are—to be worthy as they are. When you lead from a place of your own emotional empowerment, you become the evidence of the thing people want most in their lives: access to their own power.” pg. 138-139

“It’s strange how much energy we’ve put into creating hierarchical systems of leadership that gave most of us the hallucination that we could control other people’s desires and behavior. Many of us have been set up to confuse our sources of power; we insist we have control over other people while forgoing the profound agency we have over our own energy.” pg. 141

“Notice that when you try to control other people, it’s because you’ve lost hold of your own power. It’s only when you’re (often unconsciously) consumed by your own painful emotions—like anxiety, fear, and doubt—that you attempt to control others.
Why do you do this?
Because you’ve spent your entire life attempting to use other people’s behavior to regulate your own nervous system, a code programmed into you in childhood.
Leave childish things to children. As an adult, when you insist they do, think, or feel things you want, this isn’t leadership—it’s codependency. All codependency means is you don’t know how to regulate your own nervous system so you try to get somebody else’s behavior to do it for you.
When you’re ready for new levels of emotional power, it’s time to trust. Trust yourself. Trust the process. Trust that people who want to be a part of your life will be—not because they are coerced, but because they choose. Lead yourself and trust that those who are meant to connect to you will.” pg. 144

“Soothe yourself with this: It’s safe to let all that controlling go because it wasn’t working anyway. The quality of human relationships exists to the degree that people connect to you through their own free will. Can you command a lover to love you? Can you demand a friend enjoy you? Can you require a child respect you?
No, no, and no.
Once you realize that control over other people was a costly illusion, one that led you to give away so much of your precious energy, you can simply release the old ways of leading that didn’t work anyway.” pg. 145

“When you start remembering your own power by acting like the leader, parent, coworker, and friend you want to be, you know who wins?
Everyone.” pg. 162

“Whatever you project, you do not hold the energy for it right now. You’d have to evolve from where you are right now—your thinking, decision-making, and emotion regulation would all have to change to meet that future version of yourself. That’s the point of the calibration.” pg. 165

Book: borrowed from NB Branch.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written for everyone who struggles in dealing with emotion. I like that the author was able to explain the concepts of emorional pain and emotional power in a way that is practical and insightful. While reading the book I find myself relating to the things being discussed as I remember the stuggles I had during the height of the recent pandemic.

[Eden Sipperly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My perfect book: the how for spirituality, the why of neurology, the honing of the nervous system and integration of fear, the intertwining of science and surrender to help you become more you. Of the tangible and the mystic. READ IT!!

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Energy Rising" is about how you can change painful situations by uncovering the root causes of how you react to those situations. The intended audience is people in leadership positions with a focus on business, but the author also gave examples from marriage, parenting, and other areas of life. Each chapter covered a different "code," with 5 focused on yourself (which change how you interact with others) and 3 on influencing others. She clearly explained each concept and gave questions to work through to help you implement each concept.

Among other things, she talked about naming what you fear will happen if you change your behavior and evaluating how likely it is that bad result will happen. Also, about changing your outlook from negative to positive (like from a discouraged 'no one understands what I'm trying to accomplish' to seeing it as a positive challenge resulting from 'I'm at the cutting edge'). She explained the root fear that you don't matter and aren't worthy of good things and about becoming aware of our sense of worth regardless of the situation. She covered how our brain tries to avoid uncertainty, but how it's better to become self-assured and be willing to say, "I don't know." She also explained how ways of dealing with life that you learned in childhood aren't necessarily helpful in adulthood and exercises to rewrite those patterns.

She then talked about why you don't need to always be the one who's right or have everyone's approval to be an effective leader. She also explained how to get people to follow your lead because they want to and to visualize how you want your relationships to look in the future. Overall, I found the topics covered to be interesting and helpful, so I would recommend this book to others.

From the book: "Your most enduring pain comes from what you already think about yourself--that you're not good enough, important enough, or worthy enough. And the thing about this pain is that you can never outrun what you believe about yourself."

