Some of us are big criers, some of us are not. Today: Two tears experts who have experimented with this idea in the lab and in real life let us in on their insights.

Today: a story about defusing conflict when emotions run high, from someone who's made it her life's work. We hear from Shneaqua Purvis, better known as Coco, the founder and C.E.O. of Both Sides of the Violence in Brooklyn, New York. After losing her sister to gun violence, Coco devoted her life to community safety. She tells us how she prevents and de-escalates a confrontation, and how anyone can handle, or move past, a conflict without feeling like they're ignoring something important...

Today, we talk with Sophie Hannah, author of How to Hold a Grudge, and meditation teacher Matthew Hepburn, for perspective on what triggers our grudges in the first place – and how holding them can actually be good for us.

Saleem tells Dan Harris some of his favorite takeaways from investigating Dread, in this crossover episode with Ten Percent Happier.

One of the most overwhelming things listeners feel dread about is the climate crisis. Eco-therapy is a way to build resilience by tuning in instead of shutting down.

If we’re not careful, we can spend an entire day stuck in an endless loop of dread. But what if we tried carving out some “worry time?”

Today we get some surprisingly joyful insights about coping with the dread of death – whether we’re concerned about our own mortality or losing those we love.

Yesterday we journaled about our dread. Today we’re going to see what happens when we express the overwhelming feeling of dread without words.

Dread can feel so heavy, most of the time we don’t even want to talk about it. But what if we tried to express our dread in a different way?

Inspired by an intriguing listener email, Season 2 kicks off with an investigation into feelings of dread. It turns out it’s a dread-pocalypse out there, and we could all use some joyful relief.

Today, we’re sharing an episode from Other Men Need Help, an award-winning podcast hosted by our own More Than A Feeling senior producer Mark Pagán. This show playfully looks at how men present themselves to the world and what’s underneath.  In this episode, I Miss You. Period, Mark investigates three little words that have him tongue-tied around his friends. He turns to long-term and long distance BFFs Darnell and Dimetrius to puzzle out his fear of a certain phrase (and calls on...

When he’s not working on More Than A Feeling, Saleem is also the host of an excellent and totally transporting show called Far Flung from the TED Audio Collective.  Far Flung is a journey across the globe in search of the world's most surprising and imaginative ideas. It's not a travel show, exactly. It's a deep dive into the ideas that shape a particular spot on the map, brought to you by local journalists and creators. Weave through the streets of Bangkok with a motorcycle midwife....

We hear a lot about “vibe” these days: Vibe check, a shift in the vibe, catching a vibe, don't kill the vibe. With the help of scholars and researchers Ellen Dissanayake, Connie Bainbridge, and Maria Witek we’ll define this feeling by drawing a fun, evolutionary line from the sweet sounds of baby talk and lullabies, all the way to adults vibing to the music they love. To put our findings to the test, musicians Phil Cook & Ally J help Saleem write a new lullaby, and DJ Zephyr Ann & DJ...

This week, we investigate something that’s long been accepted as a fact about emotions without being put to a scientific test: the stereotype that women are more emotional than men. We meet Psychologist Dr. Adriene Beltz, who’s trying to close that research gap, hear an enraging story from Author Kate Moore about a 19th century woman whose husband commits her to an asylum for expressing her feelings, and talk with Therapist and Researcher Araya Baker about how expectations around emotions and...

When was the last time you allowed yourself a really good, joyful shriek? If that’s not the easiest thing to answer, what about the last time you experienced blissful joy? In this episode, we look at the emotional wallop that comes from true fandom as host Saleem Reshamwala jumps into the world of pop music, speaking with BTS superfan Sam, clinical psychologist Dr. Lynn Zubernis, and Fangirls playwright Yve Blake to find out what fandom can teach him, and us, about what we feel when we just...

That banger of a theme song you hear each week on More Than A Feeling was made by El Michels Affair. In this episode Saleem talks with singer Piya Malik and musician, songwriter, and leader of El Michels, Leon Michels, about how they work to evoke emotions in their music.  We get into how their collaboration with Wu Tang Clan and how their love of Bollywood music inspires their sound. And they nerd out on their creative process, including how Leon plays with sound in order to land on a vibe...

We cannot do a show about emotions without an episode on jealousy: it brings the drama! We all experience jealousy at one time or another. But it's not exactly a great feeling to experience. In this episode, we talk with social psychologists Keelah Williams and Jaimie Arona Krems about how jealousy may not always be such a bad thing. Then we connect with historian Niamh Cullen to hear how Italians dealt with an epidemic of jealousy in the 1950s and 60’s that coincided with unprecedented...

It can be quite rare to find yourself in a place where you feel totally accepted. In this episode, producer Reva Goldberg takes us to a truly unique beauty salon: it’s the ultimate safe space for its customers, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s. We take a close look at two hairdressers who create a laugh-out-loud-funny atmosphere, while also showing deep compassion at the same time. We’ll also explore why feeling unconditionally accepted helps us cope with the toughest emotions at any...

Everyone’s afraid of something. But how often do we talk openly about our biggest fears with friends or even complete strangers? In this episode, producer Mark Pagán opens up to Saleem about something that’s been freaking him out for years, so much so that it's seriously affected his day-to-day life. But as Mark seeks out solutions for facing his fear, he finds out this troubling emotion may be more useful to him than he expected. Just a heads-up: This episode contains discussions and...

Before we dive deep into stories about fear, acceptance, jealousy, joy, shame and other big feelings, we have to get philosophical and ask: what are emotions anyway? Host Saleem Reshamwala was always trying to figure this question out when he was growing up as a mashup kid: bouncing back and forth with his family between India, Japan and North Carolina. It turns out there are some hidden clues to be found in how we try to translate words for emotions from one language to another. And this...

Human beings do a funny thing every day. We get up out of bed and unwittingly step onto our very own, perfectly personalized emotional rollercoaster. And depending on what happens around us, and inside us—like an illness, a promotion, an argument, a surge of panic, or just plain boredom—that rollercoaster can be fun, confusing, or absolutely terrifying. So why do we have emotions? What are they really trying to tell us?? And can we learn to skillfully choose which ones to listen to and which...