Spirituality and Scientific Strategies for Managing Your Emotions

This book is about understanding and managing one’s emotions. It serves as a practical guide for those who are concerned about improving their emotional intelligence. My original goal in writing this book was to give readers a short, fun read with both scientific and spiritual principles that have stood the test of time.

However, my passion for writing this book stems from my background as a child of lower working-class parents with little formal education. After years of observing, studying, and practicing human behavioral scientific principles in my professional occupation, I discovered that most studies on emotional control have largely focused on the middle to upper end of the social classes. The contrast between what is found in these studies and what I have experienced as an African American from a lower working-class family inspired me to more fully explore the vastly different perspectives of the upper and middle classes when compared to the working poor and lower-class families.
Figure 1 shows the socioeconomic stratification of American society as outlined by Dennis Gilbert (1998). One purpose of this book is to help readers discover why individuals from various social classes often respond differently to situations that require emotional control. This book also highlights the difference between simply controlling one’s emotions and effectively managing one’s emotions. It demonstrates that the latter is an absolute must for an enriched personal life and a successful professional career in today’s relationship-driven society.
In combining my passion with my purpose, my goal is to make this book more reflective of the important issues facing society and give readers a book that will inspire them to want to learn more about emotional management and personal and professional relationship management. Therefore, the structure of this book for each chapter consists of three main areas. First, each chapter begins with a story from my life and a parable from the Bible that relates to the story. The life stories reflect actual incidents or situations that affected my life and influenced my behavior. I have changed the names of individuals and places to protect the privacy of the individuals. I present the middle-socioeconomic to the lower-socioeconomic classes’ views to help readers better understand how their views would differ from someone in the upper-socioeconomic classes. Second, I present important scientific principles on emotional control and the important spiritual principles on emotional control. I discuss the importance of using both science and spirituality to resolve the issues presented in the chapters’ stories.
Finally, I discuss the important lessons readers can learn from each chapter’s story. I discuss how the scientific and spiritual principles when used appropriately in society will enhance personal well-being from the individuals’ perspectives of social, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. In addition, I emphasize the importance of the environmental perspective of interpersonal, local, national, and global relationship management skills development.

I use many of the recent findings of interpersonal neurobiology as it relates to emotional and social intelligence as one of the scientific models for much of the information in this book. I used the Bible as the spiritual model to demonstrate how Christian principles as taught in many Christian churches help individuals manage their emotions even more effectively.
I have provided basic references for readers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the scientific and the spiritual principles that relate to emotional management.
My greatest desire for readers is that they grow in their emotional intelligence skills and encourage responsible decision-making and strong personal and professional relationships among all socioeconomic classes. I hope this book serves as inspiration to readers to improve on what I have attempted to do and will become even more inspired to search for greater knowledge and continue to grow their interpersonal and professional relationship skills.