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[courto · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Energy Rising" is an innovative exploration of the profound impact of our emotional energy on our lives, leadership abilities, and relationships that draws on DiGangi’s background in neuroscience, psychology and communications. Combining insights from the electrochemical magnetism of the brain with qualitative empirical examples drawn from her career and personal life, this meticulously researched and thoughtfully written book delves into the fascinating world of neuropsychology to reveal how our brain's electrical impulses shape our experiences and responses to uncertainty, ultimately determining our emotional well-being. Through an exploration of emotional energy and her concept of energetics, DiGangi offers practical guidance and techniques rooted in brain science about how we can gain control over our emotions. She challenges readers, through exercises and reflections, to confront their pain and make choices that mean working through the pain that contains more energy for your empowerment to create new patterns, turning pain from a fearful emotion to be avoided to one that must be harnessed to reach your full potential.

One of the book's most profound revelations is its exploration of uncertainty and its impact on our emotional well-being (including how our brains try to avoid it in the first place). I found myself nodding along as DiGangi persuasively describes how many of the behaviors we employ to avoid uncertainty, such as overthinking, overworking, and overgiving, can actually exacerbate our emotional pain and has neurophysiological impacts. DiGangi adeptly demonstrates that our brain's response to uncertainty can be more painful than physical pain itself, and our instinctual avoidance of uncertainty can often lead to anxiety and emotional turmoil. By helping readers understand the predictable rhythms of uncertainty's energy in our brains and emotions and walking them through a series of questions and thought experiments, Energy Rising empowers readers to transform their relationship with uncertainty and, in turn, enhance their emotional resilience. It resonated with me on many levels and I’ve already bought this book for my coach and my niece who is studying neuroscience and ethics in undergrad.

[Urban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Julia DiGangi ist eine renommierte US-amerikanische Neuropsychologin, die mit Energy Rising ein sehr lesenswertes Buch veröffentlicht hat, dass ich sehr empfehle.

Es dreht sich alles um Emotionen. Diese lassen uns zufrieden oder unzufrieden sein und geben in vielfältiger Weise vor, wie wir Personen, Ereignisse und Umstände bewerten. Sie spielen somit in jedermanns Leben eine nicht zu unterschätzende Rolle.

Aus dem Blickwinkel der Wissenschaftlerin klärt uns die Autorin zunächst über die Frage auf, warum das menschliche Gehirn überhaupt Emotionen entwickelt hat und wie diese im Gehirn funktionieren. Daraus leitet sie ab, dass es eigentlich nur zwei Emotionen gibt: die eine stimmt uns gut, die andere stimmt uns schlecht. Auf die Nuancen kommt es dem Gehirn gar nicht so sehr an.

Wenn wir ein gutes Leben führen wollen, dann müssen wir die schlechten Emotionen überwinden und mit ihnen umgehen lernen. Ansonsten arbeiten wir beständig gegen den Wind. Diese Energie geht uns dann verloren bei dem Bemühen, unsere Ziele zu erreichen.

Was also tun?

Julia Di Gangi zeigt uns acht Arbeitsweisen auf, wie wir die negativen Emotionen im Leben zähmen können: fünf richten sich an uns selbst und drei an unseren Umgang mit anderen. Diese Methoden werden im Buch sehr plastisch dargestellt und mit allerhand Beispielen plastisch gemacht; die Beispiele sammelte die Autorin natürlich in ihrer langjährigen Patientenpraxis.

Das Buch lädt ein, nach einer ersten Lektüre ein zweites Mal durchgearbeitet zu werden, damit die Leserin bzw. der Leser maximalen Gewinn daraus ziehen kann. Was mich überzeugt ist der globale Ansatz: eine Methode, um im Stall der negativen Emotionen einmal richtig aufzuräumen. Das lohnt sich doch, oder?

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, practical book on how to develop your emotional power, defined as "your ability to rise even when your situations give you plenty of good reasons to stay down".

Emotional power is not a set of activities you do or strategies you execute, but an energy you possess. When you learn to intelligently harness this energy, you begin to lead your life in the direction you desire.

Don't mistake the use of the word "energy" here for something mystical/spiritual. This book is based on solid neuroscience.

