How To
By
eHow Health Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Step1
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.”
Step2
Tell yourself to stop worrying and point out to yourself that you are capable of handling anything.
Step3
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.
Step4
Look at something else. When you ruminate, your eyes (and everything else) lose focus on the real world. Bring yourself back with your senses.
Step5
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.
Step6
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.
Step7
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.