Hi again dear subscriber,



I’m Nicolas, and I help ambitious professionals master their mental energy so they can excel at work and enjoy life.

In my last newsletter, I asked if you guys wanted me to cover a simple and scientifically proven way to easily change and work with your own mindset.

And from the responses, it was clear that you wanted.

Which makes perfect sense to me.

Because in the newsletters of November I have featured some scientific articles clearly demonstrating the power of mindset in relation to our mental energy, cognitive performance and emotional response to stress.

So, I too have become (however I must admit I already was) extremely interested in mindset, and in learning more about how I can work with my own mindset in order to improve my performance and well-being.

So let’s have a closer look.

🧩 Cognitive reappraisal reshapes your emotional response

Cognitive reappraisal activates your brain’s executive control network, allowing you to reinterpret what a situation means.

⚡ It improves performance by freeing mental energy

By lowering emotionally driven rumination, cognitive reappraisal frees up cognitive resources needed for focus, problem-solving, and staying composed.

I today’s newsletter, we will look at cognitive reappraisal. 

In simple terms, cognitive reappraisal is the process of deliberately reframing how you interpret a situation so that its emotional impact changes.

In practical terms, it means pausing, noticing your first interpretation, and consciously replacing it with a more balanced or useful one.

Step by step it could look something like:

Before you continue reading, check out this free worksheet for cognitive reappraisal.
👉Free worksheet.

I will be featuring findings from two review articles.

Without going into too much detail, review articles are a type of scientific literature where authors examine a large number of studies on a specific topic.

This way, they aim to provide an overall answer, and sometimes quantify the effect of a particular intervention.

In today’s featured review, the authors looked at both how, and how much, cognitive reappraisal works as a technique to change our mindset about stress.

Most importantly, both the article by Buhle et al, 2014 and Liu et al, 2019 shows that cognitive reappraisal works in for so much that across a big group of studies, a real measurable effect can be seen.

In Liu et al, 2019 the authors were interested in understanding the efficiency of cognitive reappraisal on stress responsivity compared to control conditions.

Across the included studies, they found that cognitive reappraisal was effective in reducing subjective responsivity to stress.

And, what’s a bit more interesting to me, the Buhle et al, 2014 review looked at which brain regions are engaged when we use cognitive reappraisal.

To do this, they analyzed neuroimaging studies that examined what happens in the brain during reappraisal.

What they found was that cognitive reappraisal consistently activated the brain’s frontal executive control network.

This is your top-down “steering system” for directing thoughts and attention.

Especially the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for semantic knowledge, meaning, and stored associations.

In other words, the parts of the brain you use to reinterpret what something means.

At the same time, cognitive reappraisal consistently reduced amygdala activity, which matters because the amygdala is one of the key hubs for emotional reactivity.

Looking across these two reviews (and thereby the many studies they include) the first thing that stands out to me is that cognitive reappraisal is an effective way to change one’s mindset.

It seems to work by engaging the brain’s executive center (the prefrontal cortex) to reinterpret or shift the meaning of a situation. That shift then dampens amygdala-driven emotional responses.

Reducing amygdala activity is advantageous for performance under stress, because lower emotional reactivity frees up cognitive resources for focus, problem-solving, and clearer decision-making.

Therefore it most likely will help you make good decisions under stress.

And, it makes cognitive reappraisal a particularly powerful tool for managing mental energy. Because lower amygdala activity reduces emotional reactivity, which makes it less likely that stress or negative events trigger emotionally-driven rumination.

Furthermore, as we have seen in previous newsletters in November, having a positive mindset toward stress is key for maintaining mental energy during challenging situations.

So, all in all it seems clear to me, that cognitive reappraisal is a tool ww should all add to our toolbelt in our pursuit of better mental energy, performance and well-being.

Articles used for this newsletter:

_{Disclaimer: The above is mainly based on the 1 article mentioned in the end of this newsletter, and aims to provide key takeaways and a condensed overview of its content. While the essence is drawn from the original articles, some parts have been simplified or rephrased to enhance understanding. Please note that we at, OptiMindInsights or any other potential writers or contributors to our summaries, do not accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of these summaries and/or newsletters as a whole. The information provided should not be considered a substitute for personal research or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult the original articles for detailed insights and references. The summary does not include references, but they can typically be found within the original publication. Always exercise due diligence and consider your unique circumstances before applying any information in your personal or professional life. We refer to the creative commons for reproducibility rights.}