Thinking About The Past
People tend to be quite different in the things they think about. Some people are always thinking about the future, and the good and bad things that might happen to them. Other people have their mind mainly in the present without much thought for the past or future. Other people have an orientation more towards the past, but there are two quite different ways of thinking about the past. These two ways of thinking about the past are known as rumination and introspection.
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There are some key differences between these two types of thinking about the past – rumination and introspection are quite different.
Introspection – curiosity and self-exploration
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Firstly, introspection means thinking about the things that happen to you with an attitude of curiosity and self-exploration. To display introspection means to be interested in your past and to try to draw some conclusions about yourself or other people. Or, to simply spend time thinking about the pleasurable things in your past. Introspection can add real colour and depth to your current experiences and also includes notions such as nostalgia and sentimentality. Introspection has a light and inquisitive tone to it. You can definitely get a lot from increasing the time that you spend in introspection.
Introspection can lead you to learning more about yourself. This gives you better information about how you've changed over time and why you do what you do. It can also be really valuable to increase your problem solving skills. Not only do you know more about yourself, but the calm reflection brought on by introspection helps you work through your problems.
A colleague, Marg Ryan, has written about introspection and grief.
Rumination – regret and ‘wheel spinning'
On the other hand, when we think about the past in terms of the regrets we have, we are ruminating. At those times, where we think about the past and we wonder what we might have done differently, or we wonder about the actions of others, we are essentially spinning our wheels. In doing this, we don't draw anything from the past but continue to sink our present moment into our regrets.
There is little pleasure or insight to be gained from rumination; on the contrary, it's more associated with anxiety and depression. Rumination has a heavy and automatic tone to it.
We can sometimes mistake rumination for problem-solving. Just because we're thinking about the past and our actions, we can think that were actually sorting things out. The truth is, we're just going round and round in a circle. In addition, there is often a heavy self-critical tone to rumination.
Rather than being a way out of problems, it's often a way to replay our failures and torture ourselves. Little good comes from rumination.
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Telling the difference between rumination and introspection
So how can you tell if you're being introspective or ruminative? I think it comes down to what you are gaining from thinking about the past. If you feel that you are drawing lessons from the past, or enjoying the past then it's more likely that you're being introspective. On the other hand, if your thoughts about the past are full of regrets and bitterness, or your thoughts have a repetitive automatic quality, it's likely that you are ruminating.
Another clue is if you keep coming back to the same thoughts or not. There's something about introspection which is progressive. We do it and it takes us forward. Sometimes this involves problem-solving, or it might just be the replaying of happy memories.
In contrast, the repetitive nature of rumination doesn't take us forward; instead it takes us into an unpleasant or even destructive cycle.
Rumination – wasted time
We are free to think anything we like, and many people find enjoyment from thinking about the things that happened in the past. However, at any given point there are lots of things that we can be thinking about. To spend our time in rumination takes us away from the other things that we could be thinking about such as the pleasant past, the present, or the future.
Rumination drags the past over our eyes and infects the present.
Transforming rumination into introspection
So how can you turn rumination into introspection?
- Notice yourself thinking about the past.
- Ask yourself what you are getting from these thoughts about the past. If you find that you aren't drawing anything from the thoughts of the past that you might be able to use in your present or in your future, ask yourself questions like ‘what lessons can I draw from this experience?' or ‘what action can I take now to prevent this from happening again?'
- Notice the situations that you ruminate over. Rather than just revisiting the past, is there some way that you can put the past to rest?
- Are there particular times when you're drawn to rumination? Perhaps there are times when you really need to bring your attention back to the present.
Taking action
Counselling can be very useful when we constantly ruminate about the past. It can give you a way to break out of the repetitive thinking about the past, to extend our thinking into the present moment, and into the future. We can start thinking it in terms of hope, optimism and positivity. Counselling strongly supports the growth and development of people and consequently has a strong emphasis on introspection over rumination. After all, rumination isn't going to create any more pleasant memories for us to enjoy, and resolves nothing.
