Rumination.

[guitaristepiphone]

How do you all handle rumination even while doing our daily routine?

[davidthecoder]

This is a really good question, because it is something I deal with pretty much daily.

The thing that has helped me the most is meditation. When I start ruminating, I have developed the awareness of this occurring. Sometimes I can get caught up, but when I notice it happening, I focus my attention on my breathing for awhile. The mind can only focus on one thing at a time, and so if I am focused on my breathing, I am no longer ruminating.

But this took practice to get decent at.

[guitaristepiphone in reply to davidthecoder]

davidthecoder Thank you so much! But what if I am bathing and overthinking? I can focus on water splashing on my body or the breathing or both I guess?? I do meditate too but not with consistency like sitting everyday for 10 mins or so.

[LadyZen]

If it's a particularly bad day, I go for a very long walk. Since it's kind of cold right now, I resort to playing my app games and watching TV. I enjoy writing, but that's harder to do when my head is not in the right place. I know some people have hobbies that help get their mind off of things, like baking and gardening.

[guitaristepiphone in reply to LadyZen]

@LazyZen Thank you for sharing what helps you!! I also do those things one game sometimes and one tv show but the same one Sherlock BBC mainly as it gets my interest. I do have a hobby of guitar as I said. But have to get back onto it :).

[LadyZen in reply to guitaristepiphone]

No problem. I decided to treat myself to a rest day today. Going to do nothing and worry about nothing! Yay!

[guitaristepiphone in reply to LadyZen]

Cool. Enjoy😃.

[guitaristepiphone in reply to guitaristepiphone]

LadyZen Do you see any new series and movies? Thing thing is I simply don't like watching the new things as they mainly have violence, action, sexual content (which is mainly I wanna avoid sex at all as I wanna give up porn completely) and it takes a lot of attention focussing on new series or movies.

[Krn210]

I personally think that our daily routine becomes robotic so it is very easy for the mind to wander. Being that our minds are habitual the wandering isn’t always pleasant. Some things that have helped me. The first and most important in my opinion is the inner voice. How you talk to yourself. Befriending yourself and talking to yourself in a kind compassionate manner. Being mean, irritated, or mad at yourself for ruminating won’t help, it often makes it worse. Secondly trying to get in there and redirect when you notice your mind going back to that place. Talk to yourself either aloud or in your head, “that’s information, but I am moving on to this now.” Keep redirecting to something else as often as you need to, without getting upset with how many times you have to do that. Lol. Lastly, switch up your routine where you can. For me I changed up my daily hygiene ritual, started picking out my clothes the night before. Listening to affirmations in the morning, and journaling first thing. You don’t have to make major changes. Just some sort of shift to make things different.

[guitaristepiphone]

Thank you so much Krn210 !! This helps a lot. That is something nice forcing to stop will make it pop up more and more. Got it! Will do it for sure! Affirmations I hear they help so what kind of affirmations and how many? Journalling I am too lazy to write down and sometimes I cannot recall what I did during the certain time of day.

[Krn210 in reply to guitaristepiphone]

Oh gosh there are so many affirmations on You Tube that I enjoy. Bob Baker has some nice self affirming affirmations. Lavendaire is another who has very positive uplifting affirmations. There is also another account Mind Body Soul, they have a lot to choose from. Those three accounts are my tried and true. I listen twice a day. Once in the morning to set the tone for my day, and once at night to help sleep. You are correct, trying not to think about something, pushing, or trying to stop will only make your mind stuck on it even longer. It’s nothing to beat yourself up over, rather a habit to break. It takes time but you can do it! You’ve got this!

[guitaristepiphone in reply to Krn210]

Thank you so much!!!! Krn210

[Marysblue]

I'm glad you asked this question cuz I'm ruminating right now. My neighbor sent me seven texts that made me feel bad. Telling me I ask too many questions and nobody else does that . I keep thinking about it. I called up mental health hotline to see if that would help get mind off of it but it helped only a little.

[guitaristepiphone in reply to Marysblue]

Yes, it is a temporary solution - the hotline. I also do that. Ask irrelevant and too many questions. But then the person reacts very differently. Makes me wanna not ask them when they get angry.