Divided into two, part one encompasses 5 Neuroenergetic codes to build emotional power:
Code 1: Expand Your Emotional Power: How to transform your emotional pain into emotional power
Code 2: Build Your Power Pattern: How to harness the brain’s pattern-detection abilities
Code 3: Harness Your Emotional Energetics: How to work with your deepest emotion in the toughest situations
Code 4: Master Uncertainty: How to stay emotionally powerful in the energy of uncertainty
Code 5: Rewire Your Source Code: How childhood directs the way you lead your life and what to do about it

Part two introduces 3 Neuroenergetic codes for connecting to others:
Code 6: Quit Commanding: How to release ineffective command-and- control styles of leading
Code 7: Unleash Your Magnetism: How to create your most effortless leadership
Code 8: Build a Relationship from the Future: How to design your most powerful relationships at work and at home

Not only are there practical exercises to help you unlock each code, the entire book is summarized in the appendix.

If you want to transform your life, I highly recommend this book!

[Jennifer Michals · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gift, a treasure map, and an intimate conversation. It was a journey of re/discovery and a homecoming of sorts. DiGangi's words are inspiring, uplifting and empowering. I feel more confident understanding my self - my whole self - as well as my ability to make more authentic connections with all the people in my life. Why? Because I learned to reframe pain as an energy I can work with; and not run away from it any longer.

Pain, I learned, comes from a self-division, or when I abandon the truth of my own energy. Something that stuck with me was this : "A person cannot work against their own energy and expect greater empowerment. You cannot deny your own injuries and expect greater resilience. You cannot ignore your own exhaustion and achieve aliveness." These words hit home because I could see my life in the description of conflicting energies at play across all my relationships. And the truth was, they/I needed an overhaul.

DiGangi writes us a treasure map and you'll find gold in each of the eight codes/chapters. From steps to transformation, understanding brain patterns, to learning how to work with difficult emotions and tough situations, you will be guided toward liberation and empowerment to live a more powerful life.

And know, DiGangi is with you all along the way. She reassures us that our willingness to work with emotions is a powerful sign YOU believe in your wholeness. This is the nourishment that all human hearts and souls need right now. You deserve wholeness and the world needs all of you.

[Kimberly Birdsall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly powerful book this is for anyone looking to transform their leadership and relationship styles in a positive, meaningful way.  So many books out there are all theory and no substance, but this one gives real, tangible, ACTIONABLE steps you can take to break from old patterns and develop new ones.  All based in the science of how our brains actually work.

There's a whole section on how to identify what is really holding you back, and then create a new 'power pattern' framework for what you want to achieve.  And not just at work, also in your marriage or personal relationships.  I really resonated with a discussion of how the fear of humiliation and desire to be liked and accepted is at the core of so many things we do. And then how to recognise and break out of that fear.

This book is also just a joy to read - the author gives examples using stories from her therapy practice with trauma survivors and couples, and some of them stick with you for days afterward.  Highly recommend it!

[Elise Kuypers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Energy Rising has literally changed my life, and so many lives of those around me. Not only does this book address the most important questions and struggles we have as humans, but it gives practical tools and activities to actually change our beliefs and behaviors to lead to a more meaningful, joyful, and connected life. This content of this book is incredibly accessible because of the exercises, case studies, and research that support the reader on their journey of living a happier and healthier life on their own and within their relationships. Dr. DiGangi writes in a way that helps you truly believe that transformation is possible. Since reading her book, I follow her on social media and listen to podcasts that interview her. I learn something new and profound every time. I have hosted a local book club about this book, and it's clear that everyone that reads it takes away something that influences their emotional health and wellbeing for the better. I absolutely recommend this book- keep rising!!

[Belle Atkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly the best book I've read this year. You hear a lot of people talk about these abstract concepts of emotion, authenticity, and confidence. But who really knows what they mean?

Author Julia DiGangi does.

People these days say that it's ok to show emotion but, deep down, many of us hate negative emotions--other people's and our own. Drawing on her work as a neuropsychologist, DiGangi makes a deeply compelling case that emotions aren't a source of weakness, but a source of power.

What DiGangi shows you about emotions--how your brain produces them and what you need to do to change them--will change the way you relate to others and, most importantly, to yourself.

If you struggle with emotions at work or at home, Energy Rising is smart, bullseye guide to a leading a more satisfying life.

[Elizabeth Sund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard this author on a podcast, otherwise I never would have picked up this book. I love science, and this title doesn't scream science. However, it's clearly a marketing ploy to bait and switch people who like to talk about "energy" into talking about neuroscience, and I'm here for it.

