The language of emotions : what your feelings are trying to tell you / Karla McLaren.

Revised edition of the author's The language of emotions, 2010.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Restoring your native language
Introduction: creating a conscious life
My empathic journey: the difficult beginnings of empathy
Troubled waters: how we got so confused
It takes a village: surrounding your emotions with support
Reviving your essential nature: making room for your central self
Avoidance, addiction, and awakening: understanding the need for distractions
Unintentional shamans: the role of trauma in soul-making and culture-building
The role of emotions in the resolution of trauma: water will carry you home
Why love is not an emotion: the steadfast promise
Building your raft: the five empathic skills
Part II. Embracing your emotions. Wading into the water: awakening all of your emotions
The anger family: boundaries, rules, and behavioral guidelines
Anger: the honorable sentry
Apathy and boredom: the protective mask for anger
Shame and guilt: restoring integrity
Hatred: the profound mirror
The fear family: instincts, intuition, and orienting
Fear: intuition and action
Confusion: the healing mask for fear and anxiety
Jealousy: relational radar
Loneliness: the drive for connection
Envy: interactional radar
Panic
immediate and frozen: the powerful protector and the healing witness
The sadness family: stopping, letting go, and recovering
Sadness: the water bearer
Grief: the deep river of the soul
Situational depression: ingenious stagnation
The suicidal urges: the darkness before dawn
The happiness family: hope, confidence, and inspiration
Happiness: amusement and possibilities
Contentment: appreciation and recognition
Joy: affinity and communion
Stress and resistance: understanding emotional physics
Emotions are your native language: the fine art of a life well lived

"What if every feeling-even shame and anxiety-brought you vital information and wisdom? Emotions-especially the unwanted and dishonored ones-hold a tremendous amount of energy. We've all seen what happens when we repress or recklessly express them. In this new edition of The Language of Emotions, researcher and educator Karla McLaren takes readers much deeper than naming or managing our feelings-she teaches us to honor them, reflect on their questions, and incorporate their wisdom into our lives. Enhanced through more than ten years of research and teaching, this edition offers a time-tested emotional guidebook. The first part teaches readers how to safely feel and identify emotions; practices for working with feelings, including setting boundaries, grounding, and conscious complaining; and four keys to emotional genius-new to this edition. The second part of the book features a chapter on each emotion-sharing its unique messages, its questions, and practices for understanding its insights. This edition features a new chapter on anxiety, a new exploration of loneliness, and much more. Learning the language of our emotions can deepen our self-understanding, improve our intuition, and enhance our relationships. As the book makes clear, "emotions don't cause problems-they arise to help us deal with our problems. Learn their language and you can change your life.""-- Provided by publisher.