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Emotions!: Making Sense of Your Feelings
Gold Medal Winner, Family Choice Awards
What the point of guilt? Or anxiety? Or hope?
Just what are these emotions trying to tell you? Everything!
Emotions are a powerful and an extraordinary part of being human. Your emotions serve as an instant cueing system to inform you about a situation and motivate you to take action. If you are proud, you may feel confident enough to take on something new and challenging. If you are anxious, you may be motivated sharpen your focus and act quickly. If you are embarrassed, you may regret your misbehavior and try to do better.
Emotions! Making Sense of Your Feelings will help you understand your emotions and gain powerful insight into who you are, how you appear to others, and what you can be. While your emotional life may feel tumultuous, your emotions are priceless. It's time to figure just what your emotions are telling you!
From the Introduction:
Simply based on some of the research studies summarized in the various chapters of this book, you will learn that:
Focusing on feelings instead of details may lead to better quality decision for certain complex decisions
Anxiety can improve creativity, productivity, and the quality of your work.
Anxiety-sensitivity can lead to risky behavior.
Your friend's embarrassing behavior won't reflect on you.
Having a high potential to be embarrassed can lead you to hesitate helping someone else if your help might embarrass them.
Guilt helps you to maintain your relationships.
Showing the pride you have in achievements can help you socially.
Lonely people look for sources of acceptance in facial expressions.
Hope can affect expectation and how you feel.
Many people cry at a happy ending as a way to hold back the emotion of sadness
Venting anger doesn't help you.
Spiders may be more disgusting than frightening.
Envy leads people to focus on the details of those they envy.
When focusing on reading material for a test, pay attention to unappealing sentences.
Overvaluing happiness can possibly lead you to be less happy, even when happiness is within your reach.
What the point of guilt? Or anxiety? Or hope?
Just what are these emotions trying to tell you? Everything!
Emotions are a powerful and an extraordinary part of being human. Your emotions serve as an instant cueing system to inform you about a situation and motivate you to take action. If you are proud, you may feel confident enough to take on something new and challenging. If you are anxious, you may be motivated sharpen your focus and act quickly. If you are embarrassed, you may regret your misbehavior and try to do better.
Emotions! Making Sense of Your Feelings will help you understand your emotions and gain powerful insight into who you are, how you appear to others, and what you can be. While your emotional life may feel tumultuous, your emotions are priceless. It's time to figure just what your emotions are telling you!
From the Introduction:
Simply based on some of the research studies summarized in the various chapters of this book, you will learn that:
Focusing on feelings instead of details may lead to better quality decision for certain complex decisions
Anxiety can improve creativity, productivity, and the quality of your work.
Anxiety-sensitivity can lead to risky behavior.
Your friend's embarrassing behavior won't reflect on you.
Having a high potential to be embarrassed can lead you to hesitate helping someone else if your help might embarrass them.
Guilt helps you to maintain your relationships.
Showing the pride you have in achievements can help you socially.
Lonely people look for sources of acceptance in facial expressions.
Hope can affect expectation and how you feel.
Many people cry at a happy ending as a way to hold back the emotion of sadness
Venting anger doesn't help you.
Spiders may be more disgusting than frightening.
Envy leads people to focus on the details of those they envy.
When focusing on reading material for a test, pay attention to unappealing sentences.
Overvaluing happiness can possibly lead you to be less happy, even when happiness is within your reach.
192 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2012
7 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Mary C. Lamia
7 books15 followersMy career-long passion for encouraging emotional awareness in adults, adolescents, and pre-teens is exemplified by my books, and my blog posts illustrate my endeavor to convey that emotions have a significant role in who we become. I am a professor in the doctoral program of the Wright Institute in Berkeley and I have a private practice in Kentfield, California.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 19, 2012
I first discovered Dr. Mary Lamia while I was doing research for my upcoming book on bullying. Honestly, i believe I googled the phrase "bullying expert" and sent emails to about five different people. Dr. Lamia was one of the three who was gracious enough to respond. She was more than gracious to answer my questions on the motivations behind bullying and even offered to send me a copy of her upcoming book. I was pleasantly surprised when Emotions!: Making Sense of Your Feelings arrived in my mailbox.
My son, Bud, has struggled with anxiety and depression for many years. Recently, through the right mix of medication and learning how to deal appropriately with his emotions, he has grown into an enjoyable and responsible young man. I wish that Dr. Lamia's book had been available when Bud was first diagnosed. It might have helped us all make it through the process more easily.
One of the best things about this book is it is a really remarkable reference that you can keep in your library for your teenagers, young adults (even you, yourself) to go to anytime they are unsure of what they are feeling. Dr. Lamia writes in the introduction:
"You don't necessarily have to read this book cover to cover. Depending on what you're experiencing, you can choose a chapter that resonates with you."
There's a chapter for each emotion. Included are:
anxiety, fear, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride, loneliness, hope, sadness, anger, disgust, envy, interest, happiness
Each chapter includes:
a definition and real life example of the emotion, backed by research studies - i.e. -anxiety over a big test
Ways that the emotion can be positive - i.e. -anxiety over a test can motivate you to make sure you are well-prepared
Ways the emotion can be negative - i.e. -anxiety can become chronic worry
Summary and conclusion
What's It to You? - hints for dealing with your emotions - i.e. - deep breathing, exercise to burn off excess energy
I found this book to be very helpful (even for me) in identifying emotions. I especially liked the What's It to You? sections of the chapters. This book is geared towards older teenagers and young adults, but how many of us are in touch with all our emotions all the time? I think this book would be an asset to any home.
