CHATTER by Ethan Kross

“Chatter consists of the cyclical negative thoughts and emotions that turn our singular capacity for introspection into a curse rather than a blessing.

It puts our performance, decision making, relationships, happiness, and health in jeopardy.

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You can also benefit by mentally time travelling into the future, a tool called temporal distancing.
Studies show that when people are going through a difficult experience, asking them to imagine how they’ll feel about it ten years from now, rather than tomorrow, can be another remarkably effective way of putting their experience in perspective.
Doing so leads people to understand that their experiences are temporary, which provides them with hope.

It is what helped me, for example, cope with what was arguably the most chatter-provoking event of the past century: the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Focusing on how I would feel once the pandemic ends made me realize that what we were going through was temporary.

Just as countless pandemics had come and gone in the long history of our species, so too would the COVID-19 threat eventually pass.

That buoyed my inner voice.”

Kindle, 2021