Entering the Sacred River of Grief A Community Healing Ritual Saturday, April 11 to Sunday, April 26, 2026 Online at Empathy Academy I have often said that we live in a grief-impaired time. Many of us have a very difficult time working with grief, and our funeral rituals are often stripped of their power to bring communities together to heal. But we haven’t forgotten our grief … Read More
The Rapture and the Despair I’ve been thinking — or more honestly, feeling — a great deal about this week’s Rapture, when there will supposedly be huge, planet-wide earthquakes, a rapture into heaven for 200 million true believers, and the beginning of the end of the world. The Apocalypse, Armageddon, Judgment Day. Of course, none of that will happen. It never happens. Hundreds and thousands of … Read More
Welcome to the Off-Ramp! My newest project starts with this question: How do we get out of intense relationships, positions, ideas, and groups? How do we take an off-ramp, and how do we become an off-ramp for others? This project started first with my 2025 book, Missing the Solstice, and continues with my new podcast called The Off-Ramp Project. How do we create (and survive) drastic … Read More
Right now, I’m re-reading an amazing book by the historian, philosopher, poet, and funny kook Jennifer Michael Hecht. The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think is Right is Wrong. If you’re feeling troubled about the current state of the world, and confused by what seems like weekly changes to scientific theories about happiness, this book is just what the doctor ordered. There is so much to … Read More
When I talk about The Language of Emotions, one of the central ideas I share is that all emotions are useful. If you can approach them with care and ask them the right questions, there aren’t any “negative” emotions. Every emotion has a specific function, and all of them are important and instructive Some emotions (such as hatred and panic), need to be handled with care, … Read More
When people think of empathy, they tend to see it as a soft skill, full of yielding and niceness. That’s a part of empathy, but there’s a deeper and more full-bodied form of empathy that helps you engage with people when they (and you!) are not feeling nice at all. In The Art of Empathy, I share a number of relationship skills for dealing with conflict … Read More
Learning to Parent with Your Emotions A 4-week course at Empathy Academy Starts Monday, September 25 Parenthood can be one of the most deeply emotional adventures in our lives, but we don’t have a lot of support to understand the healing purpose of our own emotions or the emotions of the children we care for. In this online course, we’ll help you look at emotions … Read More
It is normal for emotions to arise in pairs and groups! Learning how to work with your emotions empathically means learning how they work and how to work with them directly. Many of the emotional confusions we have arise because we weren’t taught that emotions work together to help us make sense of our world. Emotions are aspects of our awareness and our intelligence, and when … Read More
There are no positive or negative emotions As we study emotions empathically, we look at each emotion in terms of what it does, what gifts it brings to you, and how you can work with it. And in order to do that, there are four vital keys that can help you unlock the genius in your emotions. The first key: Unvalence the emotions All of your … Read More
Your emotional vocabulary is an essential tool More than a decade ago, I gathered emotion words here, on Twitter, and on my Facebook page, because people were regularly asking me for a list. I organized all of the words into emotion categories, then into the different intensities of soft, medium, and intense. I also alphabetized each section, and the Emotional Vocabulary List was born! Then, research … Read More