Emma Seppala on Finding Sovereignty

Dr. Emma Seppala is a bestselling author, she’s a Yale lecturer, and international keynote speaker. She teaches executives at the Yale School of Management and is Faculty Director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She’s a psychologist, she’s a researcher, she is somebody who is constantly thinking and wondering about the science of happiness, emotional intelligence, and social connection. She is also an author, as I mentioned earlier, and her books are what we focus on in today’s conversation. The two we focus on are The Happiness Track, which has been translated into dozens of languages and was published in 2016, and her new book which we really dive into in today’s conversation which is called Sovereign. Dr. Seppala is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Emma has been featured in just about every publication you can imagine, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR, and she also has done TED Talks all over the country. Her contributions and writings have been featured in places like The Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Psychology Today, and Time. She’s been fortunate to also consult and speak to organizations like Google and Facebook/Meta. Her research on breathing is also something that we talk about today. She has done amazing work with our military and their experience with trauma, so we bring that into today’s conversation.

Emma had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“It really doesn’t make any sense to sweat the small stuff” (7:10).

“There is an inner wealth that is more precious than any external wealth you can have and any material good you can have” (8:00).

“This idea of the ability that we have to have sovereignty over our mind; it is there, it is something we can have, but we forget about it” (10:20).

“Through the breath you can actually shift which emotions you’re experiencing” (11:25).

“Suppression [of our emotions] actually makes them stronger” (12:25).

“Emotion is energy in motion. You need to learn how to move it” (14:35).

“Vulnerability and authority can coexist. Vulnerability and strength can coexist” (21:50).

“When you suppress the negative, you’re also suppressing the positive” (26:15).

“We’ve bought into this idea of high stress all the time, and all it’s doing is burning us out” (31:00).

“It’s good to question how we always do things, even if everyone’s doing it, because it may not always be the best thing we can be doing with ourselves” (33:25).

“Self-criticism is different from self-awareness” (37:00).

“It doesn’t make sense to have an antagonistic relationship with yourself” (38:10).

“Our mind is like a mirror; it’s going to reflect whatever we put in it” (40:15).

“For sovereignty, the key is discernment” (42:35).

“Having the attitude of kindness is one of the greatest secrets to happiness and fulfillment over the length of your life” (46:20).

“The happiest people, who also live the longest most fulfilled lives, are the ones who live lives characterized by compassion, balanced with compassion for themselves” (47:40).

“The most successful leaders out there are leaders that are compassionate” (50:35).

“Happiness is a very individual experience” (52:20).

“Everybody, to some extent, has an addiction” (56:50).

“We can get stronger and better at everything if we just force ourselves to do it over and over” (1:07:25).

Additionally, you can purchase Emma’s new book Sovereign anywhere you buy books. You can also check out her website and connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.  

Thank you so much to Emma for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.