In this episode of the Sage Solutions Podcast, David is joined by his sister Anna to break down the fundamentals of emotional awareness and emotional intelligence. Drawing core insights from Dr. Marc Brackett’s Permission to Feel and the RULER framework, they unpack the first three critical steps to mastering your inner world: Recognizing, Understanding, and Labeling what you feel.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The Psychology of Emotion: Why emotional drives sit in the driver's seat of our decisions and actions while the logical brain rationalizes after the fact.
• Demystifying Terminology: Distinct breakdowns separating emotions, biological drives, physical sensations, subjective feelings, states, moods, and long-term affect.
• Mapping Your Emotional State: Using energy levels and pleasantness quadrants (and the Zones of Regulation) to quickly identify where you are in real time.
• Name It to Tame It: The neuroscience behind emotional literacy, how labeling serves as an active tool of regulation, and how precision improves empathy and communication.
• Key Emotion Breakdowns:
  • Stress vs. Anxiety vs. Fear vs. Overwhelm
  • Jealousy vs. Envy
  • Joy vs. Contentment

Whether you want to improve communication in your relationships, navigate daily stress more effectively, or deepen your self-awareness, this episode provides the vocabulary and practical tools to help you understand your feelings with greater clarity.

We would love to hear your feedback! Click here to tell us what you think.

https://sagesolutions.buzzsprout.com

If you are interested in one-on-one coaching, email us at:
sagecoachingsolutions@gmail.com

**Legal Disclaimer**
The Sage Solutions Podcast and content posted by David Sage is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. No coaching client relationship is formed by listening to this podcast. No Legal, Medical or Financial advice is being given. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user's own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice, diagnosis, or treatment of a psychotherapist, physician, professional coach, Lawyer or other qualified professional. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions. The opinions of guests are their own and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the podcast.

Awareness can feel like the one personal development skill you can’t just “work harder” at and we wanted to unpack why. David sits down with Hannah and David’s mom, Laura, for a free-flowing Curiosity Conversation that starts with self-awareness, emotional awareness, and social awareness, then moves into how nature vs nurture shapes our starting point. From twins studies to family patterns, we talk honestly about what might be inborn, what gets modeled, and why building awareness often gets tougher as we get older.

From there, we zoom in on mindfulness as the most practical lever you can pull. Mindfulness training isn’t a buzzword, it’s the noticing skill that helps you catch your reactions, your language, and your assumptions in real time. We also tackle the messy side of modern psychology terms online: what gaslighting actually is, why “toxic” and “trauma” get overused, and how careless labels can turn normal conflict into a story of villain vs victim. The goal isn’t judgment, it’s clarity and better communication.

We end with tools you can use today: a simple “one-day project” list to reduce mental clutter, build momentum, and create intrinsic motivation through completion. Along the way, we talk psychological safety, why shame is a brutal motivator, and how entertainment and shared media can be more than escapism when it builds connection, empathy, and conversation.

If you like personal growth that’s practical and grounded, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves self-improvement, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

We would love to hear your feedback! Click here to tell us what you think.

https://sagesolutions.buzzsprout.com

If you are interested in one-on-one coaching, email us at:
sagecoachingsolutions@gmail.com

**Legal Disclaimer**
The Sage Solutions Podcast and content posted by David Sage is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. No coaching client relationship is formed by listening to this podcast. No Legal, Medical or Financial advice is being given. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user's own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice, diagnosis, or treatment of a psychotherapist, physician, professional coach, Lawyer or other qualified professional. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions. The opinions of guests are their own and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the podcast.

That heavy feeling behind your ribs after you hit snooze, snap at someone, or break a promise isn’t just “guilt.” It’s cognitive dissonance, a built-in biological alert that your actions have drifted away from your values and self-image. I walk through why your brain treats that mismatch like an error, how it turns into real physical discomfort, and why the first few seconds after the signal hits can shape your long-term confidence and self-worth.

We get specific about the science, from how your brain detects the discrepancy to how rationalization can literally update what you find rewarding, training you to prefer the excuse over the standard you care about. Then we flip the script and use cognitive dissonance for personal development: induced hypocrisy as fuel for behavior change, low external justification to strengthen intrinsic motivation, and the Ben Franklin effect as proof that actions reshape attitudes and relationships.

I also dig into the downside most people miss: cognitive dissonance is a major reason learning feels threatening, nuance feels exhausting, and mixed emotions feel “wrong.” To make this practical, I share clear protocols you can use right away, including core values affirmation, process-oriented self-talk that doesn’t backfire, a five-minute preach gap exercise, ACT cognitive defusion, and thinking in shades of gray so you can hold complexity without panic. If this helps, subscribe, share the show with someone who needs it, and leave a quick review so more people can find it.

We would love to hear your feedback! Click here to tell us what you think.

https://sagesolutions.buzzsprout.com

If you are interested in one-on-one coaching, email us at:
sagecoachingsolutions@gmail.com

**Legal Disclaimer**
The Sage Solutions Podcast and content posted by David Sage is presented solely for general informational, educational, and entertainment purposes. No coaching client relationship is formed by listening to this podcast. No Legal, Medical or Financial advice is being given. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user's own risk. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice, diagnosis, or treatment of a psychotherapist, physician, professional coach, Lawyer or other qualified professional. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions. The opinions of guests are their own and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the podcast.