Support For Worrying & Rumination

This meditation offers support for rumination and worry. Worry and rumination are defined and then three practices are provided to enhance present moment awareness, gratitude, and compassion for the ruminating and worrying brain. This meditation helps honor the hard work your brain does to try and keep you safe while giving your brain a focus that enhances your wellbeing and decreases worrying and ruminating. You can use this meditation to help you when you are stuck or to help you practice.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Katherine Cook-Gaton.

Today I'm going to offer support for rumination and worry.

Before I start,

Be sure you are seated in a comfortable position and feel well grounded and you are engaging your core.

You can do this by pressing your feet into the floor,

Your sit bones into your chair,

Engaging your belly and lifting up through the crown of your head.

Soften your shoulders,

Soften your jaw,

And if you'd like soften or close your eyes.

And then take a few deep breaths.

Allow your mind to settle and open up into listening,

Open up into the inquiry into the possibility of this meditation for you.

Orient your awareness to your breath as you breathe in and breathe out.

You might begin to deepen and lengthen your breaths a bit,

Being sure to maintain your grounded feet and sit bones in your extended spine.

You might add a noticing of your breath.

Perhaps as you breathe you say,

Breathing in I know I am breathing in and breathing out I know I am breathing out.

Breathing in I know I am breathing in and breathing out I know I am breathing out.

Most of us know what worry is.

Worry is a type of negative thinking.

When you worry you are thinking about what happened in the past,

Perhaps something you did or said or didn't do or say,

And the consequences associated with your actions or inactions.

It might also be about the future and what might happen going forward and your role.

Worry sometimes feels like you are doing something,

Maybe addressing something in the past or preparing for something in the future.

But for the most part worry is not helpful and it can deeply affect your quality of life right here in the here and now.

Rumination is a lot like worrying.

I think of it as a negative hamster wheel in the action of your brain.

It's running and running and running and going nowhere.

You let your worrying thoughts run through your mind over and over again and they're not helping you get anywhere.

Perhaps you're thinking about something that didn't go quite like you wanted or you're obsessing about what you may or may not do or something that may or may not happen.

Rumination is overthinking.

It's thinking past the point of effectiveness.

Rumination doesn't feel good and it takes up a lot of mental energy.

And like worrying,

It can deeply affect the quality of your life,

Even your relationships,

And it can be exhausting.

Brains that worry and ruminate like to have something to do.

They are hard working brains.

It can be helpful to offer a worrying and ruminating brain a task that supports its well-being.

Give it something to do to replace the worrying and the rumination.

Something that can support well-being.

So let's try it.

First,

If you notice that you are worrying or ruminating,

Simply notice it and label it.

Ah,

That's my worrying right there or ah,

That's me ruminating again.

Right there it is.

I notice.

I notice that I am worrying.

I notice.

I notice that I am ruminating.

This gives you a nice distance between the worrying or ruminating thoughts.

You are the one who notices.

This is important.

Next,

Give yourself permission to do something else.

A mantra that might be helpful is this.

I have permission to let go of worries and ruminations.

I have permission to be free of worry and ruminations.

I am allowed to just let them be.

Take a deep breath here and a big exhalation.

Now,

Give your brain a new focus.

Research tells us that it can be helpful to focus on the present moment and our present moment experiences and sensations.

Your body and your breath are always in the present moment.

They are always right here for you.

Bring your awareness to your feet.

Notice your feet.

Notice that your feet are not a worry and they're not a rumination.

They're just you.

They're just your feet right here right now.

Just to add,

To give you a little more to do,

Wiggle your toes and feel your feet right here right now.

Press your feet into the ground below you and breathe.

With your feet pressed into the ground or floor below you,

Again press your sitting bones into your chair.

Engage your core and sit a bit taller,

Softening your shoulders and your jaw and your eyes and breathe.

Breathing in,

I know I am breathing in and breathing out.

I know I am breathing out.

You can always turn your awareness to your feet,

Your body,

And your breath.

Your body is always here,

Right here and right now,

And your breath is always in the right here and right now.

They are not ruminations and they are not worries.

They are here.

They are your window to the present moment.

Next,

Offer your brain something to think about right now.

Something in your life.

Consider that despite your worries and ruminations,

That there might be some things for which you are grateful.

No thing is too big or too small for our gratitude.

Consider your life right now and find one thing for which you are grateful.

And say to yourself,

I am grateful for this one thing in my life.

Breathe here and give it some thought.

Your brain is a very hard worker.

We have proof,

Right?

We have years of proof probably.

Let it do this work.

Scan your life and find a thing for which you are grateful.

It's okay if it's hard.

Your brain has been focusing on finding things to worry about,

So this could be new.

It's okay.

We're gonna keep trying,

Okay?

Now you can add another thing.

Even if you didn't land the first one,

Okay?

We're just gonna keep working and keep practicing.

And let your brain work at this.

Acknowledge,

I have a hard-working brain.

It has gotten really good at naming worries.

I'm gonna teach it a new skill.

I'm gonna help it name what's good.

Name what's good.

Name what you love.

Name what you're thankful for.

This time,

Let's think about people.

Find a person for whom you are grateful and hold them in your mind.

It could be someone in your family.

It could be your favorite football player.

It could be someone in history.

Just a person,

A person for whom you are grateful.

If you're worrying or ruminating mind trying to complicate this,

Allow it.

Name it.

Oh,

There you are,

My worries.

Ah,

There you are,

My ruminations.

And get back to this hard work of thinking of someone for whom you are grateful.

So as you think of your person for whom you are grateful,

Hold them in your mind,

Maybe even in your heart,

And picture them.

Offer them love.

Offer them thanks.

And say to yourself,

I am grateful for this person.

