501: Harness the Voice in Your Head with Ethan Kross

We speak an estimated 50,000 words to ourselves, in our head, every single day. That’s the same amount of information as you’d find in most paperback books. We have positive, negative, and instructive self talk; but for many of us, the negative takes center stage. It might be anxiety over an uncertain future or ruminations about regrets and pains from the past. Either way, when the voice in your head dominates, it’s very hard to get anything done, much less enjoy the process. My guest on this week’s show is a psychologist whose work is focused on understanding and helping us to harness what he calls, chatter.

Learn 

• How to distance yourself from your inner dialogue  
• How beauty, awe and experiences can get us out of our head
• The value of ritual 
• Why venting with others doesn’t always help

Links

Ethan’s Website 

ABOUT OUR GUEST 

Ethan Kross is a doctor of psychology whose work focuses on controlling the conscious mind. He founded the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory in 2008, and his work has been published in Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and numerous other peer-reviewed journals. His book is called, Chatter, The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.

Nutritional Tip of the Week

• Caffeine and Yoga

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