emporal distance is distance in time. When we’re feeling reactive, anxious, or overwhelmed by strong emotion, time seems to stop and we lose the ability to clearly think about the future clearly. But if you can slow down and remind yourself of the future consequences, or remember that the present moment is not going to last forever, you give yourself some breathing room in time. In our example, you could actively tell yourself, “I’m upset right now, but I’ll sleep on it and I know I’ll be thinking more clearly tomorrow morning.”