“You are an architect of your experience.” – Lisa Feldman Barrett

Last week I watched a YouTube video by Lisa Feldman Barrett on how emotions are created. After watching the Inside Out movies, I initially thought emotions were just a normal part of being human—automatic reactions that tell us important things about ourselves. But Barrett’s research reveals something far more revolutionary: emotions aren’t what most of us think they are.

Rethinking Emotions: What I Learned from Lisa Feldman Barrett

I spent a lot of time today researching Lisa Feldman Barrett’s theory of constructed emotions. Even though I’d watched her video, I realized my understanding still needed work.

I asked Claude AI to help me identify gaps in my knowledge and explain how Barrett’s ideas applied to a blog post I’d written. What I learned surprised me.

It turns out emotions aren’t automatic reactions that just happen to us. Our brains actually construct them based on physical sensations, past experiences, and concepts we’ve learned throughout our lives. Barrett calls this the “body budget” – how our brain manages energy resources affects which emotions we experience.

This isn’t just interesting theory – it gives us more control over our emotions than I ever thought possible. By understanding how our physical state influences our feelings, we can take practical steps to manage our emotional lives better.

I’m excited to share these insights with you. They’ve already changed how I view my own emotions, and I think they might help you too.

The Construction of Emotions

For years as a trauma survivor, I believed my overwhelming emotions were simply being “triggered” by things that reminded me of painful past experiences. My body would kick into survival mode, causing unnecessary stress. This explanation made sense to me—until I discovered Barrett’s theory of constructed emotion.

Barrett’s research shows that emotions aren’t automatic reactions that happen to us. They’re actively constructed by our brains. This isn’t just a small tweak to how we understand emotions—it’s a complete rethinking of what emotions actually are.

Here’s what’s happening, according to Barret, when we experience an emotion:

1. Our brain is constantly monitoring sensations in our body (heart rate, breathing, muscle tension).
2. These sensations by themselves are neither good nor bad—they’re just data.
3. Our brain makes sense of these sensations by using concepts we’ve learned throughout our lives.
4. These concepts help our brain predict what the sensations mean and what actions we should take.
5. The result is what we experience as an emotion.

This process is happening every moment of every day, mostly outside our awareness. Our brain isn’t just passively receiving information from the world and then reacting—it’s actively predicting and constructing our reality, including our emotions.

The Body Budget

One of Barrett’s most powerful concepts is what she calls the “body budget.” Think of it like a bank account that tracks your body’s resources. Every action you take—thinking, moving, digesting food—requires withdrawals from this account. Sleep, nutrition, and positive social interactions make deposits.

As a trauma survivor, I never realized how much my physical state affected my emotional experiences. Those times when my emotions seemed most uncontrollable often happened when my body budget was already in deficit—when I was exhausted, hungry, or overwhelmed.

For a long time, I believed there was something deeply wrong with me. I thought I was a bad person who just couldn’t do anything right. It was an obvious conclusion to reach when my emotions caused me to do things I normally wouldn’t do when calm.

Now I understand that my brain was constructing emotions based on:

• Physical sensations in a depleted body
• Concepts I had learned about what those sensations meant
• Predictions based on my difficult past experiences
• The context I was in at that moment

Making Meaning of Sensations

Think about your worst day when you came home from work after your boss loaded work up on you and demeaned you in front of coworkers. By the time you get home, you don’t want to talk to anyone. You might even snap at your family just because they’re in your path.

In the traditional view, we’d say your emotions were “triggered” by a bad day at work. But Barrett’s theory gives us a deeper understanding:

Your brain was constantly predicting what sensations in your body meant based on similar past experiences. After several days of workplace stress, your brain was predicting more of the same, already constructing emotions before anything even happened. This explains why your stress level might be elevated before you even begin your day—your brain is constructing emotions based on predictions, not just reacting to what’s happening in the moment.

