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The Emotional Edge: Discover Your Inner Age, Ignite Your Hidden Strengths, and Reroute Misdirected Fear to Live Your Fullest
Ever Feel Like Your Inner Age Doesn’t Match Your Outer One?
The Emotional Edge empowers you to stop reacting in knee-jerk ways that hurt and instead start expanding your life to become the greatest expression of you possible. Once you know your Emotional Age, you can take any needed steps to become an authentic adult so you stop giving your power away. You’ll learn:
You’ll learn:
--Whether you’re a Parent, Child, or Adult ‘archetype’—take the Emotional Age Quiz and find out
--When you’re inadvertently sabotaging yourself and why
--How to channel fear and anger into courage and willingness
--How to change your communication scale and style from passive or aggressive to assertive, accepting, and ultimately peaceful
--Methods for fine-tuning into your unique needs mentally, emotionally, and physically
--Ways to live your best life without guilt, shame, or blame
--And lastly, how to rewrite and re-route your relationship, work, and bliss paths
Never feel like a victim of circumstance, genetics, or your past again. Instead of letting your emotions get the best of you, now it’s time to get the best of them!
The Emotional Edge empowers you to stop reacting in knee-jerk ways that hurt and instead start expanding your life to become the greatest expression of you possible. Once you know your Emotional Age, you can take any needed steps to become an authentic adult so you stop giving your power away. You’ll learn:
You’ll learn:
--Whether you’re a Parent, Child, or Adult ‘archetype’—take the Emotional Age Quiz and find out
--When you’re inadvertently sabotaging yourself and why
--How to channel fear and anger into courage and willingness
--How to change your communication scale and style from passive or aggressive to assertive, accepting, and ultimately peaceful
--Methods for fine-tuning into your unique needs mentally, emotionally, and physically
--Ways to live your best life without guilt, shame, or blame
--And lastly, how to rewrite and re-route your relationship, work, and bliss paths
Never feel like a victim of circumstance, genetics, or your past again. Instead of letting your emotions get the best of you, now it’s time to get the best of them!
336 pages, Hardcover
First published December 29, 2015
38 people are currently reading
609 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 2, 2016
If you are looking for a self help book to help you feel into your body and reexamine your mental concepts of yourself, then The Emotional Edge is going to be a great book for you. Crystal Andrus Morissette does a very good job of organizing and presenting in very easy language to understand by all some modern concepts in Depth Psychology and Emotional Psychology. I like her correlation of the archetypes and sub-archetypes that we experience in ourselves to one's emotional age, for which she even includes an inventory you can take to determine in yourself. This is her greatest strength in that she presents an organization of personality and emotion that is unique, taking a variety of Jungian theories and making them very usable.
If I were to say something that was on the less than plus side, it would be that other than her keen ability to organize and present psychological material in a superior educational format, there was nothing really new in the book, no truly new theories of her own. And although she did slightly mention them, I was disappointed that she did not say more about gut feelings and their importance in our emotional and personality development. But again, her ability to organize the material she covers in a new and highly usable fashion makes this a 5 star book and I do recommend it as a self help book for those willing to do some inner work to discover the authentic self within the deep interior of ones psyche.
Also, before I close, I wanted to say that I was very impressed with the compassion and kindness with which she wrote this book and that I feel people can read this book and feel supported. Her empathy with the reader is another reason I gave her 5 stars and another reason I recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book as a First Reads winner.
Martha Char Love
Author of What's Behind Your Belly Button? A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut Instinct and of Increasing Intuitional Intelligence: How the Awareness of Instinctual Gut Feelings Fosters Human Learning, Intuition, and Longevity
If I were to say something that was on the less than plus side, it would be that other than her keen ability to organize and present psychological material in a superior educational format, there was nothing really new in the book, no truly new theories of her own. And although she did slightly mention them, I was disappointed that she did not say more about gut feelings and their importance in our emotional and personality development. But again, her ability to organize the material she covers in a new and highly usable fashion makes this a 5 star book and I do recommend it as a self help book for those willing to do some inner work to discover the authentic self within the deep interior of ones psyche.
