About

You lift weights three times a week, making sure your protein stays above 120 grams a day. You take magnesium before bed. You completed that leadership course on strategic decision-making, and you’ve already booked the next one on conflict resolution. You found an excellent hairdresser. You schedule your dentist appointments six months in advance. You measure everything that can be measured.

And yet.

You snapped at Kevin on Monday, even though you promised yourself you’d keep your cool this time. You keep putting off that conversation, even though it gets harder the longer you wait. And at 3:00 a.m., again, you were replaying the scene from college no one else remembers.

What’s that about?

That’s your emotional system doing exactly what it was designed to do. But not necessarily what you need it to do.

Emotions are biological programs that automate behavior. They were shaped by evolution to keep your genes alive. Often, that doesn’t help your goals, doesn’t align with your values, and doesn’t make you feel okay. Unless you intervene.

If you’re curious about how your emotional system works—and how to reprogram it so it works for you—

I can show you how.

Hi, I’m Malka. I work with emotions for a living.

I’m a certified neuropsychoanalyst with a PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology and a Master’s in Psychotherapy Science. I created the Emotional Fitness Framework to help individuals and organizations take conscious control of their emotional systems.

This isn’t emotional healing. It’s emotional training.

Through masterclasses, intensives, and professional programs, I teach systems for understanding and reprogramming emotional mechanisms. These are not quick fixes. They are frameworks for mastering how your emotional system works, and how to direct it to work for you. What creates change is knowledge, applied over time.

Emotions influence every aspect of your life.
Make sure they’re working in your favor.

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In the unskippable group project of being human, emotional challenges lurk like mischievous gremlins, ready to trip you up. 🌪️ Naturally, I asked ChatGPT which emotional challenges humans struggle with most. Because when in doubt, ask the robot. 😏 

Take a moment to notice: which of these tends to mess with you most? And which are more like occasional speed bumps? Your answers might surprise you and reveal your next emotional growth hack. 🌱✨

🔊 Upregulated Emotional Expression: Your emotions crank the volume past effective and straight into earthquake alert levels. Like using a megaphone for an intimate conversation; leaning across the café table, voice rising with every sentence, hands flailing dramatically while your friend slowly leans back, wondering if they should pretend they don’t know you ... 🎤💥

💧 Emotional Overwhelm: Your emotions come at you like a tidal wave. 🌊 Whether it’s their intensity or your capacity to process them, you end up feeling drowned in the feels.

🔥 Emotional Suppression: You deliberately stifle your emotions; like a pressure cooker with a sealed lid. While this can build resilience and the bottling it up might work … until it doesn’t. 🚪💥

👁️‍🗨️ Limited Empathetic Perception: You find it difficult to read others' emotional states accurately. Feels like reading a book in dim light. You know there’s meaning there, but it’s all a blur. 📖💡

🔍 Impaired Emotional Recognition: Sometimes you know you’re feeling something … but what? Other times, you don’t even register there’s a feeling at all. It’s like having an inbox where the important emails show up blank ... or don’t show up at all. 🌀❓

🤐 Downregulated Emotional Expression: You lock your emotions up like a vault … but, uh, the key’s still inside. 🔒🗝️ Good luck getting in.

Now tell me: where do your emotional gremlins cause the most chaos? Drop your ranking below. 👇😏

#EmotionalHealth #EmotionalIntelligence # EmotionalLiteracy #EmotionalGremlins #EmotionalFitness #PersonalGrowth #MentalHealth #PersonalDevelopment #PeakPerformance #PerformanceHacks #AffHave you been introduced to Emotional Fitness? 🤝 Meet your greatest ally. Ever wish your emotions worked for you instead of dragging you into an existential crisis over the wrong coffee order? ☕😵‍💫 Well, emotional fitness is the underrated superpower you didn’t know you needed. 💪✨. It’s not just about feeling good (though, bonus points if you do). It’s about having emotions that actually pull their weight: aligning with your goals 🎯, matching your values 💡, and not throwing tantrums when life throws curveballs. ⚡
Think of it in two dimensions: 🌿a) Emotional well-being: aka feeling deluxe okay. ⚙️ b) Emotional functionality: the system that keeps you there. Together, they turn your emotions into high-performance tools 🛠️ instead of unpredictable gremlins. 👀 So, are you in? Double tap if you're ready to train your emotions like the badass life allies they’re meant to be. 💪🔥💚
#EmotionalFitness #UpgradeYourEmotions #EmotionalSuperpower #EmotionalHealth #PeakPerformance #BrainGains #MentalWellness #SelfDevelopment #AffectScience #AffectologyDid you think emotions were just for crying at rom-coms or yelling at slow Wi-Fi? You’d be wrong (sorry, not sorry). 😏 In recent decades, breakthroughs in affective science have revolutionized decision-making theories. 🧠📚 Research shows that emotions are the backstage managers of your life, pulling the strings behind most of your decisions. 🎭🧠

