Ruminating! What a mental scourge! After my divorce I ruminated for 10 years about countless events and subjects. God, what a waste of energy, I could actually feel my brain cells heating up! I eventually stopped ruminating about those divorce related topics...told myself that all just doesn't matter anymore, is not part of my present life.

However, the rumination thought pattern stayed with me, and I'll ruminate on smaller, incidental matters. I'll be worried about what others thought about [this] or [that] and if I catch myself, I'll realize that there is no basis for thinking the worst. I'm reading a couple books, one called Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, of the Stanford University Behavior Dept. The other book: Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks is another that should prove helpful.