steady

Mood · In your head

Name it in one word

When something's got you, say what it is, plainly. "Annoyed." "Embarrassed." "Scared." Out loud or on paper.

no timeEvidence: decent

Putting a feeling into a word turns down the brain's alarm response to it. In imaging studies, labelling an emotion lowers activity in the amygdala and raises it in the part of the prefrontal cortex that keeps things in proportion. Evidence: decent

You don't have to do anything with the word. Naming is the intervention. It's also easier to be fair to someone else when you know what you're feeling yourself.

Source: Cornelius Gross, EMBL; Lieberman et al., 2007, Psychological Science, via Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, "21 brain hacks"

Same theme: In your head

Arrows to move, Enter to open, Esc to close.