Also, before I close, I wanted to say that I was very impressed with the compassion and kindness with which she wrote this book and that I feel people can read this book and feel supported. Her empathy with the reader is another reason I gave her 5 stars and another reason I recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book as a First Reads winner.
Martha Char Love
Author of What's Behind Your Belly Button? A Psychological Perspective of the Intelligence of Human Nature and Gut Instinct and of Increasing Intuitional Intelligence: How the Awareness of Instinctual Gut Feelings Fosters Human Learning, Intuition, and Longevity
February 22, 2016
As if I needed to read an entire book to tell me I act older than I am.
I decided to take a little break from cookbook reviews (mostly because I didn't like my choices and this book seemed interesting) and read a self-help-esque book. It was a nice change of pace and I really enjoyed it, actually.
The first part of the book addresses your emotional age and what the book will cover. Instead of taking the quiz in the book, I opted to take the quiz on their website. According to my results, I am Katharine Hepburn -- Woman Energy/Adult Archetype.
There are three archetypes -- Parent, Child and Adult.
Parent archetypes are those people who take care of others and neglect themselves. They also blame themselves and feel sorry for themselves (my words).
Child archetypes are needy, narcissistic, and feel that the world revolves around them. I know a few of these.
Adult archetypes is the most "transcended self" and features the best characteristics of Parents and Child archetypes. Basically a well-rounded, emotionally awesome individual.
I was actually expecting to get the Parent archetype before I took the quiz, so I was slightly surprised (and my straight-A self was very pleased).
My favorite part of the book were the questions/exercises in each section (IE, what is triggering you, what are you afraid of, what is your love language). I also liked the section on communication, mostly because I am a Comm nerd.
Overall, this is a great book if you're interested in emotional intelligence, bettering yourself and learning to communicate well with those around you. I rated it a 4/5.
L
Thank you to Blogging for Books for a copy of The Emotional Edge in exchange for an honest review!
I decided to take a little break from cookbook reviews (mostly because I didn't like my choices and this book seemed interesting) and read a self-help-esque book. It was a nice change of pace and I really enjoyed it, actually.
The first part of the book addresses your emotional age and what the book will cover. Instead of taking the quiz in the book, I opted to take the quiz on their website. According to my results, I am Katharine Hepburn -- Woman Energy/Adult Archetype.
There are three archetypes -- Parent, Child and Adult.
Parent archetypes are those people who take care of others and neglect themselves. They also blame themselves and feel sorry for themselves (my words).
Child archetypes are needy, narcissistic, and feel that the world revolves around them. I know a few of these.
Adult archetypes is the most "transcended self" and features the best characteristics of Parents and Child archetypes. Basically a well-rounded, emotionally awesome individual.
I was actually expecting to get the Parent archetype before I took the quiz, so I was slightly surprised (and my straight-A self was very pleased).
My favorite part of the book were the questions/exercises in each section (IE, what is triggering you, what are you afraid of, what is your love language). I also liked the section on communication, mostly because I am a Comm nerd.
Overall, this is a great book if you're interested in emotional intelligence, bettering yourself and learning to communicate well with those around you. I rated it a 4/5.
L
Thank you to Blogging for Books for a copy of The Emotional Edge in exchange for an honest review!
March 15, 2016
Let me start off by saying that not all inspirational, self-help books are created equal. And more often than not, many authors spend the first two or three chapters convincing readers that she’s qualified to give you this advice, she’s struggled to overcome her past, she’s been depressed but pulled herself through and yada yada yada …
But lucky for me (and you, fellow readers), The Emotional Edge is not one of those books and I didn’t have to suffer through a long, sad soliloquy right off the bat.
Instead, author Crystal Andrus Morissette cuts right to the chase by giving readers a quick and dirty self-identifying personality quiz within the first few chapters. Following the quiz are brief descriptions of the most common personality archetypes that most people fall into while communicating with others: the child, the parent, and the adult.
These archetypes are the foundation of Morissette’s belief, which is that by identifying our most prevalent archetypes and the communication issues that come with them, we can learn to overcome our issues and move towards personal growth and authentic happiness.
