Before we look at some recordings directly, teaching you some strategies to cope with worry and rumination, want to talk a little bit first about rumination as a process, as a behaviour almost this, you know, as I mentioned, some are more prone to it than others. But if you are somebody that tends to go over and over your thoughts, trying to find solutions, trying to worry yourself certain about things, or generally just turning over every kind of eventuality or scenario in your head to make you feel safer, or more secure, somehow. I want you to start thinking about times when you're more likely to do it.

So for me, personally, I have lots of well oiled strategies I use to manage my anxious brain. And generally I do that pretty effectively. But it's taken me a lot of practice. But certainly, there's a time when I'm more prone to ruminate, that's when I'm driving. I don't know what it is about that really I just seem to sort of relax when I'm driving, and my brain starts to turn towards problems and problem-solving. So with that in mind, I just ensure that I do my best to drive really mindfully, to be the best driver I can be in that moment. And to sort of break through the gears and just sort of take pleasure in the art of driving effectively.

And I find that helps really a great deal for me. But for others, there might be other times during the day. So it's very, very common with people that I see, for one-to-one therapy, that they lie awake, late at night, just before they go to sleep. And that's when their brain starts to relax, it starts to problem solve or the thinking about the next day. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if I have a bad night's sleep? Then I'm tired the next day, and what if then I'm ineffective at work? And what if I'm grumpy and cranky, and then everyone's annoyed with me, etc, etc, etc.

What is a pretty infinite by the way, the brain can be pretty constructive, when it comes to, you know, imagining all kinds of awful scenarios. So if you tend to do it at night, I would strongly encourage you to try and destabilise that pattern and do something else. As well as using strategies you're going to learn in these recordings, maybe listen to a podcast, instead of lying awake thinking, what if, will I, will they, and why? Or read a book or something like that. Also, commonly as well, people can do it when they wake up. I've met many, many people who literally will lie there for half an hour before they get up. Just thinking about the day planning the day, but doing so in a ruminatory manner or a worried manner, what it will I will they and why?

And so they often then start the day anxious. So we'd be looking to try and disrupt these patterns of rumination. I'd encourage you if you do that, to get up, to focus your attention elsewhere, and to use the strategies that we're going to learn. Okay, so that's key. So notice that guys, if you tend to do this, we need to look at finding inventive ways of changing behaviours to disrupt that pattern.