Daniel Goleman joins Raghu to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his paradigm-shifting book, Emotional Intelligence, and discuss the intersection of science and spirituality through the lens of Ram Dass, mindfulness, neuroplasticity, and intuition.
Daniel is an internationally known psychologist and author. His New York Times bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence, was named one of the 25 “Most Influential Business Management Books” by TIME Magazine. Daniel is also a board member of the Mind & Life Institute, an organization that fosters dialogues and research collaborations among contemplative practitioners and scientists. Daniel has organized a series of intensive conversations between the Dalai Lama and scientists, and further merged Dharma and science, coauthoring Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body. Learn more about Daniel’s work at danielgoleman.info
Emotional Intelligence & Ram Dass
After recalling Dharma-soaked early times with satsang in India and Raghu’s father’s farm in Quebec, Daniel and Raghu celebrate the momentous occasion of the 25 year anniversary of Daniel’s paradigm-shifting book, Emotional Intelligence – citing Ram Dass as the project’s muse. Unearthing the book’s holographic nature as being as important today as it was when it was first released, the two explore the importance of emotional intelligence in cultivating patience, handling stress, and empathizing with others.
“It was because I was in clinical psychology, and already enrolled in a psychology program–which I stayed with and got a doctorate–that I started to see that there was something in Eastern methods that we didn’t know a thing about in Western Psychology.” – Daniel Goleman
For a conversation with Daniel Goleman around the intersection of awareness, creativity and business, tune into Ep. 1 of Creativity, Spirituality & Making a Buck
Mindfulness & Skillful Interactions (13:33)
How can we understand and manage ourselves well? Becoming aware of our thoughts and feelings, as well as how they are driving us, how can we use this awareness to manage our distress and disruptive emotions in order to stay calm and clear? This calmness and clearness gives way to kindness and empathy – being present for other people. Daniel describes how bundling this all together creates the proper scaffolding for skillful interactions, before providing a link to his updated model of emotional intelligence.
“Mindfulness meditation is a good training method because it’s a practice where you simply tune into your own thoughts and feelings without judging them, without trying to interfere. If you can watch your own heaven and hell float by, the very act of watching tends to allow you to let go of it.” – Daniel Goleman
Tune into a conversation digging into cultivating positive, lasting, embodied traits through the lens of meditation & neuroscience, on Ep. 123 of the Metta Hour
Plumbing the Unconscious (25:21)
Exploring ways to become aware of our cognitive-emotional patterns and reroute their streams into more beneficial rhythms, Daniel and Raghu discuss the emotional alchemy of neuroplasticity, before diving into the topics of trust and intuition. Exemplifying these traits by trading personal stories involving Ram Dass, psilocybin mushrooms, and India; Raghu and Daniel elucidate and uncover both the scientific and spiritual aspects of altered traits and emotional intelligence.
“Some of us are naturally more attuned to the emotional mind’s special symbolic modes; metaphor and simile, along with poetry, song, and fable are all cast in the language of the heart.” – Daniel Goleman
Join Ram Dass, Danny Goleman, and Raghu as they uncover the science & spirituality of neuroplasticity & altered traits, on Ep. 122 of Here & Now
Images via agsandrew