
Reading the Room (And the Person)
How to spot what people are really feeling (even when they say "I'm fine")
Learn to ride emotional waves without wiping out. You'll practise making room for feelings and responding well when they run high, so a conversation can stay afloat even when someone's having a full meltdown.
Key Insights
- How quickly emotions can take over a conversation (think toddler, permanent marker, freshly painted wall)
- The emotional weather that sits under every conversation, whether anyone mentions it or not
- Why moods spread between people (psychologists call it emotional contagion), so you can catch a feeling much as you catch a cold
- How to make it safe for people to open up without becoming everyone's unpaid therapist
Practical Takeaways
- Notice fleeting expressions that don't match the words
- Respond to the feeling first and the facts second
- Catch your own triggers before they take over what you say
- Make it feel safe enough that people actually want to open up
Lessons in This Module
Lesson 1: The Emotional Undercurrent
Recognising feelings beneath the words
Lesson 2: Your Emotional Dashboard
Monitoring and managing your internal state
Lesson 3: Empathy vs Emotional Contagion
Feeling with others without losing yourself
Lesson 4: Emotional First Aid
Responding skilfully to strong emotions
Related Modules

Why Some Conversations Just Click
What research says about why people enjoy talking with you (and where the pop science goes too far)

How to Make People Feel Heard
Being the person others want to talk to (without saying much)

The Hard Conversations That Matter Most
How to say what needs saying without torching the relationship

Fixing What You Broke (Before It's Too Late)
How to recover from conversational disasters, and sometimes come out stronger