Now I know this all sounds kind of mushy, and maybe a little heavy on the hippie-ish self-love stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of this book is centered on long-established, sociological and psychological principles. To name just a few, Morissette draws on Jung and Freud to drive her argument home, but does so without bogging readers down with too much detail or explanation.
But before you get too excited, I’d like to point out a few annoying aspects of the book. The last two chapters, to be more specific, are very fragmented and have conflicting messages that clash with Morissette’s overall message. In chapter seven, for example, the author tells readers that women need to empower themselves, yet a few pages later she tells readers to “buy yourself some pretty lingerie,” “wear something soft and pretty to bed” and “get your teeth whitened,” as if these things have anything to do with empowerment or self-love. In fact, there’s a whole list of strangely superficial things women should do to feel better about themselves. Chapter seven was disappointing, to say the least, and it put a big wet blanket on the credibility of the book.
Despite the strangeness of chapter seven and some oddly fragmented content of chapter eight, I still enjoyed The Emotional Edge. I’d recommend this book to someone trying to let go of their past in an effort to build a healthier lifestyle and communication strategy. And even though I didn’t read anything mind-blowing, I did walk away feeling like I’d made some progress towards a ‘healthier me.’ I also appreciated the guided meditation exercises, personality quizzes, and the author’s insistence that we can change seemingly-set behavioral patterns in our lives, so long as we put in the work.
Overall, I’d say The Emotional Edge is worth reading if you’re looking for a few low-key, do-it-yourself exercises to get to a healthier, happier place in life. My only caveat: I’d skip the last two chapters and do some meditating, instead.
(BTW: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. Just thought you should know ...)
But lucky for me (and you, fellow readers), The Emotional Edge is not one of those books and I didn’t have to suffer through a long, sad soliloquy right off the bat.
Instead, author Crystal Andrus Morissette cuts right to the chase by giving readers a quick and dirty self-identifying personality quiz within the first few chapters. Following the quiz are brief descriptions of the most common personality archetypes that most people fall into while communicating with others: the child, the parent, and the adult.
These archetypes are the foundation of Morissette’s belief, which is that by identifying our most prevalent archetypes and the communication issues that come with them, we can learn to overcome our issues and move towards personal growth and authentic happiness.
Now I know this all sounds kind of mushy, and maybe a little heavy on the hippie-ish self-love stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of this book is centered on long-established, sociological and psychological principles. To name just a few, Morissette draws on Jung and Freud to drive her argument home, but does so without bogging readers down with too much detail or explanation.
But before you get too excited, I’d like to point out a few annoying aspects of the book. The last two chapters, to be more specific, are very fragmented and have conflicting messages that clash with Morissette’s overall message. In chapter seven, for example, the author tells readers that women need to empower themselves, yet a few pages later she tells readers to “buy yourself some pretty lingerie,” “wear something soft and pretty to bed” and “get your teeth whitened,” as if these things have anything to do with empowerment or self-love. In fact, there’s a whole list of strangely superficial things women should do to feel better about themselves. Chapter seven was disappointing, to say the least, and it put a big wet blanket on the credibility of the book.
Despite the strangeness of chapter seven and some oddly fragmented content of chapter eight, I still enjoyed The Emotional Edge. I’d recommend this book to someone trying to let go of their past in an effort to build a healthier lifestyle and communication strategy. And even though I didn’t read anything mind-blowing, I did walk away feeling like I’d made some progress towards a ‘healthier me.’ I also appreciated the guided meditation exercises, personality quizzes, and the author’s insistence that we can change seemingly-set behavioral patterns in our lives, so long as we put in the work.
Overall, I’d say The Emotional Edge is worth reading if you’re looking for a few low-key, do-it-yourself exercises to get to a healthier, happier place in life. My only caveat: I’d skip the last two chapters and do some meditating, instead.
(BTW: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. Just thought you should know ...)
July 22, 2017
One of the best books I have read!
