We were designed to feel our feelings. The electrical impulses firing around in that squishy thing inside our skulls are guiding how we experience love, or fear, or panic. Yet we often forget that there’s a science to our emotions, that they’re not some wild, untamed force operating independent of our minds and bodies. We are made of energy, energy that cannot be created or destroyed — but can be transformed.
“This is not metaphysical,” says neuropsychologist Dr. Julia DiGangi. “This is not metaphorical. It’s actual neural chemical energy.”
In DiGangi’s “Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power,” she explores the ways in which our brains can sabotage or support us, while offering practical advice on how to overcome the traps that hold us back. I spoke to DiGangi recently about the science of neuroenergetics, the rewards of “picking a more powerful pain” and why we need to overcome the epidemic of what she calls our “emotional constipation.”
