Dr. Aprilia West - What You Feel Is Not All There Is: Free your choices and your life from the default world of the emotional matrix

Praise for What You Feel Is Not All There Is

This compelling and potent book not only illuminates exactly how emotions shape your choices for better and for worse, it also helps you tap the power of infinite games to play your way to being the best version of yourself in any moment. Dr. West takes the reader through a state-of-the-art evidence-based skills training to harness choice points by decoding emotions, overriding unhelpful defaults, rewiring unhelpful patterns and making values-based moves even in the face of intense stress, challenge, and pain. Reflections and experiential learning opportunities throughout the book help you lock in the learning and level up. By increasing your emotional efficacy youll learn to become the hero of your own story, transforming whats possible for you and the future youre living into.

Jane McGonigal , PhD, #1NYT bestselling author of SuperBetter , Reality Is Broken and Imaginable , and Director of Games Research & Development at the Institute for the Future

On a foundation of scientific evidence, Dr. Aprilia West delivers an engaging, practical, and powerful skills training based on a transformative idea: when people break the trance of emotional reactivity they become more resilient, psychologically flexible, and emotionally intelligent. This is an extremely well-considered, conceptualized, and accessible book. Highly recommended.

Rick Hanson , PhD, NYT bestselling author of Resilient and Buddhas Brain

Dr. West offers a brief, structured, highly practical emotion efficacy skills training, integrating the latest evidence-based practices of mindfulness, acceptance, and emotion-processing strategies in a masterful way. The examples, reflections, and client dialogues really make the concepts come alive. And the experiential practice will help people learn and retain these important skills for wellbeing and performance. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants a more powerful relationship with their emotions.

Kirk Strosahl , PhD, cofounder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and co-author, Brief Interventions for Radical Change

Dr. West begins her book, What You Feel Is Not All There Is , with truly essential words: your life as moments of choice. The beauty of her work and dedication to making healthy change for all who explore this book unfolds from its opening. The reader is invited to take a journey of purpose, guided by providing fundamental elements for living well. The skills include tuning into the moment, cultivating curiosity, leaning into discomfort, and connecting to values creating vitality. This is a must-read book for those wishing to find in every moment a choice linked to meaning. What You Feel Is Not All There Is will be a permanent fixture in my office and a wholly recommended book for clients and friends. Thank you, April, for writing this beautiful work to help others heal.

Robyn D. Walser , PhD, licensed clinical psychologist and author of the Heart of ACT , co-author of the Mindful Couple: How acceptance and mindfulness can lead you to the love you want , Learning ACT II , and ACT for Moral Injury

Regardless of whether you are well-versed in writings on emotional intelligence and agility, mindfulness, and coping with stress and adversity, you must understand how enjoyable and useful this book is. Aprilia isnt like other folks. She has a gift for illuminating complex evidence-based ideas through memorable examples and stories. She offers powerful questions and experiential exercises that will enhance your life. If everyone wrote with this level of clarity and poignancy the world would be a healthier place.

Dr. Todd B. Kashdan , professor of psychology, director of the Well-being Lab at George Mason University, and author of The Art of Insubordination: How to dissent and defy effectively

In What You Feel Is Not All There Is , Dr. Aprilia West offers a stimulating guide for how readers can achieve meaningful engagement in every aspect of our lives, simply by mastering our relationship with our emotions. In doing so, Dr. West brings to bear her expertise as a psychologist, a coach, and a consultant to make the most impactful technologies of several empirically-based behavioral treatments available in a series of straightforward lessons and powerful exercises. The Learnings and Challenges at the end of each chapter make the text easy to use as a reference, and even the most psychologically savvy reader will find themselves returning to the text to cultivate improved emotional efficacy. By the end of the book, what becomes possible is approaching life as a series of new and potentially valued choices, by playing infinite games in any moment.

Emily K. Sandoz , PhD, Endowed Professor of Social Sciences, and director of the Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group at University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Maladaptive default patterns are at the root of unnecessary emotional suffering. The powerful, research-based program in What You Feel Is Not All There Is offers psychoeducation and experiential training to help people learn to override unhelpful defaults using powerful skills, including: emotion acceptance, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and values-based choices. Dr. Wests book will help readers optimize their moments of choice to embrace what really matters. This is a book that will change lives.

Matthew McKay , PhD, co-author of ACT for Interpersonal Problems and The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook

Everything you ever wanted and needed to know about emotions and how to handle them like a boss is in this book. Rich metaphors, personal examples, and case studies bring the material to life in a compelling and easy-to-digest format. A great resource for anyone who wants to powerfully navigate their emotional life.

Jill Stoddard , PhD, author of Be Mighty and The Big Book of ACT Metaphors , co-host of the Psychologists Off The Clock podcast

This delightful and brilliant book is guaranteed to make you RETHINK what you know about emotions, your choices, and whats possible for your life. While we all tend to trust our gut and let feelings dictate our behavior, this instinct interferes with the essential choice point that poignant moment where we can pause and align our actions with our deeper values. With her signature playfulness and eloquence, Dr. West artfully weaves together storytelling, examples, and evidence-based skills into a highly accessible format to help us unplug from unhelpful default reactions and bravely stretch for the best possible version of ourselves.

Victoria Lemle Beckner , PhD, Associate Clinical Professor, University of California at San Francisco, and co-author of Conquering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

In this indispensable guide on authentically choosing your emotional adventures, Dr. West distills decades of clinical experience into a compendium filled with wisdom. Using step-by-step experiential practices, you can move toward your innermost interests, desires, and yearnings in order to step fully into your power, freedom, hope, and selfhood. This book will be a treasured volume in my personal and professional library.

Mavis Tsai , PhD, cofounder of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, Research Scientist and Clinical Faculty, University of Washington

Dr. Aprilia West writes in a way that seamlessly blends pop culture and evidence-based practice. She provides entertaining and informative case examples, applied exercises, and experiential scripts. In What You Feel Is Not All There Is , Dr. West guides readers on a journey that helps nurture flexible relationships with their emotions, empowering them to act upon what matters most. This book provides a trove of practical tips for regulation and resilience building; I highly recommend it.