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Episode 2: Emotions Come First

October 20, 2026 · 51 min

Show notes

In our second episode, we're tackling another really important part of our why, which is that emotions come first. Les Greenberg says that popular "cognition first" therapy approaches today get it backwards. Our thoughts don't produce our feelings; instead, our emotions produce our thoughts. In fact, emotion comes before thought not only physiologically but also evolutionarily and developmentally. Learn why Les says that emotion is the basic datum of human experience: "I feel, therefore I am."

In this 12-episode podcast, Your Emotions: A User's Guide, Les Greenberg and therapist Michele Carroll offer a practical user's guide to understanding your emotional system and working with emotions to change how you feel from the inside out. Along the way, they also challenge the current over-emphasis on coping and emotion regulation that can sometimes actually keep us stuck or inadvertently worsen anxiety, depression and trauma symptoms.

In each episode, they share a common sense emotion principle for helping you understand how emotions work, and how your emotions can work for you. Each episode also includes an "emotional navigation tip" exercise led by Dr. Greenberg so that viewers and listeners can try out the principles for themselves.

If you find the podcast useful, we encourage you to share it with clients, friends, family members, or anyone else who might be interested, to help all of us better understand how to work with our emotions.

For more information: YourEmotionsAUser'[email protected]

For more information on Les Greenberg: https://www.cpeh.ca/les-greenberg

For more information on Michele Carroll: [email protected]

All episodes of Your Emotions: A User’s Guide

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