Book Review: "Emotional Awareness"

"Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion" by Paul Ekman and The 14th Dali Lama is a fantastic conversation on how emotions affect the everyday person in their dealing with other people. Beyond that, it gives people multiple solutions with how to deal with these issues. The book is especially fascinating because it is a conversation with two leaders of polar opposite schools of thought, Dr. Paul Ekman, a world renowned Western psychologist, and The Dali Lama, a spiritual figure for the Buddhist people. Their unique interactions, stories, and conclusions are important not only in helping to cultivate a sense of well being and emotional control, but was a personally amusing dialog between two highly intelligent parties. I listened to the book on Audible, at $22 for 8.5 hrs, I really liked this as the book was read as a back and forth dialog by Dr. Ekman himself and Richard Gere, reading the part of the Dali Lama. I'm not going to rate this book, as I think it falls too far outside my normal technical review, however I am going to suggest it to those looking to improve their interpersonal relationships, albeit in everyday life, at work, or in SE. The following is the chapters of the book:

Foreword by Daniel Goleman

Introduction by Paul Ekman

Chapter 1: East and West

Two Traditions
Science, Religion, and Truth
The Filter of Moods
When Emotions Are Destructive
Attachment and Control
The Poverty of Emotional Language

Chapter 2: Experiencing Emotion

What Are Emotions?
Obstacles to Constructive Emotional Experiences
Calming Difficult People
Mindfulness
The Refractory Period
Emotional Scripts

Chapter 3: Emotional Balance

Meditative Practice
How High the Bar
The Startle and the Buffer
Forgiveness and Responsibility

Chapter 4: Anger, Resentment, and Hatred

Preparing for Anger
Expressing Anger
The Varieties of Anger
The Actor and the Act
The Relatives of Anger
Motivating Anger

Chapter 5: The Nature of Compassion

Defining Compassion
Compassion from an Evolutionary Perspective
Animal Intelligence
Unbiased Consciousness
The Balance of Wisdom and Compassion
Empathy, Intelligence, and Wisdom

Chapter 6: Global Compassion

Extending the Limits of Compassion
Releasing Resentments
Learning Altruism
Achieving Emotional Balance
Gratitude and Rejoicing
Mental Training Gymnasiums

Chapter 7: Personal Transformation

Changing the Experience of Emotion
The Mystery of Goodness
The Path of Reason

Notes

Acknowledgements

Bottom line, this is an amazing book. I found myself listening to it on repeat, enjoying the back and forth conversation between Paul and The Dali Lama. Further, the book is an excellent look into Buddhism from a Western perspective, quantifying and validating many of the beliefs supported by Buddhism. The book arms readers with techniques and strategies to use when the readers sense themselves becoming emotionally compromised, invaluable techniques which can save your relationships in more ways than one. The book also helps the reader identify different types of emotional profiles, which can be very helpful when engaging people who may not be emotionally aware themselves. Overall, I can't recommend this book enough! Check out this excerpt with Paul speaking on many of the concepts from the book, below: