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This is the 10% Happier podcast.

I'm Dan Harris. Hello, my fellow suffering beings. How we doing today? I am continuously amazed

by how many crucial life skills are rarely, if ever, taught to us during our formal

education. So today we're going to talk about how to regulate your emotions, which is a great example

of something very few of us are ever taught how to do. But there's actually a whole bunch of

science around the benefits of emotion regulation. It can improve your health, your performance,

and your relationship. And there's science around some simple practices you can incorporate into

your life to help you keep your shit together emotionally. Today I'm talking to one of the leading

experts in the field, Ethan Cross PhD. He's got a new book called Shift, Managing Your Emotions,

so they don't manage you. Ethan is an award-winning professor at the University of Michigan, where he serves a new book called Shift, Managing Your Emotions, So They Don't Manage You.

Ethan is an award-winning professor at the University of Michigan, where he serves in the

Psychology Department, also in the Ross School of Business, and where he directs the

Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory.

This is his second appearance on the show.

Last time he was here to talk about his book, Chatter, which had a huge impact on me personally. That book is all about how to rewire your inner dialogue

or inner monologue, depending on the circumstance. And you'll hear us reference that book in the

course of this conversation. We also talk about what an emotion actually is, the myth that we should

only experience positive emotions, why sometimes

avoidance is a smart strategy, which might be a little discordant to those of you who come out of

the mindfulness community. Ethan's concept of emotional shifters, in other words, tools to

...