![\"shhh,](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/origin_5e7416.png?w=1200&quality=80\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow to use the \u2018name it to tame it\u2019 hack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When someone upsets you, the first thing to do is to go inside yourself and describe the emotion that you feel in your body. Are you angry? Are you sad? Are you afraid? Do you feel rejected? Are you disappointed? The moment you name the emotion, it will begin to subside and give you the emotional and\u00a0mental room to respond\u00a0to the person who caused the negative emotion, rather than impulsively reacting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to respond to a reactive emotion so you don\u2019t fly off the handle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Event happens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Your body stiffens up<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. You feel an intense emotion<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. You examine the emotion and give it a name: \u201cMy body is telling me I am angry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. You should feel the emotion beginning to subside<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Choose your response instead of being impulsive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why does \u2018name it to tame it\u2019 work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cName it to tame it\u201d works because, when we have a strong emotional reaction, our lizard brain kicks in, and we go into fight, flight, or freeze mode. The lizard brain is not known for giving thoughtful and strategic responses to challenging situations. When we name the emotion, our prefrontal cortex, or the thinking brain, kicks in. The thinking brain looks at the situation and says, \u201cAlright, we don\u2019t need to run or fight here. It\u2019s best to give a strategic response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we tune into the negative emotions by naming them, they relax because they feel heard, like when a child has hurt their knee or a loved one has real concern and you gives them undivided attention. Once the emotions are named, they are tamed. Then, you are more likely to respond to the negative person with grace and speak from the best part of yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Dan Siegel, who coined the phrase \u201cName it to tame it,\u201d explains the brain science behind the technique in the video below. He does a great job of explaining how it allows us to transfer our thoughts from the downstairs brain (the lizard brain) to the upstairs brain (the thinking brain), so we can calm down and respond appropriately to the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day, this trick isn\u2019t about suppressing how you feel or pretending to be unbothered. It\u2019s about giving yourself just enough space between the sting of the moment and whatever comes out of your mouth next. That pause is where the good responses live, the ones you won\u2019t have to apologize for later. So next time someone gets under your skin, try saying it to yourself first: I am angry. I am hurt. I feel disrespected. It sounds almost too simple to work, but the brain science says otherwise, and so does anyone who\u2019s ever wished they\u2019d taken a breath before reacting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Calm body, closed mouth. There are times to speak up, moments when it\u2019s best to say nothing, and opportunities be very considerate in your response. But<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/762629887_1535031521991167_5429850382840642325_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10979,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10977\/revisions\/10979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"shhh,](\"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/origin_e7f9b6.png?w=1200&quality=80\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe next time you feel it rising, name it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n