Skip to main content
Podcast

Psychologist Marc Brackett On Why You Can’t Name Your Emotions, Cognitive Strategies For Emotional Regulation, & Giving Yourself Permission To Feel

By September 15, 2025No Comments
Play Video
Episode #936

DR. MARC BRACKETT

WHY YOU CAN'T NAME YOUR EMOTIONS, COGNITIVE STRATEGIES FOR EMOTIONAL REGULATION, & GIVING YOURSELF PERMISSION TO FEEL

We inherit our emotional patterns like outdated operating systems—recursive, automatic, invisible. Buried inside them is a glaring omission: nobody ever taught us how to feel.

Most of us only possess a surface-level language of emotion. Sadness. Anger. Shame. But when life hits in real-time, the gap between intellectual awareness and actual regulation opens into a canyon—perhaps the most pernicious blind spot in human development.

My guest today is Dr. Marc Brackett, Professor at Yale University, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and creator of the RULER approach to social and emotional learning that now reaches seven million children across 5,000 schools worldwide. His journey from childhood trauma to becoming a leading researcher in emotional intelligence embodies the transformative power of what he calls “permission to feel.” His book, Dealing with Feeling: Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want, offers practical strategies for navigating the emotional challenges we all face.

“Emotion regulation is the most important skill a human can possess.”

- DR. MARC BRACKETT

Today, we discuss:

  • From Childhood Trauma to Yale Professor
  • The RULER Framework for Emotional Intelligence
  • Permission to Feel & Uncle Marvin Phenomenon
  • Why Emotions Aren’t Facts (But They’re Still Data)
  • The Meta-Moment Between Stimulus & Response

For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

I was surprised to discover that over 70% of the podcast views we receive on YouTube are from people who are not subscribed to our channel. Therefore, I have a very small favor to ask. If you have received value from the show, please take 5 seconds to subscribe to our YouTube channel . It may seem trivial, but it’s actually extremely helpful to us. Thank you!

Peace + Plants,

Listen, Watch, & Subscribe

For a complete list of all RRP sponsors, vanity URLs & discount codes, visit Our Sponsors.

There are a few simple ways you can support the show and the content we strive to craft and share every single week

Subscribe & Review: Please make sure to review, share comments and subscribe to the show on the various platforms (Apple Podcasts, YouTubeSpotify). This helps tremendously!

Patronize Our Sponsors: Supporting the companies that support the show! For a complete list of all RRP sponsors and their respective vanity URLs and discount codes, click the ‘Sponsors’ tab in the ‘Shop’ menu.

Spread The Word: Help grow our reach by sharing your enthusiasm for the podcast and/or your favorite episodes by posting about it on social media.

Thank The Team: I do not do this alone. Send your love to Jason Camiolo for audio engineering, production, show notes and interstitial music; with additional audio engineering by Cale Curtis and additional music by Moby; Blake Curtis & Dan Drake for video, & editing; graphics by Jessica Miranda & Daniel Solis; portraits by Davy Greenberg, Grayson Wilder & Gizelle Peters; copywriting by Ben Pryor; and theme music by Tyler Piatt, Trapper Piatt & Hari Mathis.

Amazon Disclosure: Third-party books and products denoted on this page and website may be hyperlinked to the Amazon affiliate program. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.