We are back with another “little learnings” episode, now covering the emotional piece. I know this is a long episode, but it’s probably my most important episode to date - and the most researched! I’ve working on this episode for 5 months, trying to flesh out all the details and nuances of emotion to help change your narrative and understanding of emotions as a whole. This episode starts off by de-mystifying emotions and the emotional experience by explaining the scientific and biological need for emotions to exist. By providing a clear definition and intricate understanding of emotions, I hope you change the way you relate to them as well. While the old narrative might be emotions are useless and to be avoided at all costs, we move into a deeper, wiser understanding of what emotions really mean for our lives and how to begin listening to what they’re trying to tell us. I touch on the impact of emotional trauma and how it affects our ability to feel, express, and communicate our emotions, as well as detail the grave problems that occur when they are ignored. I venture into explaining in detail the 5 core emotions and give plenty of examples to help emotional concepts stick even in the most emotion phobic minds. I truly believe recovery begins and ends with experiencing, understanding, and relating to our emotions in a healthy way, and this episode serves as the overarching framework to do just that. I know it’s long, but it’s packed with information that I feel is the most vital part of our recovery process.