Best of the Archives: How Your Emotions Are Made | Lisa Feldman Barrett

Perception's Role

Perception plays a crucial role in how we interpret and manage our emotions. Lisa Feldman Barrett explains that our brain uses past experiences to predict and prepare our physical state for potential future events, such as feeling anxious when sensing a rustling in the grass 1. This prediction process is not merely a reaction to external stimuli but a complex construction of experience by the brain. She illustrates this with the example of feeling wetness from sweat, which is a sensation constructed by the brain from temperature and touch information 1.

Your brain is constructing experience for you that you take as completely normal part of your life, and you're completely unaware that your brain is doing it.

--- Lisa Feldman Barrett

Dan Harris discusses the possibility of changing the stories we tell ourselves to alter our emotional responses. While Barrett acknowledges that this is challenging, she emphasizes that with practice, we can gain more control over our emotional narratives than we might initially believe 2.

   

Mindfulness Techniques

Mindfulness techniques can be powerful tools for managing emotions by altering perceptions and building resilience. Lisa Feldman Barrett shares her practice of cultivating curiosity and awe as a way to transform emotional experiences 3. By intentionally practicing these emotions, she finds that the burden on her emotional state decreases, making it easier to manage stress and anxiety. She also highlights the importance of developing resilience skills by practicing flexibility in interpreting sensations, which can lead to greater emotional stability 4.

The more flexibility you have to make meaning of your sensations in multiple ways, the more resilient you are.

--- Lisa Feldman Barrett

Barrett emphasizes that these skills require consistent practice, much like learning to drive, where initial effort leads to automatic and effortless execution over time 4.