Emotions don’t just color your decisions; they practically paint the whole mural. 🎨✨ Your choices aren’t just logical chess moves; they’re emotional dance-offs. 💃🕺 Sometimes this leads to brilliance (like finally choosing the perfect shade for a logo), and sometimes … well, it’s like walking into a trap covered in glitter. 🕳️✨

Case in point: My emotions made me switch my brand’s color palette. And no regrets; it’s fabulous. 💅💚

So, what’s the last decision you made? Did it have “emotionally driven” written all over it? Or … Spill the tea. 🫖💭

#EmotionalFitness #ScienceOfEmotions #DecisionsDecisions #BrandColorsAndFeelings #MalkaCeh #Affectology #AffectiveScience #ScienceOfEmotions #EmotionalIntelligence #EmotionalLiteracy #Feelings

[1] Lerner, J., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799-823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043🌱 Spring is almost here! The season of shedding old leaves, sprouting fresh starts, and monumental transformations (or, you know, new logos, new colors, new slogans ...). (🎶 Delicate spring piano.)

Meanwhile, emotional fitness is doing the opposite: tiny shifts that actually make a difference. (☕ Sound of a very typical Tuesday afternoon.) No overnight awakenings. No "new you" nonsense. Just science-backed tweaks that get you feeling more emotionally tuned in and ready to thrive. 💪

✨ What’s your tiny shift this season? No need to announce it; just give it a subtle, knowing nod. (😏🎩) It deserves one. 😉

#AffectCrafting #EmotionalFitness #ScienceBacked #EmotionalIntelligence #Psychology #PersonalGrowth #MindsetShift #EmotionalWellbeing #OptimizeYourLife #NoFluffJustScienceDo you feel that pull to scroll, snack, or binge-watch when you plan to do work, work out, clean, or do something else productive? 😵‍💫
Here’s the truth: boredom has evolved to guide you toward growth, but in today’s world, it’s hijacked. 🎲🎰 Your brain is designed to always seek "something better". 🔎 This instinct would have helped you in the evolutionary past to find better places and ways to secure food, shelter, allies, a partner, and solve other life’s challenges. 💡 But now? Instead of growing your resources, boredom tempts you toward:
•	🍟 Junk food
•	📱 Mindless scrolling
•	📺 Binge-watching shows
•	🛒 Impulse shopping
These quick dopamine hits create spikes and crashes that deplete your dopamine reserves, leaving you restless, unmotivated, and stuck in a loop of craving. 😩 When you give in to boredom with instant gratification, you lose the opportunity to build up your dopamine capacity and fuel your long-term motivation. It also becomes a habit that weakens your resistance to distractions and the ability to focus, work deliberately, and make an effort.
Enduring boredom is a superpower in today’s world. 💪🏻💪🏻 Why Boredom Matters:
•	It allows your dopamine levels to replenish. 🌱
•	It builds the capacity to take meaningful action, especially when things feel hard.
•	It’s essential for sustainable well-being and a good life. 
The ability to endure boredom without reaching for a quick fix enables you to make real progress toward your goals.
Emotional Fitness Tip:
Next time boredom strikes, remind yourself: the urge to scroll or snack is not a need—it’s a nudge. Don’t follow it. Bear it.
💭 What’s your go-to reaction when you’re bored? Take time to reflect.
#EmotionalFitness #BoredomHack #DopamineReset #SelfMastery #Resilience #AffectiveScience #Affectology #AffectologistHow many times a day does this happen? You feel a surge of *anticipation and excitement*, only to crash into frustration or restlessness soon after. 🧠📉 This is a dopamine crash, a drop in your brain’s anticipation chemical after an intense peak from things like scrolling social media, eating junk food, or binge-watching shows. 🤑🚨 The higher the peak, the deeper the crash. And after the crash, your dopamine levels drop below baseline, leaving you stuck in regret, boredom, or apathy. 😖 In contrast, actions that require effort, like working out or doing deep work, lead to a gradual climb toward satisfaction and pride, without the dramatic crash. These effort-based rewards keep your dopamine levels balanced and sustainable. 💪🏻⚖️🥰

🔑 Emotional Fitness Tip:
To maintain healthy dopamine levels:
1️⃣ Avoid or limit extreme dopamine spikes.
2️⃣ Focus on effort-based actions like exercise or creative work.
3️⃣ Allow your dopamine system to reset with rest, boredom, or low-stimulation activities.

💭 Think about it: Which habits make you feel energized, and which ones leave you feeling drained? ☝🏻

#DopamineCrash #DopamineHealth #EmotionalHealth #EmotionalFitness #Neuroscience #SelfMastery #AffectiveScience #Affectology #AffectologistYour emotions emerge from the three-layer build of your brain. 🧠✨
1️⃣ Primary emotions: Evolutionarily developed and hardwired from birth, these simple yet essential emotions originate in your brainstem.
2️⃣ Secondary emotions: Shaped by your early-life experiences and environment, especially your relationships with significant others, they run on the limbic system.
3️⃣ Tertiary emotions: The most complex, emerging from the brain’s cortex and strongly integrated with reflective processes, like self-awareness, conscious effort, and willpower.

