Huberman Lab
How to Control Your Inner Voice & Increase Your Resilience | Dr. Ethan Kross
25 Nov 2024
In this episode, my guest is Dr. Ethan Kross, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, director of the Emotion & Self-Control Laboratory, and author of the bestselling book Chatter. We discuss the purpose of the inner voice in your head and its impact on emotional well-being and motivation. We also explore practical tools to manage negative internal chatter and eliminate intrusive thoughts. Topics include how music, exercise, mental distancing techniques, and expressive writing can help rescript your inner dialogue to be self-encouraging and effective in creating outward behavioral changes. Dr. Kross explains why venting to others is self-defeating and offers better alternatives. Throughout the episode, he provides research-supported, actionable protocols to help you shift your internal dialogue and accompanying emotional state, fostering greater happiness and resilience. Access the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com. Pre-order Andrew's new book, Protocols: protocolsbook.com Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Joovv: https://joovv.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Dr. Ethan Kross 00:02:45 Sponsors: ExpressVPN & Eight Sleep 00:05:38 Inner Voice & Benefits 00:10:33 Music & Emotions 00:15:09 Shifting Emotions, Emotional Congruency, Facial Expressions 00:20:25 Resistance to Shifting Emotion; Tool: Invisible Support, Affectionate Touch 00:27:16 Tool: Expressive Writing; Sensory Shifters 00:30:41 Sponsors: AG1 & Joovv 00:33:27 Inner Voice Benefits, Thinking vs. Writing, Tool: Journaling 00:44:01 Decision Making, Individualization; Tool: Exercise 00:50:24 “Chatter,” Trauma, Depression, Anxiety 00:54:37 Sponsor: Function 00:56:25 Tool: Combating Chatter, Mental Distancing; Distraction & Social Media 01:04:30 Tools: 2 AM Chatter Strategy, Mental Time Travel; Venting 01:13:41 Time, Chatter & Flow 01:18:01 Focusing on Present, Mental Time Travel 01:22:49 Texting, Social Media, Sharing Emotions 01:28:31 AI & Individualized Tools for Emotional Regulation 01:33:07 Imaginary Friend, Developing Inner Voice; Negative Emotions 01:40:20 Tool: Nature & Cognitive Restoration; Awe; Screens, Modifying Spaces 01:49:34 Cities vs. Nature, Organizing Space & Compensatory Control 01:56:00 Emotional Regulation & Shifters, Screens 02:01:19 Historical Approaches to Manage Emotions; Motivation & Mental Tools 02:10:12 Mechanical & Behavioral Interventions, Emotional Regulation 02:15:52 Tool: Stop Intrusive Voices; Anxiety 02:21:55 Assessing Risk & Consequence; Flow & Cognitive Engagement 02:31:02 “Cognitive Velocity”; Resetting 02:36:43 Transition States, Tool: Goal Pursuit & WOOP 02:43:59 Attention, Emotional Flexibility; Avoidance 02:54:15 Emotional Contagion 03:00:22 Validating Emotions, Wisdom; Shift Book 03:06:59 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. And I'm wearing these Red Lens Wind Down Roka glasses because we are recording this late at night, which is unusual for us.
And bright light, in particular short wavelength bright light in the blue and green part of the spectrum, quashes melatonin and it makes it hard to sleep. And I want to sleep tonight. These Red Lens glasses filter out the green and blue short wavelengths that would otherwise disrupt my sleep. My guest today is Dr. Ethan Cross.
Dr. Ethan Cross is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He is also the author of the bestselling book, The Voice in Our Head and How to Harness It. Today's discussion is a really special one because we discuss something that each and all of us have, which is a voice in our head that is our voice.
And that voice can range from encouraging to discouraging. It can be repetitive in ways that can be very intrusive, and it has a profound effect on our emotional state, our confidence, our levels of anxiety, and indeed what we are capable of achieving in life.
Dr. Ethan Cross's laboratory has done groundbreaking research to understand what is the origin of this voice in our heads and can and should we control it? And indeed the answer is yes.
Today's discussion gets into many things that people struggle with and many things that you can do to improve your life, such as how to regulate the chatter in your head, how to overcome ruminations and intrusive thoughts. And we also discuss what to do with your actual voice, For instance, data pointing to the fact that venting your negative emotions to others is actually bad.
It tends to amplify bad emotions. We talk about that research. We also talk about other forms of outward speech and inward speech, that inner voice that you can partake in in order to improve your emotional state and shift your emotional state. So today's discussion really centers around common questions and common scenarios and common challenges that everybody grapples with.
And of course, we all have a voice in our head. Today, you're going to learn to listen to it, to regulate it, and indeed to steer it in the direction of mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm also excited to tell you that Dr. Ethan Cross soon has another book coming out entitled Shift. managing your emotions so they don't manage you.
And I tremendously enjoyed Chatter, his first book, and I very much look forward to reading Shift when it comes out. We provide links to the work in Dr. Ethan Cross's laboratory, as well as links to his previous and forthcoming book in the show note captions. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.
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