Happiness Book Club
This morning, I felt overwhelmed by my to-do list, bad about myself and unhappy. Yet yesterday, I felt good. The difference? Too little sleep, making me feel down and colouring everything I was experiencing. Sharing the latest science on how emotions are constructed, psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett explains how emotions are created inside us, in the moment, rather than being built in. They aren’t hardwired, automatic responses, but rather the body’s attempt to predict how we’ll feel based on how we felt in the past.
The brain is a guessing ‘machine’, taking in external and internal sensory input, comparing this to our accumulated knowledge and past experience to make millions of micro predictions about what’s going to happen next, then checking to see if its guesses are correct. Understanding the science behind emotions can help us better manage our emotional life.