intuition, we now understand that it’s interoception at work.

You know that barely perceptible feeling you get a few days before you get an illness, when you are pretty sure what’s coming but don’t have any obvious symptoms? Where once we thought this came down to pure

‘Interoception’ is different: it is the lesser-known sense that helps us feel and understand what’s going on inside our body. It helps us ‘read’ our own body and process its signals, from hunger, thirst and body temperature to our heart rate or the state of our digestion.

Body scan

Learn how to STOP

Research on those who regularly meditate shows they have greater emotional literacy and control, and more stable moods than those who don’t.2 A study at Yale found that regular meditation reduced rumination: a type of thinking that correlates with reduced happiness.3

The way I put this is that if somebody upsets us, we could either make scrambled eggs or bake a cake. Our response is very much within our control.

I heard Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer speak at a conference years ago describing emotions as being more like the ingredients available in a chef’s pantry than untamed forces of nature to which we are at the mercy. We can choose to act on our emotions as we would choose ingredients in a pantry. Our brain is engaged in this process the

Tapping into this pivotal emotion by diverting ourselves away from our usual response can help us deal with a recurring issue in a totally different way; something as simple as taking the advice of a friend who sees problems surprisingly differently to you could flip you out of a survival state and into a mode of abundance and self-awareness.