Key insights from
Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
By Ethan Kross
What you'll learn
Our “inner voice” isn’t a quiet companion. At a rate of 4,000 words per minute, our brains bolster us to maintain self-control and achieve our goals, solidifying our identity and enabling us to conquer feats as varied as taking out the trash to running a marathon. But what do we do when these internal instructors turn into cruel tyrants? When our thought patterns disintegrate into harmful “chatter,” we lose one of our most helpful allies and stumble onto a merry-go-round of anxiety, negativity, and alienation. Psychologist and neuroscientist of human emotion Ethan Kross demonstrates how we might escape this carousel of toxic self-talk and employ our thoughts with freedom once again.
Key insights
- 1 We each have our own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: An “inner voice.”
- 2 Constant “chatter” sets our DNA on edge—literally.
- 3 Talking to yourself about yourself isn’t crazy; it actually works.
- 4 Sharing isn’t always caring—at least not for our emotions.
- 5 Take a hike. Seriously, your “inner voice” needs it.
- 6 Beliefs influence the structure of our brains.
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