Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart Paperback – December 12, 2025

“How can I feel better?” Start with your inner voice - and the words that match what it's trying to tell you.Most people have words for only a fraction of what they actually feel. So they react instead of respond, default instead of choose, and manage instead of master. This groundbreaking reference gives you the vocabulary to change that.Choosing Emotions unites 272 emotions and 8,000+ insights from peak performers, artists, scientists, and philosophers who have mastered the full spectrum of emotional states.The APA Dictionary of Psychology and the Oxford Dictionary of Psychology each omit more than 25% of the 272 everyday emotional states mapped in this book. That gap is where most of us live - without the right words, phrases, and tools to succeed.Here you will discover:The Emotionary format - 272 emotional states described using real-world language and inner dialogue to get you oriented and moving forward in minutes. The Operating System you didn't know you had - how emotions help you navigate every reaction, decision, and relationship in your life.The Gears of Life — how matching the right emotional response to the situation prevents costly self-sabotage in careers and relationshipsThe Attention/Intention distinction — where you place your attention marks the beginning of emotionWhy precision matters more than positivity — how the adequacy of your emotional vocabulary directly determines the quality of your experiences How you can change your emotions - The Awareness-Belief-Repetition technique that deeply influences your subconscious and improves your 'default' emotional responsesYour "Who's Who" Support Team — why drawing on a curated body of 1,800 deeply experienced voices across 2,500 years produces more reliable insightsShadow influences — the invisible forces shaping emotional outcomes before you ever choose - belief systems, nutrition, hydration, rest, and environmental inputsName it to tame it — the clinically validated principle that having the words to name a specific emotion restores your control of both challenges and opportunitiesD. Earl Johnston is a cross-disciplinary researcher and lexicographer who spent nine years distilling both the wisdom books and the latest scientific advances, including world-class voices from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and literature.The result is the most comprehensive consumer reference on emotions in the English language - from Anxiety to Depression to Empathy to OCD to Zeal.Buy it now and start winning the long game - with both your head and your heart. Read more