My son, Bud, has struggled with anxiety and depression for many years. Recently, through the right mix of medication and learning how to deal appropriately with his emotions, he has grown into an enjoyable and responsible young man. I wish that Dr. Lamia's book had been available when Bud was first diagnosed. It might have helped us all make it through the process more easily.
One of the best things about this book is it is a really remarkable reference that you can keep in your library for your teenagers, young adults (even you, yourself) to go to anytime they are unsure of what they are feeling. Dr. Lamia writes in the introduction:
"You don't necessarily have to read this book cover to cover. Depending on what you're experiencing, you can choose a chapter that resonates with you."
There's a chapter for each emotion. Included are:
anxiety, fear, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride, loneliness, hope, sadness, anger, disgust, envy, interest, happiness
Each chapter includes:
a definition and real life example of the emotion, backed by research studies - i.e. -anxiety over a big test
Ways that the emotion can be positive - i.e. -anxiety over a test can motivate you to make sure you are well-prepared
Ways the emotion can be negative - i.e. -anxiety can become chronic worry
Summary and conclusion
What's It to You? - hints for dealing with your emotions - i.e. - deep breathing, exercise to burn off excess energy
I found this book to be very helpful (even for me) in identifying emotions. I especially liked the What's It to You? sections of the chapters. This book is geared towards older teenagers and young adults, but how many of us are in touch with all our emotions all the time? I think this book would be an asset to any home.
July 2, 2020
3.5 to 4.5 stars, I guess...
I don't really know how to rate a nonfiction book, but this book is very insightful. I read most of all of it, and only ended up really needing to read one of the chapters, but it was interesting. What was nice was that Mary C. Lamia even said that you could just skip to whatever chapters you felt like you needed and go from there, and not just read the whole book like I did for fun.
Emotions! is mostly about... emotions, and making sense of them. It's pretty short and not that hard for my muddled brain to understand. I was surprised by the number of references in the book (about 5 pages or so) but then again, I know nothing of nonfiction. I'm mostly just surprised how Lamia was able to fit all those references into this tiny book. I recommend to book especially now during... "corona times" it's nice to know a little more about what your emotions are about. I especially liked the "What's it to You?" sections at the end, describing what the emotion... is to you. But it was really helpful!
One thing that bothered me though, was the part about anxiety (not if you're constantly doused with anxiety, but get anxiety from time to time). Sure it can be beneficial, but procrastinating isn't necessarily the best option for doing your work in my opinion. The only reason I procrastinate is because I don't have the motivation to do whatever task until the last minute, which is why a lot of people I've seen do it for. Trust me, staying up late to write an essay or work on a project is not so my anxiety levels can explode causing me to get horrible headaches the next day is not my idea of getting the job done very well.
I don't really know how to rate a nonfiction book, but this book is very insightful. I read most of all of it, and only ended up really needing to read one of the chapters, but it was interesting. What was nice was that Mary C. Lamia even said that you could just skip to whatever chapters you felt like you needed and go from there, and not just read the whole book like I did for fun.
Emotions! is mostly about... emotions, and making sense of them. It's pretty short and not that hard for my muddled brain to understand. I was surprised by the number of references in the book (about 5 pages or so) but then again, I know nothing of nonfiction. I'm mostly just surprised how Lamia was able to fit all those references into this tiny book. I recommend to book especially now during... "corona times" it's nice to know a little more about what your emotions are about. I especially liked the "What's it to You?" sections at the end, describing what the emotion... is to you. But it was really helpful!
One thing that bothered me though, was the part about anxiety (not if you're constantly doused with anxiety, but get anxiety from time to time). Sure it can be beneficial, but procrastinating isn't necessarily the best option for doing your work in my opinion. The only reason I procrastinate is because I don't have the motivation to do whatever task until the last minute, which is why a lot of people I've seen do it for. Trust me, staying up late to write an essay or work on a project is not so my anxiety levels can explode causing me to get horrible headaches the next day is not my idea of getting the job done very well.
September 6, 2013
I'm afraid that I have a fearful personality trend. :)
This book was fun to read- it brought back college days of psych research, only without the stress. Oh, and the readability of the book. This is definitely a good aid to help recognize your feelings, which will give you leverage to alleviate or work through them. Definitely worth the read.
This book was fun to read- it brought back college days of psych research, only without the stress. Oh, and the readability of the book. This is definitely a good aid to help recognize your feelings, which will give you leverage to alleviate or work through them. Definitely worth the read.
February 25, 2024
This book was a really interesting opportunity to learn more about emotions and the chokehold it has over so many of us 😜
January 28, 2019
It's a very basic and short book on emotions. It refers a lot to Paul Ekman's work so I feel like I should read that instead. I like how it states that emotions are neither good or bad but more like guides to what we are really thinking and the situation at hand. How we decide and use that information is what matters.
Covers:
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Embarrassment
- Shame
- Guilt
- Pride and Hubris
- Loneliness
- Hope
- Sadness
- Anger
- Disgust
- Envy
- Interest
- Happiness (Elation, relief, joy, bliss, amusement)
Covers:
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Embarrassment
- Shame
- Guilt
- Pride and Hubris
- Loneliness
- Hope
- Sadness
- Anger
- Disgust
- Envy
- Interest
- Happiness (Elation, relief, joy, bliss, amusement)
June 25, 2019
Simple yet informative
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews