Definition
Three to five repeatable body cues that tell you “this is my serenity / tension / readiness” — owned vocabulary.
Origin
Interoception research maps how the brain represents internal bodily state. Craig’s insula work and later interoceptive-accuracy studies support training attention to somatic signals rather than borrowed emotion words.
Mechanism
The anterior insula integrates ascending interoceptive input into subjective feeling states. Markers are the individual’s compressed dictionary — e.g. jaw, breath, chest, gut — that predict state faster than narrative labels. Garfinkel et al. distinguish accuracy, sensibility, and awareness — owned markers need calibration against performance, not label collection alone (see Granular Interoception).
Applications
Build a short personal marker list (three to five cues) and test them against known conditions — after deep work, before hard conversations, after sleep debt. Use markers to choose regulation moves (pace, food, movement) instead of arguing with mood language.
Sources
Cite
- Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the…. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655–666
- Craig, A. D. (2009). How do you feel — now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(1), 59–70.
- Garfinkel, S. N., Seth, A. K., Barrett, A. B., Suzuki, K., & Critchley, H. D. (2015). Knowing your own heart: Distinguishing interoceptive accuracy from interoceptive awareness. Biological Psychology, 104, 65–74.