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Let me tell you, my mind was BLOWN when I learned that emotions only last 60-90 seconds in the body. It seemed outrageous because I know how many times I had been fully flattened by my emotional experiences. I'm talking laying in bed for HOURS, trying to get my body to calm and my mind to stop reeling.

When I read it, it begged the question: if that's true, then WHY isn't it true for me? That question led me on a search, and here are the answers I found.

The Science: Emotions Are Designed to Move

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist, discovered that experiencing an emotion is actually a process that occurs in our body. Out brain perceives an experience and triggers a chemical and physiological response that floods the body. This automatic process lasts about 90 seconds. After that, the emotion itself fades—unless we keep it alive.

And this is where the catch comes in.

The body knows how to feel and release emotions. But the mind? The mind loves a story. After all, humans are meaning makers—we search for reasons, patterns, and explanations. And that story is what keeps emotions cycling long past their expiration date.

Here’s how it happens:

You feel a wave of sadness (90 seconds).
Your mind instantly grabs it: Why am I sad? What does this mean? What if I always feel this way?
Now, you’re no longer in the original emotion—you’re in rumination, analysis, and resistance.

Instead of allowing the emotion to move through, we attach to it, judge it, and try to solve or fix it. And that is what keeps us stuck.

Intellectualizing vs. Feeling

One of the biggest reasons emotions linger is because we don’t actually feel them—we think about them. We analyze, dissect, categorize, and compartmentalize. But emotions aren’t problems to be solved; they’re experiences to be felt.

The nervous system is designed to process emotions through sensation, movement, and release—it’s a cycle. But when we keep the process stuck in our heads, we interrupt the cycle, and that energy gets trapped in our bodies. If we engage with emotions through the body instead of the mind, we allow them to move through us as they were meant to.

So What Can You Do? Here’s How to Let Emotions Move

If emotions only last 90 seconds, then the goal isn’t to avoid them—it’s to stop trapping them in the mind.

Here are a few ways to actually process emotions instead of getting stuck in them:

Drop into the body – When a wave of emotion rises, resist the urge to analyze it. Instead, ask: Where do I feel this in my body? What does it feel like?
Breathe through it – Conscious breathing helps keep you in sensation rather than thought. Try a deep inhale through the nose, deep into the belly, hold for a moment, and exhale slowly through the mouth. Focus on the sound of your breath, and the feeling of your ribcage expanding. Stay with this breath for the 90 seconds.
Shake or move – Emotions are energy, and movement helps complete the cycle. Dance, shake your hands out, stretch—whatever helps the body release the energy of the emotion.
Make a sound – If the emotion feels stuck, let it out vocally. A sigh, a hum, even a quiet groan can help the body move energy.
Give yourself permission – If it feels okay, remind yourself: It’s okay to feel this. I can let this move through me at my own pace. Or I don’t have to rush this. I can take my time feeling this in a way that feels okay for me.

The Power of being with our emotions

When we allow emotions to be felt rather than fixed, they move through us just as they were meant to.

So the next time you feel something intense rise up, instead of trying to figure it out, try this:
Pause. Breathe. Feel. Let it move through you.

Because your body was never meant to hold onto emotions forever—it was built to let them pass, one wave at a time.

Sending you sweetness on your journey,

Taren

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