MSI Press Blog

  Knowing how to respond to others' emotional states is the essence of emotional intelligence. But how do we actually learn it? Executive leadership coach and MSI Press author Kris Girrell suggests that the path to becoming intimately aware of our emotions may be a little bumpier than we bargained for, but in the end results in stronger relationships.  Listen to the TedTalk  HERE . Kris is the author of the recently released Learning to Feel  (currently #8 (Amazon hot new releasrs) as well as the award-winning book Typhoon Honey. For more posts about Kris, click HERE .                                             Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. W

  Ethics and meritocracy There is an ethical responsibility one assumes in taking on this life and in being source. We recognize that we have assumed a certain set of powers and conditions that are not universal. Many who might be otherwise powerful and successful contributors to their world may not have been gifted with the set of circumstances or privileges that we often take for granted. There are people whose circumstances are so debilitating that it may seem nearly impossible for them to rise out of their conditions. We would consider ourselves as insensitive were we to step over the conditions of those who are disenfranchised, disabled, exploited, un-banked (having no bank account or means to save money), or victims of systemic injustice. These issues are human issues and by default are our issues as well. As we contend with the abundance of the universe, that sharing in abundance carries with it the responsibility of being a channel of abundance for all and that we cannot win

  Breakthrough means breakdown first It has often been said that as humans we will do far more to avoid pain than we will to maximize pleasure. We realize that most people think that they want to find joy, happiness, or pleasure, but in truth most of our efforts are in the opposite direction. One look at evolution, however, will quickly demonstrate that it is through pain, failure, and breakdown that we get better, stronger, and smarter. What is it that we learn in these painfully tough moments or experiences? Let’s first dissect what happens in a total breakdown. What do we actually mean by breakdown? It is important to differentiate that we are not discussing something like a “nervous breakdown.”  That is something that should be handled by a medical professional, and neither this book nor this specific chapter are intended to solve these kinds of problems. That being said, please read what follows through this important filter.  Breakdowns are, in fact, epic. Breakdowns are t

You are not your past When you are asked to describe yourself, you probably do what most of us do and describe your history of experiences, roles, and accomplishments. Those are the things through which we build a self-concept. As a child, perhaps you were a fast runner, or maybe you were the last kid picked. Whichever was the case, your mind made up a story about the meaning of those things. You identified as a certain gender (or perhaps as none). You were good at math and sciences or maybe hated writing. The list goes on. These experiences eventually built up into an icon of who you see as yourself. It is how you know yourself. But that is not who you are—not in the least. Most of what we think is our past are not the events of our lives but the memories we have about them. A friend of ours (we’ll call her Rachel) was physically and sexually abused by an adult neighbor as a thirteen-year-old girl. It was a horrible and degrading set of experiences that no one should ever have to

  Perception Is Not Reality In nearly every liberal arts college offering psychology as a major, you can find an advanced course labeled something like “Sensation and Perception.” This course studies how the brain reads information sent to it from the five senses and how these data are recognized and converted into thoughts, sensations, images, sounds, and memories. To make the point that it is the brain that sees and hears and then interprets the information it receives, the instructor will often show a video of a famous video experiment [1] wherein a student is given a pair of glasses fitted with a prism in front of each eye, functionally inverting the image that is sent to the brain. Through the inverting prism glasses the world looks upside down. At first the student has difficulty knowing up and down, but then she successfully pours milk into a tea cup. After a day, the student walks about quite a bit more easily but still at times reaches up for something that is low down. How