People who are good at what's called emotional regulation tend to do well in life.

They're more likely than others to have strong relationships and success at work or school

and less likely to have a criminal record or money troubles.

Research suggests these folks even live longer, more active lives.

Which is weird because not only do many people believe the only healthy way to deal with strong emotions is to just always give ourselves over to them,

40% of adolescence in one survey said controlling emotions is

basically impossible. Spoiler alert, it is not. From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd.

Let's be clear, this is not just about how we behave in response to an emotional situation. This is

about managing the way emotions

make us think and feel. And that ability is not some rare special thing that only a lucky few

can ever hope to achieve. It is a life skill. Ethan Cross, his professor in the University

of Michigan's psychology department and its raw school of business business and director of the emotion and self-control laboratory.

His new book is called Shift, Managing Your Emotions So They Don't Manage You.

Ethan, welcome to Think.

Thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here.

How did your grandmother Dora inspire your interest in the potential benefits of learning to manage emotions?

Well, my grandmother was just this wonderful character with this amazing backstory.

When she was in her early 20s, she was living in eastern Poland.

And this was in the 1940s. the Nazis invaded in a very short order

of time ended up killing most of her family. She narrowly escaped that fate, was homeless,

fleeing the Nazis for the next three years, ultimately came to this country, rebuilt a life, and had my mom, who had me.

And growing up, all I wanted to do was understand. How did she manage some of the most

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