In this episode of The Human Upgrade you’ll find out how to harness the power of your inner voice to ease anxiety, improve physical and mental health, and deepen your relationship with others. 

“The mind is flexible, if we know how to bend it,” says psychologist and award-winning professor Ethan Kross, Ph.D., founder of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

He’s one of the world’s leading experts in controlling the conscious mind. He studies the ways in which your inner voice impacts your health, performance, decisions and relationships. He explores how people manage their emotions in order to better understand self-control. In particular, the conversations you have with yourself directly impact every part of your health and life.

He explain that your inner voice functions to do things like this:

• Keep information active in your mind
• Coach you through problems
• Simulate and plan ahead
• Tell you stories

That inner voice can be a powerful tool, giving you creativity, connection and definition. However, when the voice turns to negative and disorienting self-talk (chatter), it can create chaos and overwhelm by zooming into our problems, making you lose perspective.

Ethan’s pioneering research mixes behavioral and brain research to get at the “why” behind human nature. He uses insights from his research to give people science-based tools they can use to change their behavior, be used in relationships, support a career move, improve physical performance, decrease stress, increase productivity and be used to reach life goals. You’ll use new tools like mental time travel, tough love and introspection.

In this conversation about his book, “CHATTER: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It,” you’ll learn: 

• How social media plays a part in our chatter
• How to zoom out with a flexible mind, changing thoughts and distancing ourselves
• How to use tough love
• How to teach your kids about chatter from a young age
• How to help your friends with their own chatter (and what makes it worse)

With Ethan’s experience studying the conscious mind for 20 years, you can learn how to turn negativity into an awesome tool that helps you master your own self-talk.

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