Dealing with Feeling - by Marc Brackett (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of the bestselling book Permission to Feel, comes an essential guide for regulating how we respond to our emotions in order to transform our lives.

Success in virtually every aspect of life--career, friendship, love, and family--is determined mainly by one thing: how you deal with your feelings. In your most challenging moments, how did you respond? Did you fly off the handle? Were you paralyzed by indecision? Did you engage in behaviors that undermined your best intentions? Or did you exhibit grace under pressure and flourish? How you responded likely shaped what happened next. But emotion regulation isn't a fixed trait, as many believe. It is a set of skills and strategies that must be learned, practiced, and refined over a lifetime.

Marc Brackett examines his own challenges dealing with emotions, explains the latest science of emotion regulation, and provides a set of practical, evidence-based strategies to help us use our feelings wisely to nurture healthy relationships, achieve ambitious goals, and experience greater well-being. At the heart of his message is acceptance: There are no bad emotions--only emotions we don't understand or know how to direct in positive, intentional ways.

The good news? We all have the power to decide how we will respond to what life throws at us. By honing our emotion regulation skills, we can increase our chances of achieving success in all facets of our lives. Dealing with Feeling will show you how to work with your emotions--not against them--so you can become the best version of yourself.

Review Quotes

"Dealing with Feeling makes a big promise--and delivers. With warmth, wisdom, and utmost clarity, Marc Brackett explains where our emotions come from, and how, specifically, we can manage and learn from them. I truly loved this brilliant book and will recommend it to anyone and everyone! It's that good."
--Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit and Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

"An insightful read about how to handle the space between stimulus and response. Marc Brackett is a widely respected expert on emotional intelligence, and his book offers a lucid look at practical ways to improve at managing feelings."
--Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential and host of the podcast ReThinking

"Dealing with Feeling takes us on a brilliant and heartfelt journey to master one of life's most essential skills: managing our emotions. At a time when stress and worry are dominating so many people's lives, Brackett's blend of personal story and science reminds us that a better path--with more peace, joy, and fulfillment--is indeed within our grasp."
--Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States and New York Times bestselling author of Together

"In this transformative book, Brackett offers a comprehensive roadmap to emotional well-being. A must-read for anyone hoping to thrive in today's emotionally charged world--which should be everyone!"
--Lisa Damour, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, Under Pressure, and Untangled

"We've been taught to hustle, achieve, and move fast--but not to feel. I followed that path for years, until I realized something was missing. Dealing with Feeling helped me understand that our emotions aren't detours--they're directions. When we learn to listen to them and use them wisely, they can lead us to deeper relationships, more meaningful work, and a truer version of ourselves."
--Ben Silbermann, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Pinterest

"In this wonderfully written and lively book, Marc Brackett gives us the tools to understand and manage emotions with skill and wisdom. Dealing with Feeling is essential reading for anyone seeking a richer emotional life and a deeper understanding of the value of emotional intelligence."
--Peter Salovey, President-Emeritus and Sterling Professor of Psychology, Yale University

"Life is tough, and now more than ever we need the skills to navigate our emotions with confidence. In this practical and compelling book, Brackett delivers science-backed strategies to help us manage our feelings with clarity, strength, and purpose--even in life's most challenging moments. This is the essential guide to thriving in an unpredictable world."
--Kenneth Cole, designer and founder of The Mental Health Coalition

"In a world transformed by AI and constant change, Dealing with Feeling should be required reading for all leaders. Brackett makes a compelling case that emotion regulation isn't a soft skill--it's a strategic advantage for leading teams, building ethical products, and thriving under pressure."
--Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner, GSV Ventures & Co-founder, ASU+GSV Summit

"Marc Brackett's powerful and kaleidoscopic book Dealing with Feeling declares with grace and wit and style that emotion regulation is the single most important skill we can develop in today's world. We live in shattered times and Brackett wants to help us put the mosaic back together."--Colum McCann, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Narrative 4

About the Author

Marc Brackett, PhD, is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. He is the author of the bestselling book Permission to Feel (now translated into twenty-seven languages), which has transformed how individuals, schools, and organizations approach emotional intelligence. Marc is the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based framework for cultivating emotional intelligence, currently adopted by over five thousand schools worldwide. He is an author on more than two hundred scholarly articles, with his research featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, Today, and the Huberman Lab podcast. A sought-after keynote speaker, he has headlined over seven hundred conferences and advises Fortune 500 companies on integrating emotional intelligence into workplace culture. Together with Pinterest cofounder Ben Silbermann, Marc launched the award-winning How We Feel app, a powerful tool helping millions of people improve their well-being. He is also the producer of the acclaimed documentary America Unfiltered: Portraits and Voices of a Nation. Marc hosts Dealing with Feeling, a YouTube web series and podcast that brings groundbreaking insights on emotion regulation to a global audience. He lives in Connecticut and New York City.