How to Manage Your Emotions, Solved
Mark Manson and Drew unpack the science of emotion: what emotions are, why we feel them, and whether we can get better at feeling. This evidence-based episode breaks down the biology, neuroscience, evolution, culture, and language that shape emotional experience, and explains how that knowledge helps with emotional awareness and regulation.
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Show Notes
What are emotions? Why do we feel anything at all? And more importantly — can we actually get better at feeling?
In this episode, Drew and I dive headfirst into what might be the hardest question in all of psychology: what the actual f**k are emotions? We break down the biology, neuroscience, evolution, culture, and even language that shape how we feel — and why we often don’t understand what the hell is going on inside us. From ancient philosophy to brain scans, this is a deep (and occasionally weird) look into the emotional chaos that makes us human.
We unpack everything from the origins of emotional intelligence (spoiler: it might be BS) to the science of emotional regulation, attachment styles, and the sneaky ways your culture wires your emotional defaults. Along the way, we explore why some relationships make you feel like a better person while others drain the life out of you, and how trauma, genetics, and childhood with your ability to keep it together.
But this episode isn’t just about understanding emotions — it’s about learning how to work with them. And we give you a full emotional toolkit: a set of evidence-based tools to help you manage your emotions, build better relationships, feel more motivated, and yes — even feel more confident in yourself in the process.
- We also put together a free companion guide for this episode with all the takeaways, references, and tools to help you get your sh*t together once and for all. Download it here: https://solvedpodcast.com/emotions
- Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://markmanson.net/breakthrough
- Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get 7 days free at https://www.purpose.app
Chapters:
0:04:47 CHAPTER 1: What Are Emotions?
0:49:45 CHAPTER 2: How Culture Influences Our Emotions
1:44:08 CHAPTER 3: Historical and Philosophical Traditions on Emotions
1:59:00 CHAPTER 4: The Four Schools of Emotional Regulation
2:48:25 CHAPTER 5: Brilliant or Bullshit: Emotional Intelligence
2:57:31 CHAPTER 6: Relationships and Emotional Regulation
3:57:24 CHAPTER 7: 80/20
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