Emotions are short-lived—unless our mind keeps them going.

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In her groundbreaking book My Stroke of Insight, neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor explains that the physical response to an emotion—such as a surge of adrenaline or the release of stress hormones—typically lasts only 90 seconds. After that, the emotion begins to fade, unless we re-engage it through continued thought and rumination.

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This insight reveals that emotions themselves are not the problem—it’s our mental attachment and recycling of the story that keeps emotional suffering alive. When we learn to allow emotions to rise, move through, and dissipate without clinging to them, we free ourselves from prolonged distress.

Taylor’s lived experience of having a stroke and observing her own emotional and cognitive processes in real time gives her explanation unique credibility. Her teachings have become foundational in the fields of somatic healing and mindfulness-based emotional regulation.

Taylor, Jill Bolte. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey. Viking. 2006.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

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Emotions are waves of energy that rise and fall in under two minutes—when we stop feeding them with thought, we allow the body to do its natural work of emotional release.

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