How to Stop Ruminating

Ruminating is the habit of turning things over in your mind again and again. A little reflection is a good thing, but if you have problems stopping yourself once you get started, you can waste a lot of your time chewing the mental cud. Worrying gets to be a habit, and all habits can be broken.

Instructions

• 1

  Catch yourself red-handed (or would it be red-brained). When you find yourself rolling the same worries over and over, admit it. Say it out loud: "I'm ruminating."

• 2

  Tell yourself to stop worrying and point out to yourself that you are capable of handling anything.

• 3

  Do something else. Take a walk, ride a bicycle or sing the chorus of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Do whatever you want to do that makes you feel better than ruminating does.

• 4

  Look at something else. When you ruminate, your eyes (and everything else) lose focus on the real world. Bring yourself back with your senses.

• 5

  Make a specific time in your life for worries. Tell yourself that you will worry about the kids and school and everything else on Tuesday at 9 o'clock, for example. Give your worries a pre-determined amount of time, say, an hour. After their time is up, the worries don't have to go home but they can't stay here.

• 6

  After you have given your worries their allotted time, ask yourself what you would rather be doing with that time. Ruminating costs you time out of your life.

• 7

  Schedule a time for celebration. Since you scheduled a time for the rumination, why not give yourself an hour to whoop it up and generally feel good about yourself.