You 2.0: Stop Spiraling!

The start of a new year is a natural moment to set goals for ourselves. But doing so can also be a little daunting. Today, we kick off a series designed to help you understand and grapple with the mental obstacles that can keep you from charting a new path. We talk with psychologist Greg Walton , who studies how our minds get trapped in negative thought spirals — and how we can begin to break free. Then, in the latest installment of our segment "Your Questions Answered," psychologist and neuroscientist Abigail Marsh answers listener questions about the minds of extremely kind and generous people. If you enjoyed our conversation with Greg Walton, don't miss our companion conversation about the emotional tools we can use to help someone who's spiraling. You can listen to that episode with a free seven-day trial to our podcast subscription, Hidden Brain+. To sign up, go to support.hiddenbrain.org . Or if you're using an Apple device, you can go to apple.co/hiddenbrain . Thanks, and Happy New Year! Episode illustration by Getty Images for Unsplash+ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You can listen to You 2.0: Stop Spiraling! online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

You 2.0: Stop Spiraling! is an episode from Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain.

This episode is 01:33:15 long.

This episode was published on Dec 29, 2025.

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