# Doug Johnston on the 272 Emotional States That Shape Our Lives

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio-225790/doug-johnston-on-the-272-emotional-states-that-shape-our-lives
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio-225790/doug-johnston-on-the-272-emotional-states-that-shape-our-lives.md
Podcast: [I Am Refocused Radio](https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio-225790)
Published: 2026-09-07T18:50:37+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/doug-johnston-on-the-272-emotional-states-that-shape-our-lives--74976944
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74976944/doug_iarr_pod_final.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1887

## Resource

What if our emotions are doing far more than simply making us feel happy, angry, afraid, or sad?In this episode of I Am Refocused Radio, Shemaiah Reed sits down with Doug Johnston, author of Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart, for a fascinating conversation about emotional literacy, human behavior, and the hidden emotional sfile:///Users/shemaiahreed/Music/doug%20headshot.jpgtates that influence how we think, communicate, work, lead, and live.Drawing from more than 3,000 years of recorded thought, Johnston’s research examines 272 emotional states across psychology, philosophy, science, linguistics, art, spirituality, and more than 30 faith and philosophical traditions.Johnston explains why our traditional vocabulary around emotion may be far too limited and explores several major ideas from the book, including emotions as an internal “Operating System,” the “Gears of Life” that translate feelings into behavior, and a kind of emotional “Rosetta Stone” that can help bridge cultures, disciplines, and human experiences.The conversation also explores why emotions such as admiration, confidence, procrastination, and zeal deserve closer examination, how language shapes our understanding of what we feel, and whether becoming more emotionally literate can help us make better choices instead of simply reacting.Choosing Emotions has ranked among Amazon’s Top 10 titles in categories including Positive Psychology, Emotions & Mental Health, and Adult & Continuing Education.If you have ever wondered why you feel what you feel, how emotions influence your decisions, or whether we can become more intentional about the emotional states guiding our lives, this conversation opens a much bigger door.Topics include: emotional intelligence, emotiona…

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