"Do you enjoy not liking your body?"

It is a brutal question. And for a lot of people, it lands like truth.

Dr. Marc Brackett sits down with Katie Sturino, founder of Megababe and author of Sunny Side Up, to unpack how shame and early messages shape our self-story, why body image struggles are nearly universal, and what it takes to move from self-criticism to self-acceptance.

In this conversation:

• The childhood insults we carry into adulthood
• Why body image pressure hits so many people, in so many ways
• How shame shapes self-talk and identity
• Handling public criticism and leadership stress
• What changes when self-hatred stops taking up all the space

About the guest:

Katie Sturino is an entrepreneur, the founder of Megababe, and the author of Sunny Side Up.

Book link:

Sunny Side Up (Celadon Books): https://celadonbooks.com/authors/katie-sturino/

Megababe:

https://megababebeauty.com

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Meta: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

What if productivity isn't about moving faster, but about training your brain to be still?

Mo Edjlali joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing With Feelings to map out mindfulness that actually works in modern workplaces. No guru voice. No fluff. Just practical habits that hold up under pressure.

In this conversation:

• Mindfulness explained simply and why state vs trait matters
• The outcomes leaders actually care about, like focus and clarity
• Implementation that lasts, grassroots first then leadership support
• A simple rollout you can try this week: a 20-minute window of silence
• Why many programs fail and how to build on-ramps people will use

If your brain feels on fire—or mindfulness has felt cringe or unrealistic—this episode is your playbook.

About the guest:

Mo Edjlali is founder and CEO of Mindful Leader and author of Open MBSR.

Open MBSR: https://www.openmbsr.com

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Meta: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

What if anxiety isn't proof something is wrong with you, but proof you care deeply and feel pulled in two directions?

Dr. Doug Mennin joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing With Feeling to explore Emotion Regulation Therapy and a more honest way to work with anxiety—without shutting yourself down.

In this conversation:

• Why anxiety peaks when something matters to you
• How emotional clarity starts with attentional clarity
• The myth of "getting rid of" uncomfortable emotions
• Why inner conflict can be a doorway to calm
• A new way to relate to anxiety that restores agency

If you've felt stuck in a loop of worry or torn between two parts of yourself, this one's for you.

About the guest:

Dr. Doug Mennin is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University and the creator of Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT), a leading evidence-based approach for anxiety and emotional disorders.

Learn more: https://www.ertreatment.com/

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Facebook: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

We're more stressed than ever, even with therapy, self-help, and mindfulness apps. So what are we missing?

Dr. Rajita Sinha joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing With Feeling to break down the real science of stress, why "just calm down" rarely works, and what actually helps your body recover when life stays relentless.

In this conversation:

• Why stress is not "in your head" and what it does in the body
• The phases of stress and why many people get stuck
• Why modern life keeps the stress response switched on
• How adversity and social change stretch our coping limits
• Practical strategies that support recovery, not just endurance

If you feel constantly on edge, this episode will shift how you understand stress and give you tools you can use right away.

About the guest:

Dr. Rajita Sinha is a professor at Yale and Director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Stress Center.

Yale Stress Center: https://medicine.yale.edu/stresscenter/

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Meta: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books:

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

Scott Barry Kaufman has spent his career studying human potential. In his book Rise Above, he challenges one of the most common ways people get stuck, the belief that your past equals your future.

In this episode of Dealing With Feeling, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman and Dr. Marc Brackett unpack what a victim mindset looks like in real life, how it quietly steals agency, and what it means to move forward without bypassing your pain.

In this conversation:

• Why "my past equals my future" becomes a mental trap
• How over identifying with trauma can erode agency over time
• The difference between honest support and coddling
• Practical ways to reframe anxiety, anger, and envy into forward motion
• How gratitude can shift the nervous system from threat to possibility

About the guest: Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman is a psychologist, author, and host of The Psychology Podcast. His work focuses on creativity, personality, and human potenrtial

Website: https://scottbarrykaufman.com

Rise Above: https://scottbarrykaufman.com/books/rise-above/

Connect with Marc:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Facebook: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

What if the reason you feel stuck is not a lack of talent. It is emotional.

Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing With Feeling to explore the emotional side of creativity, and why most of us were never taught how to work with the feelings that show up before inspiration does.

They discuss what creativity really is, why being "gifted" is a myth that keeps people frozen, and how emotions like frustration, grief, nostalgia, and anxiety can either block your work or fuel it, depending on how you relate to them.

In this conversation

• Why creativity has nothing to do with being "gifted"
• How frustration, grief, and nostalgia can fuel creative thinking
• The role of anxiety in the early stages of the creative process
• What to do when you hit a wall and how to recover
• How to start, even if you think you're not the creative type

Zorana's book: The Creativity Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Choice-Science-Making-Decisions/dp/1541704320

About the guest: Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the author of The Creativity Choice.

