Some of our best episodes begin with our listeners, including this one from last May.

It starts with a story of a woman who found herself stuck in a mental loop of regret after a disaster.

Compelling personal stories like this one are often the starting point for us to explore interesting research into human behavior.

If you have a personal experience that has a hidden brain angle to it, and you're willing to share your story with others, we'd love to hear it.

Record a short voice memo on your phone and email it to us at hiddenbrainatnpr.org with a subject line, personal story.

Again, that's hiddenbrainatnpr.org.

This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vidhantham.

All of us are time travelers.

We go back in history to turning points in our lives and imagine how things could have turned out differently.

What would have happened if we had chosen different paths, swiped right instead of left, moved abroad or quit smoking?

This week on Hidden Brain, we go back to an episode from May 2018.

We'll tell you a story that shows when our minds reach for these alternate realities.

I'm responsible because I didn't listen to him and what he was saying.

And we'll also look at other scenarios where we're less likely to ask, what if?

It turns out that the psychological forces that lead us to dream of alternate lives have profound effects on us and the planet.

Laura Ogden has spent years imagining how things could have turned out differently.

At the very start is a pair of skis.

She and her friends would go out to the mountains in Washington State.

Going as fast as we can and going as steep as we can and starting to jump off rocks and challenge ourselves with our fear.

I think that became something I was drawn to and I guess addicted to as time went on.

When she got to college.

The whole ski culture opened up to me so it snowballed. No pun intended from there.

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