The Language of Emotions

June 10, 2024

In the first version of this book, originally released in 2010, social science researcher McLaren explained how the emotional realm is a dynamic system that informs and integrates us. This updated edition continues to maintain this, but it also reveals that anxiety is a distinct emotion from fear. McLaren includes the four key models for understanding emotions that she developed in The Art of Empathy. She explains why repressing emotions, as people are often taught to do, can be destabilizing. She defines a family of four elements that inhabit the psyche--air, earth, body, and water--and explains that emotions should flow like water. The author continues to assert that all emotions, even anger and jealousy, convey valuable information. Emotions only become problematic when they become stuck in a loop. She offers recommendations for an imbalanced psyche and explores that in greater detail in the second part of the book. McLaren gives readers additional resources when needed and advises how to honor each emotion in others. VERDICT The revised edition is the result of the author conducting 10 additional years of research. The updated version is a valuable resource for all libraries.--Chantal Walvoord

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