Not only good feelings move us. There is nothing more adept at causing change than despair and irritation – especially if these feelings are acknowledged and ‘molded into pipelines”. Imagine a thundering waterfall. A power plant, where we can channel rage and worry into crystal clear, and eternally renewable, energy. There is always more irritation where it came from. And definitely more disappointment. When we take ownership of these feelings, we can use them for development. Perhaps we can push some greediness into these pipelines and channel it into creativity and joie de vivre? What about envy? Does it contain an element of admiration? Can one of our darkest feelings, sorrow, be transformed to exit the pipline as love? This transformation can happen through acceptance and later on in this book, you will get more acquainted with this process. It’s not dangerous to feel. Feelings of loneliness, anger, excitement and happiness can all coexist in our life. It’s not always necessary to channel these feelings into pipelines. We can freely throw them into the wild – letting them become a magnificent display of a thundering waterfall of anger or sorrow. The basic rule for this is simple: If we run from our feelings, they will control us. If we acknowledge our feelings, we control them. The choice is ours, and knowing this is deeply liberating. I want for everyone to be able to understand how our knowledge about relationships and emotions have developed over the past decades. The purpose of this is to strengthen our emotional core and introduce you to some of the top academics within the field of emotional research. You will be able to learn techniques that ensure you will be emotionally savvy and you will hear the stories of people have taken big strides in this subject. This encourages us to become acquainted with the wide spectrum of feelings and to live life to the fullest in good times and in bad. With a professional background in journalism and economics, I am fully aware that I am entering unfamiliar territories where I am merely a guest in the fields of psychology, biology, neuroscience, phi
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