“We don’t have emotional problems—only thoughts we dwell on.”

That idea hit me like a quiet truth halfway through this book. I wasn’t expecting to feel both seen and skeptical, but that’s where this reading journey took me.

We often turn to self-help books seeking answers, and sometimes they simply remind us of things we already know. But in that repetition, something clicks deeper. I picked up this book—by the same author who wrote Dopamine Detox—with hopes of learning more about how to manage my emotions, sharpen my mindset, and possibly find direction in those murky moments we all face. What I found was a mix of ancestral wisdom, scientific backup, and a surprising self-reflection session that made me pause and reconsider how I process stress.

The structure that surprised me

The book is divided into three parts.

• The initial chapters looked like backing up the roots with ancestral history and scientific evidences. I thought this book would only give facts and nothing sort of to help in managing one’s emotions. But this point caught my attention. WHY PROBLEMS DON’T EXIST? That’s so true and most of the times I have failed to realize that and move on without negativity. With that part -1 is over.

• 2nd part covers about the factors that influences our emotions like sleep, exercise, music, thoughts and self talk. Most of the information is well backed with research findings yet those are all the information that we are normally aware of. Only the information along with the research information is what was new to me.

• 3rd part covers How to change your emotions. Here’s where I felt the repetition. Those same factors that influence are to be managed for a change in emotions from the previous part is recycled here. It started diluting my interest.

My honest reading experience

Both the first two parts were quite interesting and insightful. Later in 3rd part, I found the content repetitive which made me lose interest and I didn’t get back to the book for a month. But it was when I had completed almost 70% of the book.

So, it was in the back of my mind to finish reading at some point and that led me to read again after quite sometime to finish reading this book.

Final thoughts and ratings

I have my reasons for rating it 3. The title itself could’ve been ‘Guide to know and manage your negative emotions’ instead of Master your emotions because emotions mean not just negative emotions. Emotions is a whole pack of positive feelings and negativity and neutral feelings too. But author solely focuses on negative emotions. This made me feel that Master your emotions is not apt to the content of the book. The author focuses on depression and stress. First part is more of introductory and second part covers about the factors influencing our emotions. The third part again speaks of how to change our emotions based on the second part which felt more like a repetition. I started losing interest yet I quickly skimmed through the further chapters and finished reading.

On the whole, this book gives you a lot of references which you can read further and gain deeper insights. It also means that this book has a surface level content and directing you with lots of other books and authors. Readers who prefer and enjoy curated approach writing style will cherish this book.

My only take away was that problems exist majorly in our thoughts as we dwell so much on either past or future which can be tackled by just focusing on the present.

You can read my review of another self help book, Be your own sunshine by the author James Allen. Don’t forget to drop your views in the comment section below..