This is so good for your brain.

Let it do its work here.

And remember,

Your brain is very good at this type of work.

It can think of all sorts of things.

We are training it to scan for the good,

To scan for the beautiful and the wonderful,

Even the really little stuff like the socks on your feet,

The pillow under your head at night,

The cuddle of a blanket,

The light touch of a snowflake on your cheek,

Or the softness of a flower petal.

Let your brain practice finding the good,

The love,

And the beauty.

The little things,

The big things,

The amazing people,

The regular old people that make your life good,

That your worries and ruminations get totally in the way of,

Right?

We're going to practice finding the good.

We're going to keep practicing.

Now consider nature.

What about this big beautiful world are you thankful for?

The oceans,

The stars,

The moon,

The beaches,

The mountains,

The trees,

The grass,

Oranges,

Lemons,

Apples,

Bananas,

Avocados.

What?

Oak trees,

Willows.

Find your thing and bring it to mind.

Your big beautiful earthy thing.

And then send it love.

Send it gratitude.

Maybe even hold this beautiful earthy thing in your heart and let your brain practice what I like to call beauty hunting.

Your brain is a skilled hunter,

A skilled hunter for worries,

Right?

And now its new job is going to be to find the beautiful,

The strong,

The wonderful,

The glorious earthy things,

The mountains,

The trees.

You might even say to yourself,

I am so grateful for these wonderful earthly things.

Good work brain.

Your brain has just practiced finding something it's thankful for,

A person it's thankful for,

Little things it's thankful for,

And big earthly things it's thankful for.

Thank you brain.

This is good work.

Breathing in and breathing out filled with ideas about what is wonderful in this world right now.

Last,

Let's offer self-compassion.

It sure isn't easy when you're born with a brain that is such a hard worker.

When you're born with a brain that is working so hard,

So hard to keep you safe and make things okay,

It's a lot.

Thank your brain.

Maybe even say to your brain,

I see how hard you work to try to keep me safe and happy.

I'm going to partner with you and help you brain,

Help you get better at seeing the beauty and letting go of the worries about seeing the love and dropping the ruminations.

I'm gonna partner with you brain and practice,

Acknowledge how hard you work and take that work and focus it on the good,

The here,

And the now.

I know you can do this brain because you are such a hard worker and brain I know you and me we are worth the effort.

Offer yourself some compassion,

Your whole self,

Your brain,

All of you,

For all the worries and all the ruminations and how difficult it has been.

How they have taken away from your present moments,

Maybe even your relationships,

Maybe your ability to be in the here and now and offer that part of you,

The part that gets stuck sometimes and lost sometimes,

That part of yourself that struggles with worries and rumination,

Offer that part some love.

Like I love you even when you get stuck.

I love how hard you work and I know you're trying to do your best.

Tell that part of you that worries and ruminates that you're sorry for how much suffering it has endured.

Maybe even place your hand on your heart,

Breathe in and breathe out here,

Offering love,

Offering compassion,

Offering presence to your heart right here and right now for all that it has been through.

Maybe make a promise to this beautiful heart of yours that you will practice presence and gratitude and compassion over and over and over as a pathway to a new way of being for you and your hard-working brain.

Take a few breaths here and allow the meditation to settle.

Begin to deepen and lengthen your breaths a bit.

You're still maintaining your feet pressing in the earth,

Your grounded seat and your extended spine.

You're noticing your breath,

The breathing in.

I know I am breathing in and then breathing out.

I know I am breathing out.

You might want to take a few moments here just breathing,

Considering what this meditation means to you or for you.

Maybe you even want to journal about this meditation and what you might have noticed or what you would like to consider.

Thank yourself for taking a few moments to listen and wonder and center and thank you so much for listening.

Reviews

Oh wow! I enjoyed the immediate relief I felt in my mind and body. Thank you.

An incredibly supportive and kind meditation which I feel so glad and relieved to find today, as I've been struggling with coming off my mental hamster wheel! Thank you so very much.

Thank you! I love the way you guide with explanation with a soft calm voice.

So thankful for this mediation! Thank you Catherine for helping me focus my busy mind on something helpful!

Amazing ❤️ Thank you for creating this meditation.

great starter traing for redirect ing out of rumination

Really grateful for these practices! I have never had much success with solely 'staying in the present'-based practices, especially when they are focused on the body, since chronic illness can make that a fraught experience. So I really appreciated the 'giving the brain something else to do' aspect of this, which is much more accessible to me, and really helped me feel better immediately. I look forward to returning to this practice and developing the skills further. Thank you so much!

Provides space to give your brain replacement activities for ruminations. Practicing having your brain search for things you are grateful for rather than using its thinking power for worry.

What a wonderfully supportive meditation, thank you!

You know exactly how to calm someone that suffers from rumination and worry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So many gems here- I will return over and over. Thank you!

Wow. This helped me! Heartfelt appreciation to you for creating this.

Beautiful alchemy of mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion to support hardworking, ruminating brains.

🌞🍀🏜Thank you , this meditation helped greatly in grounding mein peace and calm.

Very relevant for me since I just moved my life to a new city and state.

Well founded meditation techniques embodied in well sequenced explained practice. I’m planning to share it. Thank you.

I liked it. Good tools to help with worry and rumination.

I stumbled across this surprisingly powerful meditation when my mind was so busy/stuck that I didn’t think anything could break through—I had both tears of joy and relief when it was finished and a whole new outlook for the day and life. Many thanks for the guidance and support 🙏💗

Absolutely loved that! My brain has stopped spinning, thank you 🙏

Soothing and practical guidance perfect for an inveterate ruminator like me. This one will be bookmarked for sure! Thank you.