5 Reading/Listening Tips For Week 20 2022

How Emotions Are Made — Lisa Feldman Barrett

Oscar Lagrosen
2 min readMay 22, 2022

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If you think emotions are innate, uncontrollable reactions in the body, think again.

The psychology professor and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett has compiled a large set of research, both from her own lab and others’ lab. All of them show that emotions are predictions. They are not universal across cultures, but learned. They are interpretations of your body’s internal state, whether in energy, pain or other signals.

This is great news because you have the control over your emotions. Here are two action steps you can do right away:

  • Learn multiple words for emotions. The richer your vocabulary is, the more control you have over them
  • Observe what is going on in your body while you have particular emotions, and notice the triggers. Interpret them differently next time and you will not have the negative emotions.

This book deserves a summary of its own. Meanwhile, you can read it here (affiliate link).

Thinking In Systems — Donella Meadows

The definitive book to learn everything about system thinking and how complex systems (including us) behave. The author presents certain 12 leverage points and their effectiveness, from changing the variables to transcending the paradigms. I aspire to do a Twitter thread about these soon. You can read it here (affiliate link).

Effortless — Greg Mckeown

An extraordinary book filled with great stories on how you can make everything in life easier, instead of harder. All these 15 principles are highly actionable and will guarantee you a stressfree and joyful life.

You can find my Twitter-thread summarizing all 15 principles here.

The Practice — Seth Godin

If you are a creator willing to procrastinate, this book (affiliate link) is for you. Seth Godin has written daily since 2001 and shows you the barriers and steps to overcome them. Focus on the practice and not the results. Then you will thrive no matter what happens.

Letting Go: The Pathway To Surrender — David R Hawkins

Drawing from the latest psychiatry practices and research, David Hawkins illustrate with various stories the power of letting go. By dropping a particular grudge, accepting what happens and trusting everything. Your body will heal rapidly, your mind will be crystal clear and your relationships will bloom. You can get this book here (affiliate link).

Thanks for reading! If you liked this article, you might enjoy my weekly Total Living Newsletter. Every Sunday you will get an exclusive deep dive (only for subscribers) based on the most popular essay that week, plus a weekly roundup & more. Subscribe here.

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Oscar Lagrosen

My articles are transcripts from my YouTube videos. Watch the original videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@oscar-lagrosen