Not since Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence has a book come along to help us articulate our emotions with such clarity. The third book in our Hidden Gem series is entitled Choosing Emotions: Thinking with Your Head and Acting with Your Heart by D. Earl Johnston. Some people love stories. Some love ideas. And then there are those readers who love words themselves — their nuance, their music, their uncanny ability to capture something deeply human that we have felt but never quite managed to name.
Do we move through life believing there are only a few dozen emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, maybe love? Our language — and human experience — is so much richer than that. The truth is that the emotional world we inhabit contains hundreds of distinct states, each with its own texture, meaning and possibility.
The result is something readers have affectionately begun calling an “Emotionary.”
Part dictionary, part thesaurus, part guide to the inner life, the book invites readers to move from Acceptance to Empathy to Zeal, stopping along the way at emotional territories we all encounter but rarely understand — Anxiety, Bullying, Depression, OCD and many others.
For people who love words, this book is irresistible.
Language gives us the power to recognize and articulate our inner world. Sometimes the difference between feeling lost and finding clarity comes down to discovering the right word for what we are experiencing. By offering vivid descriptions, everyday language, and carefully chosen quotes from great thinkers and writers, Choosing Emotions helps readers see emotions not as vague forces that control us — but as states we can understand, navigate and even choose.
That idea sits at the heart of the book.
Getting unstuck in life often begins with recognizing what we are actually feeling. Once we can name it, we can work with it. Once we understand it, we can move through it. And sometimes, once we see the full spectrum of emotional possibilities, we can choose a different path entirely.
At 376 pages, professionally edited and supported by a detailed 26-page index, Choosing Emotions is designed to be both immersive and practical. You can explore it cover to cover, or dip in whenever a difficult conversation, personal challenge or moment of reflection calls for deeper understanding.
Writers, educators, content creators, counselors and public speakers have also discovered its value as a powerful language resource — one that helps articulate the emotional nuances that shape human communication.
For lovers of language, Choosing Emotions is more than a reference book. It’s a reminder that words do more than describe our feelings.
Sometimes, they help us find our way through them.
And occasionally, they help us choose a better one.
Happy Reading!
Meryl Moss, Publisher, BookTrib
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