Emotional Mechanics

As humanity hurtles full-throttle into an increasingly tech-driven future, it's easy to forget that we are still-at our core-emotional beings driven by needs and desires that few of us fully understand. In Emotional Mechanics: Stopping Pi(e), author Yochanan Stoppi confronts the isolation, loneliness, regret, stress, anxiety, and sense of powerlessness that often characterize the private (and sometimes public) lives of modern men and women. With refreshing honesty and empathy, Stoppi calls us to rediscover the transformative power of understanding and acceptance, both of our own complex emotional natures and of our connection to others with whom we share this world.

At the heart of Stoppi's book is a detailed exploration of the "mechanics" of various inner elements that largely shape the average person's experience of life. These include emotions and intentions such as anger, fear, jealousy, guilt, regret, self-respect, trust, forgiveness, and love. Stoppi argues that these inner forces operate in often predictable and, therefore, controllable ways. Their "mechanical" nature notwithstanding, Stoppi's explanation of these concepts is thoroughly human: earthy, warm, accessible, and informed by a wide range of psychological and philosophical insights, as well as by lessons drawn from personal and family experiences with mental illness, addiction, financial troubles, poor health, and even suicide. By understanding how emotions shape the way we feel about ourselves and determine the choices we make, Stoppi offers a rational antidote to the otherwise chaotic nature of thought and feelings that so often leads to hopelessness and loss of meaning in the modern world.

Equal parts self-help and memoir, Emotional Mechanics presents to readers a hopeful diagnosis of the human condition and a traversable path to genuine peace of mind.

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: It's Not Really Your Fault

Chapter 2: Defining Emotions

Chapter 3: This > That or That > This or This = That?

Chapter 4: Truth, Falsehood, and Lies

Chapter 5: Becoming Comfortable with Anxiety

Chapter 6: Don't be Afraid of Losing Your Anger

Chapter 7: Don't Envy Me Because I'm Not Jealous

Chapter 8: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Chapter 9: Thinking is the Hardest Work There is

Chapter 10: Pride, Embarrassment, Shame, and Regret

Chapter 11: That's Disgusting

Chapter 12: Addiction Attrition

Chapter 13: To Err is Human

Chapter 14: Relax

Chapter 15: Buying the Homestead

Chapter 16: Emotional Mechanics: Stopping Pi(e)