Ethan Kross is a professor of psychology and management and director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan. He is an experimental psychologist, neuroscientist and writer, who specializes in emotion regulation. He is the author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters and, most recently, Shift: Managing Your Emotions—So They Don't Manage You.
It turns out there is plenty of research about how the senses affect our emotions, but very little on how to strategically use our senses to modulate our feelings. And this is where the opportunity lies.
Our inner voice functions well much of the time, but it can also lead to chatter—the cyclical negative thoughts and emotions that turn introspection into a curse. Here are strategies for breaking that cycle, both in yourself and when supporting others.