Understanding the anatomy of your emotional system equips you with the basics for reprogramming and optimizing your emotional functioning. 🌱💡 Stay tuned as we explore each layer. 😉

#EmotionalFitness #Neuroscience #SelfImprovementJourney #EmotionalHealth #MindsetMatters #SelfAwarenessWhat are emotions?

Emotions are your brain's biological algorithms. 🧠 They interpret what's happening around you and motivate and guide you in your behavioral responses. Each emotion generates a unique feeling that drives your response. 🚀 

Here’s the breakdown of every emotion:
1️⃣ Trigger: The sensation, situation, event, person, object, behavior etc. that sets off a feeling.
2️⃣ Feeling: Your subjective experience, the how you feel part.
3️⃣ Behavioral Response: How you (re)act based on that feeling. Your response may be behavioral, verbal, a facial expression, an increase in blood pressure and that alike.

Think of emotions as your interpretation engine, alerting you about opportunities and risks, guiding your decisions and fueling their enactment. By understanding this mechanism better, you can optimize it to work in accordance with your personal goal and values. 💡🎯

Reflect: What’s one emotion you’d like to understand or optimize better? 💭

#EmotionsExplained #EmotionalIntelligence #EmotionalFitness #SelfImprovementJourney #MindsetMatters #PersonalGrowth #InnerWork #MentalWellbeing #EmotionalHealth #SelfAwarenessIn the entangled landscape of your experience, emotional challenges emerge as typical nuisances. 🌪️ Pause and reflect: How would you rank these challenges in your emotional makeup, from most to least pressing? 🧠 Your ranking might surprise you—and illuminate your next step in emotional growth. 🌱✨

🔊 Upregulated Emotional Expression: Your emotional expression exceeds what's effective—like using a megaphone for an intimate conversation. 🎤
💧 Emotional Overwhelm: Your emotional intensity exceeds your processing capacity, like a cup overflowing—whether it's the intensity of the emotion itself or your capacity to process it, the experience leaves you feeling flooded. 🌊
🔥 Emotional Suppression: You deliberately stifle your emotions—like a pressure cooker with a sealed lid. While this can build resilience, it might also lead to emotional eruptions. 🚪💥
👁️‍🗨️ Limited Empathetic Perception: You find it difficult to read others' emotional states accurately—like trying to read a book in dim light, the cues are there but hard for you to decipher. 📖💡
🔍 Impaired Emotional Recognition: You struggle to identify your own emotional states—you either experience feelings but can't quite recognize and name them or simply fail to notice them. 🌀❓
🤐 Downregulated Emotional Expression: You tend to keep your emotions to yourself—like locking a door but leaving the key inside, access becomes impossible. 🔒🗝️

#EmotionalIntelligence #EmotionalGrowth #EmotionalFitness #MentalHealth #PersonalDevelopment #PsychologicalInsights #EmotionalIntelligence #PsychologicalGrowth #EmotionalWellbeing #MentalHealth #EmotionalFitness #ConsciousGrowth #EmotionalDevelopment #PsychologicalInsightsYour emotional fitness is more than just "feeling good" – it's the product of your emotional well-being 🌿 and emotional functionality ⚙️. When you work on both dimensions, your emotions become your greatest tools 🛠️ for living a good life. 🌟 Explore what peak emotional health looks like for you. 🌈 Double tap if you're committed to developing your emotional fitness 💪🤍
#EmotionalFitness #EmotionalHealth #PersonalGrowth #MentalWellness #EmotionalIntelligence #SelfDevelopment #MindsetGrowth #EmotionalWellbeing #MentalHealth #PersonalDevelopmentIn 2015, Harari proposed a paradigm shift: 🌀 Psychology must move beyond its preoccupation with mapping and fixing dysfunction and toward understanding the mechanisms of optimal mental functioning. 🌟 It challenged me to study emotional performance and its role in human potential. 🌱 An integration of insights from neuropsychoanalysis 🧠, evolutionary anthropology 🦴, and clinical work 💡 gradually revealed how emotions, when properly tuned, function as sophisticated instruments of human advancement. 🎯✨

#EmotionalFitness #EmotionalHealth #SuperNormativeStates #OptimalFunctioningDid you know that emotions are the driving force behind most meaningful decisions in life? 🤔💡In recent decades, breakthroughs in affective science have revolutionized decision-making theories. 🧠📚 Research shows that emotions have a strong, profound, and predictable influence on your choices. ⚖️ They guide your judgments across different areas of life and sometimes lead you to positive outcomes — and sometimes into a trap [1]. 🥲 The paradigm shift makes it clear how strongly emotions shape not just how you feel but how you act. 🎬 Case in point: my emotions leading me to keep changing the color palette of my logo. 😋🎨 Are you aware of how your emotions have influenced your decisions recently? 💭😊
[1] Lerner, J., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual review of psychology, 66(1), 799-823. Doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043.

#EmotionalFitness #AffectiveScience #EmotionalHealth #DecisionMaking #EmotionsMatter

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