Now imagine being a child in constantly stressful circumstances. Children don’t have a way to escape. When their parent is the tyrant, they can only comply to survive. The patterns of prediction their brains develop follow them into adulthood.

I had no idea how many maladaptive coping mechanisms created to deal with overwhelming emotions that I carried into my adulthood. Making sure everyone was happy with me was what I learned to do well. For the most part, I functioned well with most people. But deep inside, so much was missing.

Unmet Needs and Constructed Emotions

What I realize now after a lot of work on myself is that what was missing were actual needs that every human being has in life. I thought I was just being selfish because I had food, shelter, and clothing. I’d never missed a meal in my lifetime. But I had no idea that emotional needs like safety and belonging are essential for every human being.

When these needs aren’t met, our brains construct emotions based on what we have learned through our experiences to help us navigate the situation. But if we don’t have the right concepts to make sense of what we’re feeling, we can misinterpret our experiences. We might construct shame when what we’re really experiencing is a normal response to unmet needs.

My unmet needs created all kinds of physical sensations when I met a man who seemed to be holding intentional space for me. A lifetime of suppressed overwhelming sensations erupted, and my brain constructed powerful emotions based on the concepts available to me. I had no idea how to make sense of what was happening.

My maladaptive coping mechanism became depending on him to help me regulate my emotions. And he did indeed provide the space that my parents never did. He listened to my concerns, put my mind at ease, and I didn’t realize that this created a dependency that placed him in a tremendous position of power in my life.

It worked until it didn’t. When this relationship ended, I realized how my brain had been constructing emotions based on concepts that didn’t serve me well. All because of how my brain had learned to make sense of my physical sensations and experiences.

A New Framework for Understanding

It was only when I became a trauma recovery practitioner that the pieces started to fall into place. Barrett’s teachings added another level of understanding to this process. Her explanation of how emotions are constructed is an incredible revelation for managing my life in a way which can prevent me from being overwhelmed.

Our brains are prediction machines. They constantly compare current situations to past experiences to see if they pose a threat. When there’s a similar situation, our brains start to prepare for how to deal with it—not by triggering emotions, but by constructing them.

Remember the work example—if your boss overloads and demeans you for several days, your brain predicts this will happen again and constructs emotions accordingly. Your stress isn’t just a reaction; it’s your brain’s prediction preparing your body for what it anticipates is coming.

This affects your body budget, leaving little energy to deal with the day’s challenges or find solutions. What we allow often becomes what continues, especially if we just get through each day in survival mode.

Applying This Understanding

Most of us know that if we consume more calories than we burn, we gain weight. If we spend more money than we have, our bank account goes into deficit. But few of us apply this same logic to our body budget and emotional health.

It feels like Western culture normalizes operating at a deficit. Some even brag about burning the candle at both ends. The state of our bank account becomes more important than our family relationships. As a result, we wind up with an emotional deficit without understanding why.

For me, improving my emotional health has been a process of:

1. Monitoring my body budget — Paying attention to sleep, nutrition, and stress levels
2. Expanding my emotion concepts — Learning more precise words for what I’m feeling
3. Creating new experiences — Building a history that gives my brain new information for predictions
4. Being honest with safe people — Finding those who don’t judge but aren’t afraid to provide feedback

Another practice is setting intentional time each day to check your body budget, just as you would check your bank balance. What are you beginning your day with? Are you already in the red? Are you catastrophizing before your day even begins?

When you notice deficits, look for simple ways to make deposits: Go outside and notice what draws your attention. Feel your feet on the ground. Allow your mind to rest, even if just for a moment.

A New Perspective on Emotional Health

Understanding that emotions are constructed by our brains doesn’t diminish our experiences—it empowers us to shape them. Our needs really are quite simple. It’s when they aren’t met that things get complicated.

What do you need more of? What’s costing you more than you can afford to pay? Imagine what life could be like if there was extra in your body budget. Maybe you could share those resources with others who need them.

