-- Consulting Philosopher here makes public 3 facts about emotional well-being that are almost universally either unknown or ignored.
According to Dr. Dennis E. Bradford, consulting philosopher, any normal human being is able to experience emotional well-being. Doing so requires understanding emotions correctly and learning how to live in accordance with that understanding.
Failing to do that can have disastrous consequences. For example, according to recent (2014) statistics from the Center for Disease Control, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 34 (after unintentional injuries) in the U.S. It’s impossible to know how many suicides could have been prevented with effective education about how to deal with negative emotions and stress. Furthermore, suffering from negative emotions and stress is normal among people who do not kill themselves.
Here are three common, false beliefs that obstruct emotional well-being:
First, situations cause emotions. For example, we may think or say things like “She made me so angry!” or “That’s disgusting!”
Second, emotions are irrational. Actually, they evolved for perfectly intelligible reasons and are not difficult to understand.
Third, common tactics such as venting or ignoring work to produce emotional well-being. They don’t.
While the holiday season can be wonderful in many ways, it can also produce excessive stress as well as different kinds and intensities of negative emotions such as fear, anger, or loneliness. The post-holiday time is an excellent one for emotional education.
Although their effects can be devastating, understanding how to deal with powerful negative emotions is not a topic taught in either public or private schools or universities. It’s not surprising that beliefs in myths and falsehoods about emotions abound. The same is true of related topics such as popular myths and falsehoods about the purpose or meaning of life.
The ultimate goal of any philosopher is to increase human wisdom. To be wise is to live well. Living well does not involve acute suffering from negative emotions, too much stress, or despair about meaninglessness. For any normal person willing to read and think, understanding how to reduce or eliminate acute suffering takes only days, perhaps just hours. That improved understanding quickly provides sufficient hope to begin to practice what needs to be done.
Abstract understanding is insufficient. Concrete techniques need to be learned and practiced. (Similarly, one also doesn’t learn how to swim merely by reading a book.)
Consulting Philosopher got it’s start when founder Dr. Bradford noticed in himself and others a growing need for understanding how to reduce suffering. He obtained his doctorate from The University of Iowa in 1977. He spent 32 years teaching and counseling undergraduates at SUNY Geneseo. He’s the author of over two dozen books including EMOTIONAL FACELIFT and ARE YOU LIVING WITHOUT PURPOSE? He set up the ConsultingPhilosopher.com website in 2015.
Dr. Bradford is quoted saying: “I connect with my clients one-on-one, typically using the telephone. A brief, initial call with me may be scheduled without charge at https://meetme.so/Bradford“
To find out more about his consulting service, visit
http://www.consultingphilosopher.com
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