399 — 272 Emotions and You Probably Only Know 28 of Them With D. Earl Johnston

Imagine you and your teenager are sitting down for a nice meal and she/he asks, “What do you know about depression?” and you’re stumped for an answer.Faced with that question, D. (Doug) Earl Johnston set out to find the answer and, along the way, identified 271 additional and distinct emotional states that formed the basis of his latest book, Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart.Doug shares what he learned about the amazing array of emotions all of us feel and how they protect us this week on Spirit Gym.Learn more about Doug and his work at his website and on social media via Instagram. Timestamps4:58 Doug’s daughter asked him a question he couldn’t answer: What do you know about depression?10:42 Identifying 272 distinct emotional states through famous quotes.21:41 Our emotions are tools that protect us.32:15 The fundamental misunderstandings people have about emotions.43:15 A consilience.47:35 Name it, blame it and tame it.56:30 “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.”1:06:35 Where do you draw the line between an emotion, mood, condition, pattern or life?1:23:54 “Can you change a default emotion?”1:33:38 Doug’s reckoning with ego.1:39:05 Vocabulary and emotions.1:48:03 The domains of the head, heart and gut.1:52:55 One of Paul’s guiding principles he learned from a student.ResourcesAtlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené BrownThe work of Rollo May, J.K. Rowling, Eckhart Tolle, Dr. Antonio Damasio, Jonathan Heidt, Daniel Kahneman, Niels Bohr, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Charles Kettering, Noam Chomsky, Dan Siegel, Stanley Krippner, Edgar Cayce and Sir Winston ChurchillPaul’s podcast conversations with Rollin McCraty and Keith WittHow Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa BarrettSwitch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan HeathFeelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol TrumanThe Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk Tao Te Ching: A New English Version by Stephen MitchellThe Second Book of the Tao by Stephen MitchellFind more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear MusicThanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Spirit GymCHEK InstituteWe may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.