January 30, 2019
If you’re looking to gain a deeper understanding of yourself, The Emotional Edge provides great insights in a practical and down to earth way. The emotional age quiz plus the guided meditations enhance the journey of empowerment in this book.
July 6, 2021
4 1/2 stars. The thing I dislike about this book is the same thing I like about it. The author has strung together a bunch of different ideas from different sources. She tells what they are, which is a plus. The ideas and concepts are well arranged.
March 3, 2025
This book presents a splintered hall of mirrors in which you can see yourself in multiple guises, play with different archetypes, and discard effects and ambitions that don't work for you. The ultimate effect is empowering, in spite of the noise.
September 30, 2019
Very inspirational with great instruction about how to live your best life.
October 4, 2019
I won this book as part of the Goodreads give away. It had very interesting facts and studies that are helpful in daily life. It was an information type read.
March 12, 2017
Was inspired by the intro and the raving customer reviews. Scored high on the test and got lost when it asked me to retake the test thinking somehow I'm in denial or I've lied. Continued to get lost the next 50-or so pages diving into the low scorers. Maybe this book is for some people. Tone and approach is just not for me.
September 23, 2016
I would say it was interesting; the author put a lot of effort and some information could be useful to the reader, like a 'take-home' message, but nothing more.
August 6, 2016
While this is primarily written for women, I think there are definite takeaways for men as well. The book starts with an emotional quotient like quiz, followed by explaining the 3 main archetypes (parent, child, adult), understanding empowered communication and practical steps to reconnecting with yourself.
The archetypes were descriptive of certain societal/personal roles that women play and a number could be applicable to different areas of life. While I personally feel that this is a little too simplified, I do think that majority will be able to identify with at least one of the roles described.
There are meditation exercises and self reflection questions which are helpful in more empowered communication. She highlights empowered communication using the WOMEN acronym.
What are my intentions?
Overlook the obvious (see the forest rather than the trees)
Manage my emotions
Ask the right questions
Negotiate healthy boundaries (self reflection on emotions)
The last part of the book advocates for greater self awareness through getting in tune with feelings, setting up a sacred space and improving health (though the advice given is pretty basic and I'm not quite aligned on some of her suggestions).
While this book has practical applications, I feel like it's not something that is very strong in terms of building out a plan of change. As well, this seem more like an organized rehash of other author's creative work with some personal stories here and there. Not saying that it's bad but it's nothing revolutionary. However, because it is quite well written and will be an excellent starting point for self development, I give this a 4.
The archetypes were descriptive of certain societal/personal roles that women play and a number could be applicable to different areas of life. While I personally feel that this is a little too simplified, I do think that majority will be able to identify with at least one of the roles described.
There are meditation exercises and self reflection questions which are helpful in more empowered communication. She highlights empowered communication using the WOMEN acronym.
What are my intentions?
Overlook the obvious (see the forest rather than the trees)
Manage my emotions
Ask the right questions
Negotiate healthy boundaries (self reflection on emotions)
The last part of the book advocates for greater self awareness through getting in tune with feelings, setting up a sacred space and improving health (though the advice given is pretty basic and I'm not quite aligned on some of her suggestions).
While this book has practical applications, I feel like it's not something that is very strong in terms of building out a plan of change. As well, this seem more like an organized rehash of other author's creative work with some personal stories here and there. Not saying that it's bad but it's nothing revolutionary. However, because it is quite well written and will be an excellent starting point for self development, I give this a 4.
March 27, 2016
I really like this book from the get go.
This is not the full review- so you can read the full one here: http://bit.ly/1RI8byG
I can tell you that not do I relate to some of this woman's story but you can tell already this is going to be a good book. The introduction was good I did not even realise that it was the introduction.
There are three amazing types of women personalities we hold. The Mother, The Adult, The Child. The mother is selfless, giving, and protective. The child is selfish, fearful, serving the wants of only self. The adult is the integration of the best of both the mother and the child to fully form the empowered form of self.
Something very potent and something I certainly don't remember deciding was this:
"By the time you were five years old, you'd made decisions about how lovable and worthy you were, how best to survive in this world, and what life would give back to you."
