Access Points to Confidence #11 - Shift from Rumination to Action

In his book Chatter, author and neruoscientist Ethan Kross says rumination - the act of going over and over thoughts in your mind - narrows your focus and blurs your attention by stealing neurons from tasks that would better serve you.

Research shows rumination leads to lower levels of work and school performance, produces stage fright and catastrophizing in performers, and undermines business negotiations.

One way it arises is when you draw on experiences from the past that create uncertainty connected to making a decision in the present.

You might be deciding whether to accept a new job and remember how hard you found it to make new connections when you started your current one. You ruminate about this experience and it stops you taking action.

You might be deciding on the location for your next holiday and remember the bad experience you had on your last road trip so you hold back from making any bookings.

This rumination keeps you stuck in thought loops and is distinct from healthy discernment.

Healthy Discernment

Healthy discernment involves weighing up the pros and cons, checking in with your values and making a choice accordingly.

Discerning then deciding is like opening the dam when the tide is right. The water flows with ease.

Unhelpful Rumination

In contrast, rumination involves going over and over the same thought, concern or story. It feels like spiralling into a vortex, getting dizzy and disorientated, with no rope available to pull you out.

Discernment leads to action while rumination leads to stuckness.

If confidence is the stuff that turns thoughts into action (see last week’s newsletter), rumination is a key block to accessing confidence.

Shifting from Rumination to Action

The Mind Architect, Peter Crone, has a useful orientation to help reframe rumination and shift toward greater action.

In this short clip, he answers a question posed by a listener:

‘How do I stop the past from replaying in my head?’

He suggests that rather than saying you are replaying the past in your head, consider you’re in the present, having a conversation about something you are remembering.

This helps you separate from the past, rather than pushing you into a spiral of stuckness.

Connect to the Present

The idea of locating yourself in the present, rather than being lost in the past or future, is also addressed by Martha Beck in The Way of Integrity. Beck suggests that when you find yourself ruminating, come into the present by connecting with your surroundings.

Stop the thoughts and look around you.

What are you sitting on? What can you smell? What do you notice out the window or in the room? Are there any pets, plants or pictures around? What can you hear?

When you shift your focus from rumination to connection with the sensory presence of the external environment, you quickly notice how amazing you are at reframing, shifting your attention, releasing unhelpful thoughts, and reclaiming your ability to take action.

Shift from rumination to action by coming back to the present moment.