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Managing the voice in your head with Ethan Kross
Your inner voice is typically an asset. It helps you make plans, solve problems, maintain self-control, and keep information lively. However that’s not always the case. Sometimes your inner voice can transform from a blessing to a curse, and negative thoughts and emotions come to dominate your thinking. This causes us to worry, ruminate, and catastrophize, which traps us in a negative thought cycle.
The good news is that there is a science-based method to help you regain control of your inner voice. Psychologist Ethan Kross calls this dark side of your inner voice “chatter.” In this video lesson, he explains how you can better understand it and how to harness it.
Learning objectives:
Recognize what causes you to experience chatter.
Adopt a broader perspective on your problems.
View threats as challenges.
Share chatter productively and help others do the same.
Minimize chatter by creating rituals and introducing more awe into your life.
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Lessons:
Lesson 1: The Fundamentals of Chatter
Spin bikes provide a great workout — even though you don’t technically go anywhere. But spinning is generally only good for us while we’re on a bike. When our mental wheels start turning, we tend to talk to ourselves. And while your inner voice can be an angel on your shoulder, if it turns into a negative thought cycle, it can keep you as stationary as …
Lesson 2: Distancing Yourself from Your Problems
In the early 1990s, Stuart Smalley, a popular (and wildly insecure) character on "Saturday Night Live", opened each talk-show-style sketch by looking in a mirror and declaring, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” before encouraging his viewers to practice daily affirmations, too.
Lesson 3: Reframing Your Experiences
Baseball legend Wade Boggs is credited with saying, “Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings us but the attitude we bring to life.”
Lesson 4: Talking to Others
You’ve likely experienced a difficult situation you needed to talk through with someone else. But have you ever noticed that after venting, you still feel stressed? One definition of the word vent is “the expression or release of a strong emotion.” However, you may wonder, “How do I move past expressing an emotion to releasing it?”
Lesson 5: Engaging in Rituals
The TV drama "Grey’s Anatomy" chronicles the lives of a group of (fictional) doctors. One surgeon, Dr. Shepherd, conducts a ritual prior to each surgery. Every time he walks into the operating room he announces, “It’s a beautiful day to save lives,” almost as if the phrase is sacred to him.
Lesson 6: Embracing Physical Environments
Have you ever been in a stressful situation and noticed that suddenly you couldn’t get enough of those mundane cleaning tasks you’ve been avoiding? Perhaps you have an urge to scrub the baseboards or lint-roll the lampshades? Good news: You’re not alone.
