Untangle Your Emotions

Title: Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It

Author: Jennie Allen

Publisher: Waterbrook

Genre: Christian Nonfiction, Self-Help, Christian Living

Source: Own

My Review:

Untangle Your Emotions by Jennie Allen, is one of those books that need to be owned. I started reading a library copy, but a few pages in, realized it was one I needed to be able to highlight in.

There are always things beneath the things. We are not simple creatures.

I have over 100 highlights in this book. I wasn't sure if I would like it (I'm not sure why, since I have enjoyed the other books I've read by Jennie Allen). I think it was because the book received mixed reviews, and while I normally don't read reviews for a book before reading it, I made the mistake of doing so, which caused me to be unsure if I wanted to read it.

Your feelings, my feelings, are not evil things that need to be beat back.

If I could sum up the book succinctly, I would say that we are made to feel. You will need to examine your feelings and determine how you handle things. Are you someone who stuffs your feelings? Or one who lets them all out?

But emotions don't play rationally. They show up in a blaze of glory, asking for something.

I found this book to be very practical and helpful. I appreciate Jennie Allen's candid approach, while also sharing her challenges. If you are someone who has it all together, skip this book. But, if you have ever been told that you shouldn't feel something, maybe give this book a read.

★★★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads):

How often have you heard, “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you”? But what if instead of ignoring our feelings, we notice them, name them, and let God use them to draw us closer to Himself and others?

Many of us need to unlearn damaging messages about our emotions. We’ve been taught, for example, that emotions are untrustworthy, when, in fact, God can use them to help us see where we need His healing. 

In Untangle Your Emotions, Jennie Allen uses scientific research, biblical insight, and her own story to help you 

● exchange stuffing, dismissing, or minimizing your emotions for a five-step process to know what you feel and what to do about it
● debunk the myth that feelings are sinful by learning how emotional maturity leads to deeper connection with God and others
● live emotionally healthy by applying biblical wisdom and therapeutic research that works whether you self-identify as “emotional” or not
● sit with feelings that are confusing and painful by discovering the depth of God’s love and compassion for you

Feelings aren’t something to fix; they are something to feel. As we discover how to name and navigate our emotions, we’ll learn how they can draw us closer to the God who built us—soul, mind, and heart.