Chatter

Chatter will help you make sense of the inner mind chatter that frequently takes over your mind, showing you how to quiet negative thoughts, stop overthinking, feel less anxious, and develop useful practices to consistently alleviate negative emotions.

According to the book, the human brain can only keep up with three to five pieces of information at once. And this is when the person has all cognitive functions in optimal parameters. To better understand this concept, just think about this: between 12569045 and 125-690-45, which is easier to remember? Naturally, the latter will be easier to memorize. That’s because it’s structured in three tiny bits of information, instead of an unbroken string.

Therefore, to keep up with certain functions we’re performing at a given time, our brain must be in optimal condition, meaning having enough space to receive and process information. Much like a computer, our brain functions by handling a limited amount of data at once, and if you feed it more than it can process, chances are it’ll crash. As such, overthinking, rumination, and inner chatter can quickly fill up our brains with unnecessary data. These keep our neurons busy processing instead of performing productive functions.

They also affect our physical health and our relationships. Studies suggest that people who deal with excessive inner chatter are poor listeners. They also don’t know when to stop oversharing with their friends and relatives. This, in turn, pushes them away when they start feeling uncomfortable. In terms of health, mind chatter causes stress, which in turn causes cortisol levels to rise. Unfortunately, this hormone can have disastrous effects on our health and cause dangerous illnesses.

Hardships toll on us is usually bigger than it needs to be. We feel like the problems we’re facing are much bigger than they actually are. Take any intense challenge you’ve encountered in the past and remember how it made you feel. Did you think you’ll overcome it so successfully, that you won’t think about it again and life will go back to normal? Probably not! However, you can use past experiences to help yourself when mind chatter takes over again. When you find yourself facing tough life situations, and catch your mind trying to take control over you, simply zoom out. Look at the problem from a different perspective, such as if it was happening to a friend, or how you’d deal with it if you were someone else. You can also try temporal distancing, the author suggests. Think about how much your problem will matter in ten years, or any prolonged time frame. Take COVID-19 for example. The world has seen multiple pandemics. So using this technique in the middle of chaos could help…