I'm not sure if this book would help everyone, but it addressed some of the exact issues I wanted to deal with. I'm trying to gain more control over myself (or at least not become overwhelmed) in certain situations, and this book has good tools for achieving that.

(Christina, if you are reading this I'd love for you to check this book out. I'd be interested to know if you like it too, or if it was so particular to me and is a fluke.)

[Rob Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sound and interesting set of "codes" one might find useful in order to self-identify emotions and accompanying energies to understand and effect change.

The book at times seems part pedagogy, part consultancy, and part psychological therapy. As a whole, it is a body of work, backed by science and research, that is all of those things delivered in thoughtful, bite-sized, self-help style.

I found plenty to underline, and take note of, as I shifted between the Kindle text and audio versions.

Those who seek better relationships - with themselves and others - will find value in the material and accompanying exercises.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes a book will really stick with you. This one does. It is full of insights and new ways of thinking about your own brain, your emotions, and how to use your own power. I constantly found myself thinking "wow - that's me!" or "how did she know?" I was able to apply her concepts immediately to my work and my personal life. Even though the topics covered are deep and serious, Dr. DiGangi is really funny too. I believe this is a book I'll come back to several times and always learn something new.

[Stephanie Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Energy Rising” is a powerful and deeply resonant work that speaks to transformation, resilience, and the untapped potential within us. It doesn’t just talk about energy in a metaphorical sense—it calls forth an awakening, a recognition of the forces that shape our lives and the ways we can harness them for growth. The writing feels both urgent and uplifting, pushing beyond surface-level inspiration into something more visceral and real. It’s a reminder that energy is not just something we have—it’s something we cultivate, direct, and rise with. A truly invigorating read.

[Ian Wind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Energy Rising is a useful self-help book, especially for those with a logical mind. Digangi leverages her expertise as a neuropsychologist to effectively communicate how emotional energy should be thought about and the practical actions we can take to harness it.

The core learnings from this book that I found to be notable include the ideas of transforming our emotional pain into emotional power, humiliation as the core negative emotion, and anxiety explained as “a dysfunctional relationship with uncertainty.”

[Kathleen Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing and comprehensively researched approach to leadership that elucidates the evidence-based relationship between our emotions/feelings and our body's neurological system. Dr. DiGangi's break-through research on the role of emotional power, as well as emotional pain, is sure to provide great insight for experienced and aspiring leaders as they seek to enhance their effectiveness and the quality of their relationships.
Dr.Kathleen Owens, President Emerita, Gwynedd Mercy University

[Steve Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Stevo’s Novel Ideas, I am a long-time book reviewer, member of the media, an Influencer, and a content provider. I received this book as a review copy from either the author, the publisher, or a publicist. I have not been compensated for this recommendation. I have selected it as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 10/1, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.

[Lia K Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A transformational book that will help you harness your emotional power to lead yourself and others to your own/their own desired effect in life. Confidence, authenticity, and healing are all available within the eight “codes,” exercises, and examples that DiGangi discusses within this book. If you want to shift your mindset, dig into what is holding you back, and learn how to lead with greater impact then I highly recommend this book!

[JadersCorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC NETGALLEY REVIEW

LOVED THIS. Easily written to allow one to work and read along with the book. Love books that show and give aid vs just dictating. This author was very knowledgeable about her concept and had validation behind them.

[Maurizio Morini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some concepts were familiar to me, but others, such as the nature of (emotional) pain, made me think. The inspiring difference between other books on leadership is the concrete way to analyze and operate on our emotional patterns to change the nature of our leadership. I liked this book!

[Michel Christophe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful book.

The excerpt I read in The Harvard Business Review prompted me to buy this book and immerse myself in the wisdom it distills. Best investment of time I’ve made lately. Thank you for writing it Julia DiGangi.

[Wanda B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned things about how our brain that I didn't know before. The way our brain processes pain influences our emotional power. I will definitely read the book again in hopes I can harness its power.

[Heather McNeice · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly powerful book! I feel like this was written with me in mind. It is so relatable for any reader and provides great directions on how to improve your energy intelligence.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. The writing is precise and engaging. The insights are unique and true to life!

[Dagmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so interesting! I first listened to the Audible version but then purchased a hard copy to reread, annotate and do the exercises.