I offer counselling in my offices in the Richmond suburb of Melbournem Australia and Sunbury, as well as online counselling world-wide. Please click here to make contact with me for a free initial consultation.
I'd be interested in your thoughts about this – please let me know in the comments below. If you found this interesting, I have written a similar blog post about A Focus on The Future.
-Tim Hill
Source: Gabbard, G. O. Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy – a basic text, 2nd edition, American Psychiatric Publishing Inc, New York
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Good explanation Tim, very helpful. I love the steps from rumination to introspection, it makes life more pleasurable.
Thanks Cait, I’m glad you found it helpful.
Nice article Tim. Very helpful. I am myself trying to beat the ruminating habit and turn into productive introspection and your article is very helpful
Hi Rohan, I’m glad you found it helpful for you. Ruminating can be a difficult thing to get on top of but I think the first step is to discover that you’re doing it, and the second step is to decide to address it. Clearly, you’ve passed those steps and are on the way to making changes. Good on you, and good luck!
Yes. What you said happens to me all the time. I ruminate quite often but at the same time I try to draw some conclusion from it. The problem is how not to think about the past?
Hi Sampat, I think there is asome value in trying to draw some conclusions, but I would perhaps try to move my attention to other things when you start ruminating. A good way to do this is to take a deep breath, let it out, then imagine that you are stepping out in a new mental direction. A really key thing is not not be critical with yourself about ruminating – this is a sure way to stay trapped with it. All the best!
Hello sir today u make me soooooooooo relief , today I’m able to know what actually im doing by thinking my past Sir I want to tell u that in 2016 I was in depression nearly about 5-6 months because of may reasons but the main damage is done by my girlfriend Sir some times in night I cry a lot like 2 yr old kid actually main reason is she done already sex with someone and she just shows interest in some other boys even after 5 year relationship with me but I have too much regrets that I had wasted my time and money on her . Today I just want to change my past and most of time I think about my past I’m just very very very hurt from inside
What about when you constantly keep on thinking about a time in the past that was amazing and you keep on wanting to go back there?
Hi Jane, thanks for your comment. Although wanting to return to an amazing time in the past is really natural, it can also be very uncomfortable and a source of sadness that you can’t return there, especially if some aspect of the memory has changed (such as you have lost a person in the memory, or you or your circumstances have changed).
I think in these situations we need to find a way to still draw pleasure from the memory, even though circumstances have changed. We need to find a way to enjoy the amazing things that have happened to us and to savour the pleasures of our memory, without that pleasure being wiped out by the knowledge that the amazing times have ended. To help us do this, it can be useful to think of the memory as having two parts; the pleasurable part, and then the part that isn’t pleasurable (the loss that came after). This can help us focus on the part that is pleasurable, and replay that for that is worth. It can help if we remember that, even though the amazing times have ended, they were still amazing and there’s nothing wrong in staying with our pleasurable memories. I think this separating the memory into two parts is similar to what other people mean when they talk of ‘letting go’.
I have talked a little mor about this process in another blog post (http://timhillpsychotherapy.com/too-many-regrets/)
I hope you’re able to enjoy the amazing memories, Jane, without so much pain.
Very helpful and so glad I came across it. Thanks!
Hi Shaun, I am really glad you found it helpful – thanks for your comment.
Great article with excellent ideas about how to change unhelpful thinking – thank you for sharing!
Hi Rachel – I am glad that it’s been of help to you, and hope it helps sort things out! Thanks for your kind words.
Dear sir, you have given very consistent explanation, it has also been explained some how in Srimadbhagwad Gita.
Thank you Amresh for your comment; I was not aware that what I had written was also explained in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita but I thank you for making me aware. I hope you found what I wrote useful for you.
Great blog post. It’s so hard to have a positive present when we are stuck in the thoughts and emotions regarding the past.
Thanks for your comment, Robert. You make an important point; any hope we might have for living a satisfying life inevitably means making the most of the present, and this becomes impossible when our present thoughts and emotions are consumed by the unchangeable past.