Thread by @AlexAndBooks_

Your mind can be your strongest ally or your worst enemy.

That's why it's so important to learn how to control your inner voice.

Here are 10 practical tips from the bestselling book "Chatter":

Our biggest critic is often our own voice.

Psychologist @ethan_kross refers to this negative self-talk as chatter. He spent 20 years studying the conversations we have with ourselves.

Here are 10 useful strategies for harnessing your inner voice:

1/ Talk To Yourself In 2nd or 3rd Person

A great way to distance yourself from negative thoughts is to use distanced self-talk.

That is, talking to yourself in second or third-person.

Doing so changes the way you think about yourself and helps you make better decisions.

"...experiments have shown that distanced self-talk allows people to make better first impressions, improves performance on stressful problem-solving tasks, and facilitates wise reasoning..."

2/ Reinterpret Threats As Challenges

When faced with a stressful situation, you have two choices:

-View it as a threat
-View it as a challenge

Research shows that those who frame their stressor as a challenge think, feel, and perform better than those who view it as a threat.

"From taking math exams to performing in pressure-filled situations...people think, feel, and perform better when they frame the stressor at hand as a challenge rather than a threat."

3/ Remember Others Have Been In Your Shoes

Going through a big setback can be stressful.

That's why it's important to learn about others who have faced and overcame similar challenges.

Doing so helps you realize that if others have conquered similar hardships, so can you.

"If other people got through this hardship, our internal dialogue now reasons with us, then so can I...This offers relief."

4/ Release Negativity Through Writing

Write about your negative experience or thoughts for 15 mins a day for 1-3 days.

Don't worry about grammar or spelling.

Doing this will help you make sense of what you felt and improve how you felt about the experience over time.

"...simply asking people to write about their most upsetting negative experiences for fifteen to twenty minutes...leads them to feel better, visit the doctor less, and have healthier immune function."

5/ Pretend You're A Fly On The Wall

If you find yourself experiencing chatter over a negative interaction, pretend you're a fly on the wall.

Doing so will help you:

-quiet your inner voice
-reduce negative emotions
-empathize with both parties
-help you make better decisions

"They found that distancing by adopting an observer perspective shortened the duration of people's negative moods after they experience events that led them to feel angry or sad."

6/ Grab Your Lucky Charm

Your mind is as powerful as modern medicine.

Don't believe me? Read any study about the effects of placebos.

If you grab an object that you think is lucky, your brain will believe it and help reduce the chatter in your head.

"Study after study demonstrates that simply believing that a placebo–a charmed object...is going to make us feel better actually does."

7/ Engage In Mental Time Travel

Think about how you'll feel a month, a year, or even longer from today.

Doing so reminds you that your current emotional state is only temporary and that this event will look much less upsetting when you reflect back on it in the future.

"The ability to strategically time travel in one's mind can be a tool for creating positive personal narratives that reroute negative inner dialogues."

8/ Organize Your Physical Space

To regain control over your mental space, take control of your physical space:

-Tidy up your desk
-Clean your dishes
-Put your clothes away

By finding ways to organize your physical space, you'll soon feel in control of your mental space.

"One experiment demonstrated that just reading about the world described as an orderly place reduced anxiety."

9/ Hug Someone

Research shows that when people feel an affectionate touch from others, they feel:

-safe
-loved
-supported

Touch is so powerful that one study found that even a one-second touch on the shoulder led people to feel less anxious.

"Caring physical contact from people we know and trust lowers our biological threat response, improves our ability to deal with stress, promotes relationship satisfaction, and reduces feelings of loneliness."

10/ Spend More Time In Nature

Being in nature has countless health benefits, including reducing negative self-talk.

Go for a walk at a park or on a street with lots of trees.

If that's not possible, look at pictures of nature or listen to a playlist with nature-like sounds.

"Using data from more than ten thousand individuals in England collected over eighteen years, scientists found that people reported experiencing lower levels of distress and higher well-being when living in urban areas with more green space."

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10 Tips To Harness Your Inner Voice:

1. Talk To Yourself In 2nd or 3rd Person
2. Reinterpret Threats As Challenges
3. Remember Others Have Been In Your Shoes
4. Release Negativity Through Writing
5. Pretend You're A Fly On The Wall

6. Grab Your Lucky Charm
7. Engage In Mental Time Travel
8. Organize Your Physical Space
9. Hug Someone
10. Spend More Time In Nature