Barbara Contreras
AUTHOR

Barbara Contreras

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Hi, I’m Barbara — so glad you’re here.

I became interested in emotional intelligence when I became a mother and discovered something rather inconvenient: I was no longer in control of my emotions.

For the first time in my life, I could feel myself becoming overwhelmed, reacting too quickly, and wondering how someone who considered herself reasonably capable could suddenly feel completely out of her emotional depth.

So I started looking for answers.What I found was fascinating: psychology, neuroscience, research, theories, chemical processes—and an enormous amount of information about why human beings feel what they feel. I dug deep and learned a lot!
There was only one problem. Knowing why something happens and knowing what to do about it are not the same thing.

Most of us don’t have the time—or the desire—to earn a degree in psychology every time life becomes difficult. When you’re overwhelmed, grieving, angry, afraid, facing a major change, or simply trying not to lose your patience with the people you love, you don’t necessarily need another complicated explanation. You need to know what to do next.

That is why I wrote The Emotional Playbook.

I wanted to create something practical: a guide that could help people begin working with their emotions from the moment they opened the book. Because I believe emotional intelligence isn’t simply something we understand. It’s something we practice.

Life has given me plenty of opportunities to test that theory. I’ve faced loss, illness, change, and crises—experiences that have shaped me and taught me that our emotions can either overwhelm us or become valuable guides, depending on whether we know how to listen to them.

I believe our ability to enjoy life—and to make life better for the people around us—depends greatly on our ability to understand and use our emotions wisely.

My hope is that this book reaches the person who feels emotionally overwhelmed, reacts in ways they later regret, raises their voice when they wish they hadn’t, doesn’t know how to move through a loss, or simply feels stuck.

You don’t need to understand everything about the human brain before you can begin.

You can start with the next emotion.

And then the next.
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