The Voice in Our Head and Why It Matters with Ethan Kross

What do You Say To Yourself When No One Else Can Hear? That is the question I bring to the table and wow do we have a show today for you. 

Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he is the director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory.

Ethan has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has been interviewed about his research on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR’s Morning Edition. His research has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science.

What You’ll Learn

3:50 Interview Begins

7:44 Why do we have an inner voice

Ethan Kross explains what an inner voice is on a scientific level. It is a way of communicating within our minds to keep important information active in our brains. from keeping information active in your head to planning, to controlling, to critiquing and storytelling, your inner voice helps you do all of those things.

12:17 When talking to ourselves backfires

Most of us have the inner voice and a lot of the time it can backfire. This is due to the fact that we will focus a lot on the problem without being able to look at the big picture, Ethan Kross explains. He talks about the tools that can be leveraged to work with it.

16:27 Tools to beat brain chatter

Ethan Kross shares a few tools to get unstuck on the chatter in our heads. We can use people tools, or other tools or techniques such asa mental mind travel or changing the way you talk to yourself.

21:39 Zooming out story

Larry shares an experience that he learned from one of the chapters in which he applied some of the tools but turned out to be an amazing experience. The tool he used, was visualizing and distancing himself from the problem to provide himself the support needed.

25:37 Being in the moment

Ethan Kross explains the evolution of not being in the moment. As humans, we navigate life in ways that other species can’t.

27:29 The classes they should teach

Larry narrates a story on what classes that he wishes they would have taught in school that really makes a difference in our day to day lives. These are social skils and personal finance.

31:52 Venting in Relationships

Ethan talks about how it is proven that venting in a relationship helps it. But he explains that if you just vent, that does not solve problems, so its important to find people who are skilled at 2 things to help you overcome the chatter: 1. They take time emphatically to listen, validate and connect. 2. They also help you look at the bigger picture.

37:22 Teaching them about emotions

Ethan Kross talks about a study that shows that 40% of teens think they cannot control their emotions.

41:41 Chatter in Marriage

Ethan talks about the importance of dealing with chatter in marriage or if left untreated it can come to destroy a marriage.

Ethan Kross’ Links

• Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/ethankross/ 
• Twitter-https://twitter.com/ethan_kross 
• LinkedIn-https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekross/ 
• Website-https://www.ethankross.com/

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