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The One You Feed

The Science of Emotions: How Your Brain Predicts Your Feelings with Lisa Feldman Barrett

The One You Feed

Eric Zimmer

Education, Self-improvement, Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness, Buddhism, Mental Health

4.6 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett explains the science of emotions and how your brain predicts your feelings. She further explains that because emotions are made and not hardwired, this means we can change them by retraining our brains. Lisa also delves into the science of prediction, the body budget, and why taking care of your physical health is one of the most powerful emotional regulation tool you have.

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Key Takeaways:

  • The nature of emotions from a neuroscientific perspective.
  • The concept that emotions are constructed by the brain rather than hardwired.
  • The brain’s predictive nature and its role in emotional experience.
  • The principle of degeneracy in neural pathways and its implications for behavior.
  • The significance of interoception in shaping emotions and internal bodily sensations.
  • The relationship between physical states (like hunger and fatigue) and emotional experiences.
  • The importance of emotional granularity in identifying and labeling emotions.
  • The connection between mood disorders and physical health.
  • Practical strategies for emotional regulation, including mindfulness and self-care.
  • The integration of neuroscience with philosophical perspectives on perception and experience.


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Based on your past experience, your brain is creating concepts as guesses of what's going to

0:05.8

happen next.

0:14.6

Welcome to the one you feed. Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance

0:19.8

of the thoughts we have.

0:21.5

Quotes like, garbage in, garbage out, or, you are what you think, ring true.

0:27.1

And yet, for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us.

0:31.3

We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear.

0:35.9

We see what we don't have instead of what we do.

0:38.9

We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit.

0:42.3

But it's not just about thinking.

0:44.3

Our actions matter.

0:45.9

It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living.

0:50.7

This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction, how they feed their good wolf.

1:00.0

Emotions don't just happen to us. They're not fixed or faded. They're built moment by moment by the brain, using past experience to guess what comes next. That insight from neuroscientist Dr.

1:13.3

Lisa Feldman-Barritt might just change the way you relate to your inner world. Because if emotions

1:19.2

are made, not hardwired, that means we can change them. We can retrain our brains. And that's exactly

1:27.3

what we explore in this episode. From her

1:29.7

acclaimed book, How Emotions Are Made, we talk about the science of prediction, the body budget,

1:35.2

and why taking care of your physical health might be the most powerful emotional regulation tool you

1:40.8

have. I'm Eric Zimmer, and this is the one you feed feed. Hi Lisa, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for

1:47.3

having me on your show. Your book is called How Emotions Are Made, the Secret Life of the Brain. I'm

1:53.3

always interested in how the brain works and how emotions and the link between thinking and

...

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