Dr. Rick Hanson

Tune into the internal sensations of your body, like the sensation of the air coming in as you inhale and flowing out as you exhale, chest rising and falling. That engages a part of the brain called the insula, and it acts like a circuit breaker.

When people are tuning into interoception, they're in the present, and that reduces activity in the default mode network, which tends to be very often, like I said, focused on the future or the past. That's really a very, very powerful hack right there. Third thing people can do is tilt towards some kind of intensely positive experience. Whatever it is that's energizing for you. Jump up and down.

When people are tuning into interoception, they're in the present, and that reduces activity in the default mode network, which tends to be very often, like I said, focused on the future or the past. That's really a very, very powerful hack right there. Third thing people can do is tilt towards some kind of intensely positive experience. Whatever it is that's energizing for you. Jump up and down.

When people are tuning into interoception, they're in the present, and that reduces activity in the default mode network, which tends to be very often, like I said, focused on the future or the past. That's really a very, very powerful hack right there. Third thing people can do is tilt towards some kind of intensely positive experience. Whatever it is that's energizing for you. Jump up and down.

Eat something good. Look out the window. Watch a cat video on YouTube. There is a place for literally snapping out of it. You want to reduce the reinforcement of the rumination cycle. And then I'll say one more hack that's really great. It's one of my favorites.

Eat something good. Look out the window. Watch a cat video on YouTube. There is a place for literally snapping out of it. You want to reduce the reinforcement of the rumination cycle. And then I'll say one more hack that's really great. It's one of my favorites.

Eat something good. Look out the window. Watch a cat video on YouTube. There is a place for literally snapping out of it. You want to reduce the reinforcement of the rumination cycle. And then I'll say one more hack that's really great. It's one of my favorites.

You can get a sense of the sensations of breathing in your chest as a whole rather than in one little part or your body as a whole. Or get a sense of the volume of your room as a whole. Or raise your gaze to the horizon visually. Or kind of deliberate, yeah, I would just say that. When you do that, when you get a sense of things as a whole, two good things happen.

You can get a sense of the sensations of breathing in your chest as a whole rather than in one little part or your body as a whole. Or get a sense of the volume of your room as a whole. Or raise your gaze to the horizon visually. Or kind of deliberate, yeah, I would just say that. When you do that, when you get a sense of things as a whole, two good things happen.

You can get a sense of the sensations of breathing in your chest as a whole rather than in one little part or your body as a whole. Or get a sense of the volume of your room as a whole. Or raise your gaze to the horizon visually. Or kind of deliberate, yeah, I would just say that. When you do that, when you get a sense of things as a whole, two good things happen.

One is that you start to engage, for most people, the right hemisphere of the brain, which does holistic, gestalt processing. That's why it does a lot of visual, spatial reasoning, distinct from the sequential, step-by-step specialization of the left hemisphere, which is why it's specialized for language, because language is sequential.

One is that you start to engage, for most people, the right hemisphere of the brain, which does holistic, gestalt processing. That's why it does a lot of visual, spatial reasoning, distinct from the sequential, step-by-step specialization of the left hemisphere, which is why it's specialized for language, because language is sequential.

One is that you start to engage, for most people, the right hemisphere of the brain, which does holistic, gestalt processing. That's why it does a lot of visual, spatial reasoning, distinct from the sequential, step-by-step specialization of the left hemisphere, which is why it's specialized for language, because language is sequential.

Much rumination is saturated with inner speech, inner language, talking to yourself or ideating. But when you get a sense of things as a whole, you're immediately drawing on that right hemisphere of your brain, which reduces rumination activity. The other thing that happens, including when you especially lift your visual gaze to the horizon or above,

Much rumination is saturated with inner speech, inner language, talking to yourself or ideating. But when you get a sense of things as a whole, you're immediately drawing on that right hemisphere of your brain, which reduces rumination activity. The other thing that happens, including when you especially lift your visual gaze to the horizon or above,

Much rumination is saturated with inner speech, inner language, talking to yourself or ideating. But when you get a sense of things as a whole, you're immediately drawing on that right hemisphere of your brain, which reduces rumination activity. The other thing that happens, including when you especially lift your visual gaze to the horizon or above,

you shift out of what is called an egocentric frame of perceptual processing into an allocentric frame. There's a lot of science about this. And a large fraction of the brain is dedicated to visual processing, not just the occipital cortex, but other areas as well. So when you fiddle with visual processing, you're affecting your brain. A lot of real estate is getting affected.

you shift out of what is called an egocentric frame of perceptual processing into an allocentric frame. There's a lot of science about this. And a large fraction of the brain is dedicated to visual processing, not just the occipital cortex, but other areas as well. So when you fiddle with visual processing, you're affecting your brain. A lot of real estate is getting affected.

you shift out of what is called an egocentric frame of perceptual processing into an allocentric frame. There's a lot of science about this. And a large fraction of the brain is dedicated to visual processing, not just the occipital cortex, but other areas as well. So when you fiddle with visual processing, you're affecting your brain. A lot of real estate is getting affected.

So you can just notice it. In evolution, it makes sense. When things are close to you, when your gaze looks down to what's within a meter or two, That's where friend and foe live typically. Going to eat me or can I eat it? Self-referential processing increases. What saturates rumination is self, me, right?