ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 focuses on informing the reader about how our emotions act as messengers that provide us with important information about our relationships, and our emotional needs. It introduces the reader to the concept of emotional pain and guides the reader to look at the core painful emotions that tend to be at the centre of human emotional suffering. The reader is also guided in this chapter to reflect on the kinds of situations that often trigger painful emotions and take a closer look at how we treat ourselves in the context of those triggering situations. Several short tasks are presented in this chapter that help the reader learn how to differentiate between emotions, between the more symptomatic ones (like depression and anxiety), and the more underlying ones which are central and at the core of our human experiences (like loneliness/sadness, shame, and fear). The tasks are focused on recognizing the triggers of emotional pain as well as the problematic ways in which people relate to themselves in the context of those triggers. The chapter then concludes with a quiz for self-assessment.