By understanding how your brain constructs emotions, you gain more agency in your emotional life than you ever thought possible. And isn’t that what healing is all about?

Ready to Balance Your Budget?

I offer a free 30-minute consultation to discuss how coaching might help you achieve greater emotional well-being. Reach out to: loriwilliamsliminalspace@gmail.com

According to Lisa Feldman Barrett, when you start to feel a negative emotion, there are several effective strategies you can use to manage it:

1. Recognize that your physical state affects your emotions. Barrett emphasizes that “you cannot overcome emotion through rational thinking because the state of your body budget is the basis for every thought and perception you have.” This means addressing your physical needs is crucial.
2. Take care of your body budget through “physical actions like taking a deep breath, or getting more sleep,” which Barrett notes “can be surprisingly helpful in addressing problems we traditionally view as psychological.”
3. Remind yourself that negative feelings can be a sign of body budget depletion rather than external problems. As Barrett advises: “You are having a body budgeting issue. Go to bed, take some water, have a bath, get a hug, and tomorrow, it will feel like a better day.”
4. Engage in activities that replenish your body budget when feeling overwhelmed or stressed, such as “practicing mindfulness, engaging in physical exercise, or spending time with loved ones.”
5. Practice emotional granularity – the ability to identify emotions with greater specificity. Barrett suggests this helps you “tame this complexity by observing your actual bodily feelings with more care.”
6. Re-categorize what you’re feeling. For example, recognizing that pain might be physical rather than emotional can offer relief, as “it need not be framed in the individual’s experience as a personal catastrophe.”
7. Change your environment by “spending less time in noisy, crowded spaces, and more time in places with greenery and natural light.”
8. Remember that “you are an architect of your experience” – you have more agency in your emotional life than you might think.

These strategies align with Barrett’s core theory that emotions are constructed by our brains rather than being automatic reactions, giving us more control over our emotional experiences than traditionally believed.

5-Minute Daily Body Budget Practice

Based on Lisa Feldman Barrett’s Theory of Constructed Emotion

This simple daily practice will help you maintain a balanced body budget—the energy resources your brain manages to regulate your emotions and physical well-being.

Morning Check-In (2 minutes)

1. Body Scan

• Take three deep breaths
• Notice your energy level (1-10)
• Scan for areas of tension or comfort
• Note your current mood

2. Budget Planning

• Identify today’s likely withdrawals (meetings, challenges, stressors)
• Plan intentional deposits:
  • When will you eat nutritious food?
  • When can you take short movement breaks?
  • How will you connect with supportive people?
  • When can you pause for brief moments of rest?

Mid-Day Reset (1 minute)

1. Breathing Break

• Three deep breaths
• Notice physical sensations
• Label your current mood with specificity

2. Quick Adjustment

• What does your body need right now?
• Make one small deposit (stretch, drink water, step outside, eat protein)

Evening Reconciliation (2 minutes)

1. Day Review

• What depleted your energy today?
• What replenished your energy?
• Did you notice any connection between physical state and emotions?

2. Tomorrow Preparation

• Identify one way to reduce withdrawals tomorrow
• Plan one additional deposit for tomorrow
• Set one intention for better body budget awareness

Remember:

• Every emotion starts with a physical sensation
• Your brain constructs emotions based partly on your body budget
• Simple physical interventions can significantly shift emotional experiences
• You have more agency in your emotional life than you might think

“You are an architect of your experience.” – Lisa Feldman Barrett

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References

Lisa Feldman Barrett’s Theory of Constructed Emotion The core concepts discussed throughout the document are based on Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s work, primarily from these sources:

1. Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
2. Barrett, L. F. (2020). Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
3. Barrett’s TED Talk: “You aren’t at the mercy of your emotions – your brain creates them” (2017)

For those wanting to learn more about Barrett’s work directly:

• Barrett’s official website: lisafeldmanbarrett.com