{"id":247,"date":"2017-09-09T14:11:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-09T14:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflections.ie\/?p=247"},"modified":"2017-09-09T14:24:22","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T14:24:22","slug":"rumination-vs-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/reflections.ie\/index.php\/2017\/09\/09\/rumination-vs-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumination Vs Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 9th 2017<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t blogged for a few months. People have been in touch asking me why I\u2019ve stopped. Some assume that I\u2019ve taken a break for the summer, others assume I\u2019ve grown bored of it and others still wonder if I\u2019ve received a negative response to a blog that upset me. Those who know me see that I\u2019ve been busy and assume that I don\u2019t have time for blogging any more.<\/p>\n

None are these hypotheses are true.\u00a0 It would be convenient to pretend they were. It would be easy to lament how a busy life has robbed me of the time to reflect.\u00a0 Poor Time \u2026\u00a0 the reliable scapegoat, always covering for other, more deeply-buried reasons!<\/p>\n

Have I been busy? Yes. Has someone upset me? No. Have I run out of things to say? No.\u00a0 The Truth?\u00a0 Over the past few months, for a few specific reasons, I unwittingly slipped from reflection into rumination. It wasn\u2019t intended. It just happened. I didn\u2019t even realise it was happening. \u00a0Every time I sat down to write a blog, I realised my brain was going around in circles in a most unproductive and disconcerting way. It never felt right to share anything that I wrote.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a chance to reflect on what prompted this shift\u2026. maybe it can be the topic of a blog for another day. Not now. But irrespective of what triggered it, I find it interesting to compare the processes of rumination and reflection.<\/p>\n

If you look for information on the difference between rumination and reflection, you\u2019ll find plenty. Generally, it\u2019s accepted that whilst the processes may seem similar, they can lead us to completely different places, like two trains pulling out of a station at the same time, heading in opposite directions.<\/p>\n

Rumination involves thinking about something deeply, often in a repetitive way. Whilst it enables us to consider an issue from many different angles, it can cause us to get sucked into the\u00a0issue. We can end up going around in circles that don\u2019t lead anywhere. If accompanied by negative thinking, it can result in a self-perpetuating cycle of negativity and stress. Whilst the process of reflection usually results in some type of forward momentum, rumination can cause stagnation.<\/p>\n

Believe me, you wouldn\u2019t have wanted to read my ruminations over the past few months. I was going around in circles, churning the same issues over and over again. It became tedious, frustrating and repetitive. It felt like a broken record, a scratched CD, a download hanging in cyber-space.<\/p>\n

By reflecting on the past few months, I have identified the triggers that caused me to slip from reflection to rumination. I\u2019ll be avoiding those in future! Somewhat ironically, reflection\u00a0has clarified the difference between the two processes for me, which no amount of rumination could have done. I now appreciate that some people may mistake rumination for reflection, and, if that\u2019s the case, I can understand why they would be unconvinced of the benefits of reflection. Through reflecting on the past few months, my thinking had subtly, but significantly, changed and I am no longer\u00a0wandering around with a headful of aimless, glum thoughts.<\/p>\n

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It seems to me from what I\u2019ve seen and what I\u2019ve read, that lots of people might be stuck in ruminative cycles. What do you do? Do you have a tendency to dwell on things, to get stuck in a rut of repetitive thinking? If so, think about the possibility of stepping off that train, crossing the platform, and stepping onto a train that\u2019s going in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 9th 2017 I haven\u2019t blogged for a few months. People have been in touch asking me why I\u2019ve stopped. Some assume that I\u2019ve taken a break for the summer, others assume I\u2019ve grown bored of it and others still wonder if I\u2019ve received a negative response to a blog that upset me. Those who … Continue reading Rumination Vs Reflection<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,46,20],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-reflection","tag-rumination","tag-self-awareness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t