[spend]

It is like picking at a scab. You know it is unhelpful, but you can't stop yourself from doing it. I have a way of ruminating upon things that cause me to get aggressive. For example, arguments I had many years ago, or difficult situations. I have spoken to my therapist about this previously.

She is very into Mindfulness and grounding yourself. Truthfully this doesn't work very well for me. Sometimes I go for a massage, but I still find myself replaying these old stressful situations in my head. It is like an old VHS cassette I replay them over and over again.

Even in a setting, like getting a table massage, I replay these situations. Sometimes it gets so bad that random people notice. I was at the grocery store and someone approached me to ask "hey, are you alright?"

Has anyone had a similar experience with rumination? What worked best for you? My therapist has a theory that this is my brains way of trying to make the situation better. In a way it is showing me how right I am about the whole difficult situation. I believe there may be a grain of truth to that, but it is making me feel lousy in the process.

[TheGal]

I jump on a little 'rebounder' trampoline.

It helps me get out of my head and grounded into my body.

If meditation and mindfulness don't work for you, then maybe a martial art would... exercise and getting grounded through movement can be helpful.

[AliceKate]

I have the same issue. Identical, rumination with an increase in anger and frustration. Feels like pressing your brain on a hotplate. As if you can only get rid of the rage by shouting or attacking the person you are ruminating about, but all you can do is continue rumination cause your smart enough to realize that this is more your problem than theirs and shouting at them wouldn't solve anything? I'm right there with you.

T startet me off with Yoga and meditation (with an App called Headspace). If you get a free trial of headspace I recommend their course on anger. It's just 10 sessions of 11 minutes each, but that one actually worked for me. Biking also works.

Meditation works best if I have already exerted myself phisically before meditating. Maybe something to try out

Also, I meditate every day for at least 5min, even if I don't want to, don't feel like it or don't feel like I have time for it.

[Mendingmysoul]

I have set aside some activities exclusively for the time,when my ruminations are compounded with rage,anger or frustrations. I know this is when I wanted to shout ,yell or break things.But I didn't really want to act that way.There is an intense energy trying to burst through my body.To dissipate this energy, I do these special activities.Digging a hole in my garden for a new plant,kneading dough for my pastry sheets, chopping hard root veggies,cracking nut shells,scrubbing off hard to remove stains,shoveling snow ...things like that.Things that need extra energy.My ruminations still happen ,but there is no outwardly destruction.If you know what I mean. Later I have spent the energy and I am tired and automatically transit into calm state and feel better.