How to Stop our Ruminating on past or future worries:
Stopping rumination — especially about the past or future — requires a mix of mindfulness, cognitive reframing, and intentional action. You might find both scientific and esoteric approaches useful.
Here are some techniques you can experiment with:
1. Mindfulness & Presence Techniques
- Grounding in the Now: Use the 5–4–3–2–1 technique (name 5 things you see, 4 you hear, 3 you touch, 2 you smell, 1 you taste).
- Breath Awareness: Focus on slow, deep breaths. The simple act of consciously inhaling and exhaling can pull you out of rumination.
2. Cognitive Shifts
- Labeling Thoughts: Instead of engaging with a worry, say, “Oh, that’s just a ‘fear thought’” or “That’s just my mind replaying.” Naming it reduces its grip.
- Reframing: If a thought is distressing, ask, “How else can I interpret this?” or “If I were an outsider, what would I advise myself?”
- Future Self Exercise: Imagine your future self looking back at this moment — what would they tell you about what truly matters?
3. Embodied Techniques
- Move Your Body: Physical movement (walking, stretching, dancing) shifts focus and resets the nervous system.
- Tactile Distraction: Holding something textured (like a stone, worry bead, or piece of fabric) can anchor your awareness in the present.
- Progressive Relaxation: Scan your body for tension and relax each part consciously.
4. Spiritual & Parapsychological Practices
- Wisdom: Sometimes, wisdom comes when we stop overthinking and listen inwardly.
- Intuitive Journaling: Instead of ruminating, write down your thoughts as if channeling insights from your higher self or subconscious.
- Symbolic Release: Write a repetitive worry on paper, then burn or bury it, symbolizing its release.
5. Redirected Focus & Purpose
- Micro-Tasks: Engage in something small but meaningful — clean a space, water a plant, read a page of an inspiring book.
- Service to Others: Helping someone else shifts focus from self-concern to contribution.
- Creative Expression: Draw, play music, or engage in automatic writing to let subconscious worries transform into something constructive.
Shervan K Shahhian
LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 