You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.
Hey everybody, it's Marielle.
I was working from home the other day and I had a little time before an interview,
so I decided to peel some potatoes for a recipe.
Well, I cut my finger pretty badly.
It hurt a lot and took a while to stop bleeding.
I had to jump on an interview minutes later and it turns out the incident was a good starting point.
For our guest, Ethan Cross, he's a psychology professor at the University of Michigan.
And he pointed out, we as humans rely on pain to protect us.
If you didn't experience physical pain a few minutes ago,
you might have just continued peeling and gone through your finger.
And it might have been a lot, lot worse.
So physical pain serves a function, right?
You probably retracted your hand.
Did you scream?
I didn't scream.
I definitely cursed.
Yeah.
He says we can apply this same concept to emotions.
Ethan is the author of a book called Shift.