Our Emotions Only Last 90 Seconds. Then What?

We experience something. We feel something. We tell ourselves a story. Then we act.

The 90-Second Rule

In 1996, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist when she suffered a stroke.

A massive hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain shut down her ability to speak, read, write—even understand language. She was losing function fast, but part of her was still observing the experience in real time.

And what she noticed would reshape how she—and eventually millions of others—thought about emotion.

As the left brain—the logical, analytical side—went offline, the right brain lit up.
She felt peace. Connection. Even euphoria.

It took her eight years to fully recover. But through it all, she gained an extraordinary perspective: she had watched her own brain break down from the inside… and come back online.

And what she learned about emotions?
It changed how she sees everything.

Where the Spiral Begins

You ever find yourself spiraling after something small?

A weird look. A tone in someone’s voice. A passive-aggressive email.
You feel it in your chest. Your stomach tightens. Your jaw locks up.

And then—you’re gone.

You start replaying it in your head. Running scenarios. Creating meaning. Defending yourself to a jury that only exists inside your brain.

But here’s the thing Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor discovered—and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I learned it:

According to her research, the physical emotion—the chemical surge in your body—only lasts about 90 seconds.

Ninety. Seconds.

After that, if you're still feeling it?
It’s not the emotion anymore.
It’s the story you’re telling yourself about it.

Emotions Fade. Stories Stick.

Here’s how Dr. Taylor puts it:

“When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90-second chemical process that happens; any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop.”

That punch of adrenaline? That sick feeling in your gut? That’s real.
But it fades—fast.

Unless you grab onto it.
Unless you keep telling yourself a story about what it means.

That’s when the emotion becomes a mood.
The mood becomes a story.
And the story becomes your reality.

All Decisions Are Emotional

This fits exactly with something I say in nearly every story workshop I lead:

All decisions are emotional.
You just backfill with logic later to justify them.

And guess when most of those decisions get made?
Right after that first 90 seconds.

Here’s the pattern:

Trigger → Emotion → Story → Decision

1. We experience something.

2. We feel something.

3. We tell ourselves a story.

4. Then we act.

If the story is fearful, we shrink.
If it’s angry, we lash out.
If it’s hopeful, we move forward.

You’re not following a spreadsheet.
You’re following a narrative.

Most people think they have a motivation problem.
Or a discipline problem.
Or a people-pleasing problem.

But really?

They have a storytelling problem.

The Power of the Pause

Here’s the thing.

You don’t have to stop the emotion.
You just have to stop chasing it.

Dr. Taylor says:

“Look at the second hand on a watch. As soon as you look at it, you’re now observing yourself having this physiological response instead of engaging with it. It will take less than 90 seconds, and you will feel better.”

That moment of observation? That’s the interrupt.
That’s the space where your story gets rewritten.

Because once you step outside the feeling—even just slightly—you realize something kind of freeing:

You’re not your emotion.
You’re the narrator—you’re the author of the story your brain is telling you.

You get to decide what the moment means.

You have full creative control. You decide what comes next.

Your Next 90 Seconds

So here’s the takeaway:

Your emotions aren't the enemy.
They’re just the spark.

It’s the story you tell yourself after the emotion that shapes your life.

That story becomes your mood.
Your mood becomes your story.
Your story becomes your character arc.

So next time you feel yourself starting to spiral—pause.

Take 90 seconds.
Feel the thing.
Then choose the story you want to write.

Because in the end?

The stories you tell yourself after those 90 seconds…
Those are the stories that shape every decision you make.

And who you eventually become.

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Want to hear Dr. Taylor explain this in her own words?