She talks about how we develop this script in our heads very early on in childhood about us and how we relate to the world. It somehow plays on auto when we don't notice and dictates what we do.
In this book she uses deep and long founded psychology to back up her claims, which I actually appreciate. She even ties it into how we have forgotten the woman in these archetypes we try so hard to define or identify with.
She talks about the difference between emotions and feelings. She describes different personalities within each archetype so you can not only understand more about you but about others around you.
Read the full review here: http://bit.ly/1RI8byG
This is not the full review- so you can read the full one here: http://bit.ly/1RI8byG
I can tell you that not do I relate to some of this woman's story but you can tell already this is going to be a good book. The introduction was good I did not even realise that it was the introduction.
There are three amazing types of women personalities we hold. The Mother, The Adult, The Child. The mother is selfless, giving, and protective. The child is selfish, fearful, serving the wants of only self. The adult is the integration of the best of both the mother and the child to fully form the empowered form of self.
Something very potent and something I certainly don't remember deciding was this:
"By the time you were five years old, you'd made decisions about how lovable and worthy you were, how best to survive in this world, and what life would give back to you."
She talks about how we develop this script in our heads very early on in childhood about us and how we relate to the world. It somehow plays on auto when we don't notice and dictates what we do.
In this book she uses deep and long founded psychology to back up her claims, which I actually appreciate. She even ties it into how we have forgotten the woman in these archetypes we try so hard to define or identify with.
She talks about the difference between emotions and feelings. She describes different personalities within each archetype so you can not only understand more about you but about others around you.
Read the full review here: http://bit.ly/1RI8byG
March 21, 2016
This book was quite a refreshing change from the usual “self-help” books. It has an encouraging and understanding vibe to it and seems to me to be a user-friendly read, with no frilly words, just a straightforward book for nearly any reading level. Having said that, I did feel like there was not a whole lot of new information presented in this book. The main thing I liked was the quiz that you take that will tell you which of 3 archetypes you fit into—Parent, Adult or Child. You’ll find yourself putting people you know into these categories in your head! The quiz is really what makes a difference in this book because it helps you to look at the way you are about certain things, how you became that way and what you can do to change it. This book seems to me to be best utilized if you first read the book and then reflect on it a few days, then re-read it and make yourself some notes. It’s not terribly long at 308 pages and is a relatively quick read. I received a copy from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
March 31, 2016
This books broke down the common personality archetypes that people tend to fall into and helps you identify which one you match up with. It explains reasons why you react to different situations based on the archetype you identify with and helps show healthier was to communicate with people. It gave me insight of why different things triggered me and showed me healthier ways to respond to those things. It really gives you a base in which to see the reasons behind your behavior and learn to grow as a person to react in a better manner. It's a good start to bringing yourself into a healthier and happier mindset. While I don't think there was really any new information shared in this book I did find it an enjoyable look on how your emotions effect how you react with the world.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for an honest review.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for an honest review.
Read
April 6, 2016This book is about how to deal and face emotions that you try to avoid by ignoring the fact that you are having them. I felt empowered and you will too when you go through this self examination book. You will learn to live a better life by being your true self and defining boundaries. The author offer prescriptive techniques and give specific tools for the integration and healing of the self. It is a reference guide of processes, exercises and meditations to help with inner peace and empowerment. You will find help for thriving relationship, self-acceptance, emotional health, to understand yourself and others. This book is for any women struggling with owning her own authenticity and power. The author is an inspiration for women.
November 25, 2019
I received a copy of this book as a First Reads winner. Andrus Morissette takes the reader through a logical and effective process of self-examination and re-evaluation that is empowering. This is a valuable book to use in defining boundaries and moving from stagnant to flourishing.
February 19, 2016
just finished Emotional Edge. this book goes through many thought processes. It teaches you how to deal with and face emotions that people try to avoid by not even acknowledging they are having them.
May 21, 2016
I won this book as part of a goodreads giveaway. Some parts of the book were boring, but I did enjoy the chapter about the Archetypes. I think everyone could find a chapter that speaks to them.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews