I’ve been studying emotion regulation for 6 years, and I think the most practical skill you can learn is to notice your nervous system before your mind starts writing tragic fiction.

Six years of studying emotion regulation has not given me what people tend to assume it would. I am not unflappable. I don’t move through difficult days with particular grace. I still get activated by things that are, in the cold light of later, not as catastrophic as they felt in the moment. I still [...] The post I’ve been studying emotion regulation for 6 years, and I think the most practical skill you can learn is to notice your nervous system before your mind starts writing tragic fiction.