The Neuroscience of Emotion Circuits and Navigating Territories of Conflict with Sarah Peyton, Part 2

Mediate Your Life with John Kinyon

In Part 2 of my conversation with Sarah Peyton, we dive deeper into the neuroscience of conflict and emotional healing, bridging the Mediate Your Life framework with the groundbreaking research of affective neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp. Together, we explore how different emotional circuits—rage, fear, grief, disgust, and care—shape the way we experience and navigate conflict, both internally and in our relationships.

Sarah shares profound insights into how empathy rewires the brain, transforming reactive patterns into resilience, and we discuss how shame and self-judgment can block our access to authenticity and healing. We also explore how the different emotion circuits contribute to our ability to engage, connect, integrate, and move forward in life, and how the polarization in today’s political and social landscape mirrors deep neurobiological patterns of in-group/out-group dynamics.

The final section of the episode incorporates a third conversation with Sarah. In this section, I share a difficult experience from my own life and how I used one of the Mediate Your Life maps to navigate it, while Sarah provides neuroscience understandings and insights on how this was connected for me with a childhood trauma. Sarah’s expertise in resonance and relational neuroscience brings new clarity to the healing process, offering listeners a roadmap for transforming conflict into connection.

Join us for this rich, powerful conversation filled with deep and wonderfully illuminating insights.

Jaak Panksepp’s Emotion Circuits

• SEEKING

• CARE

• PANIC/GRIEF

• FEAR

• RAGE

• SEXUALITY

• PLAY

• DISGUST

Sarah’s bio, key links, and learning materials:

Sarah Peyton, author, Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer and neuroscience educator, integrates brain science and the use of resonant language to heal trauma with exquisite and warm gentleness. She teaches and lectures internationally, and is the author of the Your Resonant Self series, on the relational neuroscience of self-compassion and making your brain a good place to live. Her latest work is The Antiracist Heart, co-written with Roxy Manning, Ph.D.

www.sarahpeyton.com Resonant Healing Seminar 2025: https://sarahpeyton.com/resonant-healing-summit-2025/

Episode Chapters

0:00:00 - Intro

0:01:04 - Social Justice & Politics

0:07:15 - Conflict Maps

0:19:00 - The Emotion of Disgust

0:23:40 - Care Circuits and Evil

0:27:15 - Fear of Lost Connection

0:32:15 - Mourning and Care Circuits

0:36:45 - Shame, Stress, and Loneliness

0:51:20 - The Role of Fear

1:00:30 - Reconciliation Healing Process

1:07:11 - John’s Personal Experience

1:14:05 - Processing Trauma and Survival

1:20:30 - Mourning Unmet Needs

1:27:17 - Authenticity & Shame

1:38:30 - Neuroscience of Empathy

1:40:13 - Time Travel

1:46:00 - Outro