Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
Ethan Kross
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
Ethan Kross
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Kross’ writing reads less like a scientific tome and more like a casual conversation. It's easily digestible, as Kross forgoes the verbiage of academia and explains simply and concisely to the reader why we have an inner voice and what happens when that voice is hijacked by chatter. Most importantly, he gives us tools we can use to manage it. We don’t want to eradicate our inner voice; we just want to have a better relationship with it.
Despite the title’s reference to self-talk, the book uses “chatter” to refer to nearly any kind of negative thoughts or emotions. This comes to resemble a branding exercise—perhaps a necessary one to sell a book these days—but the advice is good, and some of it nonobvious.
In Buddhism it’s referred to as 'monkey mind'—that cascade of often critical and judgmental self-talk that runs in a ceaseless loop in our heads. In Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, experimental psychologist and neuroscientist Ethan Kross provides a useful introduction to some of the intriguing research on this phenomenon and offers a toolbox full of constructive techniques for quieting our persistent inner voice or, better yet, turning it in a positive direction.
Helpfully, Kross also includes tools for providing and receiving chatter support, and tools that involve the environment (creating order in one’s environment, increasing exposure to green spaces, and seeking out awe-inspiring experiences). His accessible writing will draw in casual readers of psychology and self-help books, and experts seeking to learn how to channel their inner thoughts.
Kross recaps his concrete tips in a 'tools' section that will reinforce his sound advice, making this a practical, useful guide to quieting one’s inner noise..
In this deft debut, Kross, director of the University of Michigan’s Emotion & Self Control Laboratory, helps readers better understand what it means to be human.
Kross, the director of the University of Michigan’s Emotion & Self Control Laboratory, debuts with an eye-opening look at managing 'the silent conversations people have with themselves'.