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In The News:
In the modern world, we’ve become out of touch with the “creative and innovative genius that we are wired for,” according to Emma Seppälä , psychologist and author of Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos .
Her solution? To regain sovereignty. That means “becoming aware of the level of conditioning that divorces us from our own inner voice, intuition, and creativity,” she says. To tune back into what she calls “our own innate intelligence.”
I talked with Seppälä, a researcher who teaches at the Yale School of Management, about the different ways we remain mentally “bound,” how sovereignty is distinct from happiness, and why it’s essential to pay attention to our intuition, among other subjects. Here is our conversation, edited for clarity.
Hope Reese: There’s been a lot of talk about mindfulness when it comes to mental health, but the concept of sovereignty feels new. Why did you choose this term? How does it fit into our overall well-being?
EmmaSeppälä: I’ve been studying the science of happiness and well-being, meditation interventions, and doing research on many different things, like student well-being. But I felt like there was no term that encapsulated what I’m talking about, which is beyond well-being. You can do all the well-being practices in the world, but if you’re still falling for behavior patterns and thought patterns that are destructive to you, then you’re still not free. You might feel better after your yoga classes, but you’re still bound by those kinds of patterns, behaviors that are keeping you trapped.
Sometimes when everybody’s doing it, we forget to question it. That’s why I didn’t want to use another concept that was already being used—because this is not the same thing.
ES: A really simple one that anyone can identify with is how bound we are to technology in ways that, for many of us, feel unhealthy. And yet we’re stuck in it. How many teenagers have deleted social media from their phone, only to put it back on, knowing that it’s destructive? And how many people, when they’re not feeling well, fall for some kind of addictive behavior? You don’t have to be alcoholic for this—you could look saintly, like ⁘I’m working 80 hours a week,⁘ or ⁘I’m volunteering 40 hours a week,⁘ or ⁘I’m just exercising.⁘
