A Neuroscientist Explains How to Quiet Your Mind and Find Some Peace

A Neuroscientist Explains How to Quiet Your Mind and Find Some Peace

via Inc.com by Jessica Stillman

Our heads are noisy places, and a lot of the time that’s a good thing. Daydreaming is a sign of intelligence, according to science, and can make us more creative. And reflecting on your problems and noodling over solutions is one of the best ways to move forward in life (even if it’s not the more pleasant way to spend your time). 

But sometimes all that chatter in our heads gets destructive. We beat ourselves up for our slightest failing, talk ourselves out of sensible risks we should actually take, or get stuck in a loop of worry or shame. That kind of unhealthy mental noise is one of the subjects of University of Michigan neuroscientist Ethan Kross’s new book, Chatter.

In it, he runs through the evolutionary reason our heads are so noisy, what happens in our brain when we ruminate, and techniques for grappling back control of your own inner voice. He recently shared one in the course of an interview with science magazine Nautilus

What would Batman do? 

Chatter happens, Kross explains, when we get stuck in a mental rut, retreading the same worries over and over again without reaching any useful conclusion or consolation. Breaking out of that rut requires putting some emotional distance between you and whatever is troubling you. It’s hard to figure out how to solve a problem when you’re super upset over it. 

Language can help, Kross says. Research shows that a simple technique called “distanced self-talk” enables people to shift their perspective and see problems more objectively. All you need to do is stop your inner voice from saying “I, I, I” and use some other word or pronoun instead…

… keep reading the full & original article HERE