Is Rumination Good or Bad?
By Meg Bucher
“Be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most out of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT
3 am. Again. I snapped out of a restful sleep to lie awake thinking …Re-runs were beginning to take up too much real estate in my mind.
The Bible tells us to keep a tight reign on our thought life, lest we follow it down rabbit holes which can leave us stuck in a moment we can’t get out of. Yet, we are not supposed to live thoughtlessly. Rumination, another word for overthinking, can be good or bad … or good and bad.
Rumination is “the act of pondering or musing on something; the act or process of chewing the cud, as cows, deer, and some other animals do.” Animals with multiple stomachs literally return pieces of food to their mouths to re-chew a second time. To “chew the cud” means to rethink something. “In a sense,” William Hwang Psy.D. explains,“when we are going over past events in our minds, again and again, we are behaving like our fellow ‘ruminants’ in the animal world.”
Synonyms to the word rumination include reflection, meditation, anticipation, consideration, contemplation, hope, intuition, logic, rationalization, speculation, study, understanding, and realizing. Some good habits, others bad, and still others could be either or a mix of both. “Psychologists have suggested that rumination is actually a type of emotional avoidance with regard to our experiences,” William Hwang Psy.D. explains, “In focusing our attention on thinking about content of experiences, we often avoid making contact with the emotions these experiences inspire. In turn, avoidance of emotions leads to a lack of emotional processing. Just like with food, we need to properly process and digest our emotions, or else we have bigger problems down the line.”
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “be careful how you live.” Proverbs 12:25 says, “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.” We have the power to flip worried thoughts into encouraging words. When we do, ruminating on what we have to be thankful for in life, and how good God is …those are productive ruminations.
Intersecting Faith and Life:
“I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears.” Psalm 6:6 NLT
God meets us in tear-filled seasons. His compassion meets our flood, and He gently leads us back to healed and whole again. God, in His mercy, will grow us through it. The better version of our selves will eventually emerge from the sogginess to relate to the Psalmist’s words above.
Good rumination is good. Bad rumination is not helpful. “When we start to get lost in those considerations and contemplations, when we allow an abundance of uncertainties to ‘move in’ to our minds, we become filled with doubt or dread about what has happened, what we wish would happen, or what might happen,” Catiana N.K. wrote in her article titled, “What does the Bible say about Overthinking?”“that’s when we find ourselves moving from helpful thinking to hurtful overthinking.” To determine what’s helpful and what’s hurtful, we can filter our thoughts through the Word of God. Psalm 94:19 says,
“When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” Psalm 94:19 NLT
God has given us the power, through Christ Jesus, to be victorious ruminators.
Further Reading:
Special Note: There are some things we cannot fix on our own, and should not feel ashamed of. Reach out for the help God provides through counselors and medical professionals if you are crippled by bad rumination. I promise, you are not alone!
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/thodonal
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Related Resource: How Habit Stacking Will Help You Discipline Your Mind, Body, & Spirit
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