Mollie West Duffy || Big Feelings
06/02/22 • 54 min
2 Listeners
Today we welcome Mollie West Duffy who is an expert in organizational design, development, and leadership coaching. She’s helped advise and coach leaders and founders at companies including Casper, Google, LinkedIn, Bungalow, and Slack. She’s experienced in designing talent processes and systems, as well as organizational structures and behaviors, cultural values, and learning and development programs. Mollie is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book No Hard Feelings. Her most recent book with Liz Fosslien is called Big Feelings: How To Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay.
In this episode, I talk to Mollie West Duffy about how to navigate big feelings. Our emotion-phobic society has a lot of misconceptions about dealing with difficult emotions and what they mean. According to Mollie, big feelings can lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves if we sit with our emotions and work through them. Mollie and I share our personal experiences with depression and anxiety and how we coped. We also touch on the topics of anger, perfectionism, social comparison, burn out, and uncertainty.
Website: molliewestduffy.com
Twitter: @molliewest
Topics
01:43 Mollie and Liz’s collaborations
05:08 How Big Feelings was published
08:31 Our emotion-phobic society
12:26 Illustrating emotions
15:13 Myths about big feelings
18:32 Emotional labor
21:14 Anxiety, uncertainty, resilience
25:03 Scott’s tips to manage anxiety
29:48 Separate the “withins” from the “beyonds”
32:14 Assess your tolerance of uncertainty
36:26 Embrace comparison
43:00 Mollie’s tips to manage depression
48:30 Translate your anger
50:43 Perfectionism isn’t as helpful as we think
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we welcome Mollie West Duffy who is an expert in organizational design, development, and leadership coaching. She’s helped advise and coach leaders and founders at companies including Casper, Google, LinkedIn, Bungalow, and Slack. She’s experienced in designing talent processes and systems, as well as organizational structures and behaviors, cultural values, and learning and development programs. Mollie is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book No Hard Feelings. Her most recent book with Liz Fosslien is called Big Feelings: How To Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay.
In this episode, I talk to Mollie West Duffy about how to navigate big feelings. Our emotion-phobic society has a lot of misconceptions about dealing with difficult emotions and what they mean. According to Mollie, big feelings can lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves if we sit with our emotions and work through them. Mollie and I share our personal experiences with depression and anxiety and how we coped. We also touch on the topics of anger, perfectionism, social comparison, burn out, and uncertainty.
Website: molliewestduffy.com
Twitter: @molliewest
Topics
01:43 Mollie and Liz’s collaborations
05:08 How Big Feelings was published
08:31 Our emotion-phobic society
12:26 Illustrating emotions
15:13 Myths about big feelings
18:32 Emotional labor
21:14 Anxiety, uncertainty, resilience
25:03 Scott’s tips to manage anxiety
29:48 Separate the “withins” from the “beyonds”
32:14 Assess your tolerance of uncertainty
36:26 Embrace comparison
43:00 Mollie’s tips to manage depression
48:30 Translate your anger
50:43 Perfectionism isn’t as helpful as we think
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Previous Episode
John Kaag || How William James Can Save Your Life
Today we welcome John Kaag, the Chair and Professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He received his Masters in Philosophy from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Oregon. His writing has been published in The Paris Review, The New York Times, and Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of Hiking with Nietzsche, American Philosophy: A Love Story, and his most recent book is Sick Souls, Healthy Minds: How William James Can Save Your Life.
In this episode, my conversation with John Kaag revolves around the existential question we’ve all had: is life worth living? John expounds on William James’ answer of “maybe”. He shares about his near-death experience and how vulnerable moments in his life have led him to a more nuanced understanding of philosophy. We also touch on the topics of metaphysics, determinism, suffering, religion, and transcendence.
Website: johnkaag.com
Twitter: @JohnKaag
Topics
03:53 Existential anxiety, fear, freedom
08:50 Is life worth living?
11:14 Seizing control over existence
14:23 Metaphysical chance is real
17:36 The unseen order and human blindness
25:43 “Living unnecessarily near our surface”
30:18 Pragmatism, zest, authenticity
33:26 Resignation or hope in the face of mortality
38:10 Dissolution of the self
42:26 Spiritual narcissism
44:24 Companions in misery
49:28 Melancholy among philosophers
52:13 Life is for living
53:41 The loving cup
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
Whitney Goodman || Toxic Positivity
Today we welcome Whitney Goodman, the radically honest psychotherapist behind the hugely popular Instagram account Sit With Whit. She is the owner of The Collaborative Counseling Center, a private therapy practice in Miami. Whitney has her own column in Psychology Today and has been featured in The New York Times, Teen Vogue, NY Magazine, Instyle, Good Morning America, and other publications. Her most recent book is called Toxic Positivity: Keeping It Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy.
In this episode, I talk to Whitney Goodman about toxic positivity. A happy outlook in life is a strength; but when taken too far, it can backfire and work against us. Positivity stops becoming helpful when we deny the realities of hardship and trauma. Whitney believes positivity is not the panacea to our problems—it needs to be applied in the right time, place, and purpose. She shares with us ways on how to be supportive without being dismissive of our own well-being and of others. We also touch on the topics of authenticity, gratitude, hope, relationships, and work.
Website: sitwithwhit.com
Instagram: @SitWithWhit
Topics
03:14 When positivity becomes toxic
04:36 Pretending to be happy
08:20 Do positive people always succeed?
11:53 Changing toxic positivity
15:33 Well-being > positive thinking
21:31 Stop shaming yourself
23:19 Realistic affirmations and organic gratitude
27:11 How to complain effectively
29:15 Ingredients of communication
31:28 Discrimination with a smile
35:10 A value-driven life
40:20 It’s okay to just be
41:18 Positive fantasy can be helpful
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Psychology Podcast - Mollie West Duffy || Big Feelings
Transcript
The first step in working through big feelings is trying to not see them or label them as necessarily negative or positive. Hello, and welcome to the Psychology Podcast. Today we welcome Molly wes Duffy to the show. Mollie is experienced in designing talent processes and systems, as well as organizational structures and behaviors, cultural values, and learning and development programs. Mall is the author of the Wall Street Journal best selling bo
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