Part Two: Chapter 4, Know Thyself Summary and Analysis

Self-awareness is being aware of one's mood and one's thoughts about that mood at the same time. Psychologist John Mayer, of the University of New Hampshire, names three styles of handling one's emotions: the self-aware, the engulfed, and the accepting. The self-aware experience and control their emotions so that they remain on an even keel. The engulfed are ruled by their highs and lows and demonstrate little control over them. The accepting, whether depressed or cheerful, are aware of their feelings but don't try to control them.

At the extreme fringe are people who suffer from alexithymia, who lack the ability to describe their feelings, often cannot distinguish physical sensations from emotions and have difficulty telling one emotion from another. Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Peter Sifneos coined the term alexithymia in 1972. Alexithymics experience emotions...