Have you ever found yourself thinking a terrible thought over and over? It never seems to leave your head? When this occurs, it’s called rumination. Some with depression struggle with ruminating thoughts as well and can’t seem to rid them.
The following blog is all about depression and rumination and strategies to empower yourself over your own thoughts. I include what science tells us, personal and professional stories and include some fun GIPHYs for your entertainment. If you stay to the end, I also include a program that I’m really proud about.
#1 Key: Awareness of What Is Rumination Is The First Step
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It’s the repetitive cycle of negative thought process and can be very debilitating. ⠀
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Check out this article by psychology today for more info. Mr. Bergman discusses the science behind rumination and the different parts of the brain effected.
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#2 Key: Believe That You Can Transform Your Own Thoughts
What Are Some Thoughts You’d Like To Get Rid of Or Transform? Comment Below ⬇️ ⠀
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Neurological pathways are strengthened when these repetitive thoughts occur, making it more difficult to break these patterns.
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Is there a solution? ⠀
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Thankfully yes, though it’ll take some inner work.⠀
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Create new thoughts to focus on, and sometimes use of pattern interrupts can help.⠀
Speaking aloud these new thoughts can be even more powerful because your ears will internalize the thoughts and your mind will over time start to believe them as new facts.
For example, “I am a successful hard working woman working towards my goals daily,” is a great affirmation when your brain is telling you that you’re lazy and you’ll never reach your goals. Replace the lies with true statements and write them in the present tense.
#3 Key: Know The Top Ways To Help With Rumination
Comment Below on your favorites ⬇️ ⠀
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💜 Get friends 👬 and family to support you reminding you of when things turned out okay.⠀
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🎼 Music can be a big help.⠀
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Using visualization can help if you can imagine yourself succeeding (or a memory of a great success and feeling the emotions you felt in that moment).⠀
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These are just a few ideas to help with rumination. ⠀
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What are your favorite ways?⠀
#4 Key: Journaling can be a great help
Here are some more ways to help with repeated ruminating thoughts from this great article:⠀
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💜 Make a list of problems on your mind and put them in columns, side by side so you can see if there are any connected parts.⠀
⠀ ♥️ Identify: Can you make a plan for the first one? If so, write it down, with action steps.⠀
⠀ 💜 Do the same thing for each problem.⠀
⠀ ♥️ Look across the columns. Are any action steps connected to each other? If so, which step comes first? That is where you will direct your first effort. If they are not connected, then pick which action plan you will attend to first.⠀
⠀ 💜 See if any one problem in any one column has NO solution. Then write down a date when you might have more information to make it useful to think about it again. ⠀
⠀ ♥️ This is now just a worry, and until it is possible to find a solution you do not need to think about it in the meantime.⠀
⠀ 💜 When any of these problems comes up, say to yourself, “Stop! I have a plan.” Refusing yourself the permission to re-think a plan is hard, but worth the effort.⠀
#5 Key: Know How Move Happy® Can Help With Rumination?⠀
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Move Happy was designed by me for my patients in a live-in psychiatric hospital. Many of my patients had ruminating thoughts. So we’d journal about the issues in different weekly topics, then we’d share together our thoughts and solutions. ⠀
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After that, we worked out 💪 together with some fun music 🎶 (with minimal equipment mind you). Over time, we built a strong community where everyone felt safe to talk about their frustrations and help provide each other practical solutions to move towards their own happiness. ⠀
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It was such a strong community that other patients in other areas of the hospital walked up to me one day asking if I was the “Move Happy” girl? and if so they wanted to move to my hall so they could be in my group.⠀
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“How’d you know?” I asked⠀
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“We heard from _________ who’s in your group.” They responded⠀
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If you’re a group therapist or lead active treatment groups in an in-patient or out-patient facility and want an experience like this, DM Me for more info.⠀
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Or⠀
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You can go straight to my website to order your program today 💜 ⠀
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40% goes back to support mental health and your local chapter of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
Move Happy® Updates
The Move Happy Movement© Podcast Is Officially On iTunes! You can listen here. I’ve got 28 episodes so far and about to release episode 29 later today. It’s all about helping move people towards their own happiness. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, email me subject line “Podcast Guest” with a few reasons why you believe you’d be a great fit.
Move Happy® Business Workshop Coming Soon! If you are a high level executive in a company that needs some culture assistance, email me to get on the waitlist subject line “Move Happy Business Workshop”. This is a 1 day in person workshop with follow up meetings optional. The purpose of the workshop is to empower employees to feel connected to one another, the company vision and purpose and to leave inspired to give more focused efforts towards their work responsibilities (while enjoying it simultaneously). The benefit to the company is that you get more focused effort from those attending, the benefit to the employee is you learn ways to enjoy the 9-5 grind that you’ve been dissatisfied with. Win-win.
So there you have it folks. Rumination can be detrimental when negative thoughts are on repeat. There are ways around the negative cycle of thought patterns. It does take some focused effort and consistency. It does help when you involve those you care about to help support you. Visualization, music and familial support are key ingredients. If you are struggling with ruminating thoughts 💭 I encourage you to reach out to your loved ones, use music, or journal 📓.
If you gained any value from this article, I’d encourage you to share it with your friends, take a screenshot and post it on your social media, or share it with your family.
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today
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