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Meta: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books:

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support https://ojilifelab.com. Oji Life Lab is the leader in mastery centered learning for the workplace. To develop your skills in leadership, emotional intelligence and more, visit oji life lab dot com or click the link in the description of this episode and use the promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

Filmmakers Horacio Marquinez and Kirill Myltsev join Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing with Feeling for a special bonus episode about their documentary America Unfiltered.

They drove across the United States collecting voices that rarely get centered. What they found was not just a story about politics. It was a story about pain, belonging, empathy, and what happens when we stop listening to each other.

In this conversation

• What it took to film across a divided country
• Why listening without judgment changes the entire room
• The emotional toll of witnessing January 6 firsthand
• What they learned from living and working in close quarters for months
• Why empathy is harder than it looks and still worth it

Watch America Unfiltered:

Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detai...

Watch it on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/100038622/a...

Watch it on Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/movie/a...

About the guests Horacio Marquinez and Kirill Myltsev are filmmakers and the creators of America Unfiltered.

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Meta: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

What if "look on the bright side" is actually making things worse?

Whitney Goodman joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing with Feeling to unpack toxic positivity, why it's so tempting, and how it quietly trains us to distrust our own emotions.

They explore the difference between real support and emotional dismissal, and what it looks like to show up with validation instead of pressure.

In this conversation:

• What toxic positivity really sounds like (and why people rely on it)
• The line between helpful self-talk and emotional gaslighting
• Why kids need validation, not just encouragement
• How positivity obsession can worsen anxiety
• What it actually looks like to support someone in pain

About the guest

Whitney Goodman is a therapist and bestselling author focused on emotional truth, family dynamics, and mental health. She is the founder of Calling Home.

Learn more: https://callinghome.co

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Facebook: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support: https://ojilifelab.com. Oji Life Lab is the leader in mastery-centered learning for the workplace. To develop your skills in leadership, emotional intelligence and more, visit oji life lab dot com or click the link in the description of this video and use the promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

What if the goal isn't to eliminate anxiety in kids, but to help them feel safe enough to face it?

Dr. Eli Lebowitz joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing With Feeling to unpack what childhood anxiety really is, why well-meaning adults can accidentally feed the fear, and what it looks like to support kids without overprotecting them.

In this conversation:

• What childhood anxiety is and what it is not
• The difference between scary and dangerous
• Two common parenting traps that keep anxiety in charge
• How adult responses shape resilience
• What makes emotional strength possible in kids

Whether you are a parent, educator, or mental health professional, this episode offers a practical roadmap for helping kids feel stronger, not smaller.

About the guest

Dr. Eli Lebowitz is Director of the Program for Anxiety Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center and author of Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD.

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Facebook: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support. Visit https://ojilifelab.com and use promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.

Dr. Dawn Brooks-DeCosta joins Dr. Marc Brackett on Dealing with Feeling to explore what happens when social and emotional learning is delivered with culture, care, and true community partnership.

A longtime educator and Deputy Superintendent in Harlem's District 5, Dawn shares what it takes to build schools where students feel seen, families feel respected, and emotional learning becomes something communities shape together — not something imposed from the outside.

In this conversation:

• What SEL looks like when it's rooted in trust and cultural humility
• Why delivery matters as much as the curriculum itself
• How leaders can create emotionally safe school environments during crisis
• The difference between compliance-based SEL and community-built connection
• What it means to lead with emotions, not around them

About the guest:

Dr. Dawn Brooks-DeCosta is Deputy Superintendent in Harlem's District 5 and co-author of The Change You Want to See. Her work focuses on culturally responsive leadership, community-centered SEL, and building school cultures grounded in connection and belonging.

Dr. Dawn Brooks-DeCosta's book: https://www.solutiontree.com/the-change-you-want-to-see.html

Connect with Marc Brackett:

Website: https://marcbrackett.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marc.brackett

X: https://x.com/drmarcbrackett

Facebook: https://facebook.com/drmarcbrackett

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drmarcbrackett

Dr. Marc Brackett's Books:

• Permission to Feel
• Dealing with Feeling

Explore Marc Brackett's work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, where he serves as founding director, and learn more about RULER—an evidence-based, systemic approach to SEL developed at Yale that supports leaders, educators, students, and families in building emotional intelligence and creating healthier school climates.

A special thank you to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence for supporting this webcast. I also want to thank Oji Life Lab for their generous support: https://ojilifelab.com. Oji Life Lab is the leader in mastery-centered learning for the workplace. To develop your skills in leadership, emotional intelligence and more, visit oji life lab dot com or click the link in the description of this video and use the promo code DEALINGWITHFEELINGS to save 25%.