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Dr. Julia DiGangi Is Bringing Emotional Power to the World
Discover the neuroscience behind emotional strength and learn to thrive in love, work, and self-discovery.
When I first read Dr. Julia DiGangi’s best-selling book, Energy Rising: The Neuroscience of Leading with Emotional Power, I knew it was a game changer for improving our love lives, our work lives, and the most important life we have — the inner life with our emotional selves. Dr. DiGangi is a neuropsychologist who completed her residency at a consortium of Harvard Medical School, Boston University, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
I recently interviewed her and we explored her unique background and skillset, her family challenges, the surprising reason she got into the field, and how her work has impacted the world. I wrote an earlier article about her work, “The Neuroscience of Emotional Power,” and here we go deeper into the three critical “marriages” we all must address according to David Whyte, author of The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self, and Relationship.
“There is that first marriage, the one we usually mean, to another,” says Whyte, “that second marriage, which can so often seem like a burden to work or vocation and that third, and most likely hidden, marriage to a core conversation inside ourselves.
Understanding Emotional Power
Humans are complicated and emotions can be confusing. But all of us want to know ourselves and feel good about the person we know. We call our species “Homo sapiens,” which means “the wise human.” We often think of being wise as being smart, able to think clearly and make wise decisions.
Humans, particularly those humans known as males, often put too much emphasis on our thinking abilities and not enough on our emotions. Dr. DiGangi defines emotional power simply as
Your ability to stay strong in the midst of life’s inevitable challenges.
Whether we want to be strong in the face of a challenging marriage or want to be able to stand strong when having to make a difficult business decision, we do best when we tap into our emotional power. We recognize the value…