Ruminating

It's good to remember the best of the past. But sometimes the past can seem rosier than it felt at the time. When reflection turns to rumination, it can become unhealthy. Circular pondering of unresolved points of contention and anger, or sad events and interactions with people that we can do nothing about now. Thinking this way is to live in the past. Like a fusty, ancient library with it's old oak panelling. It can smother our otherwise sparkling present, suppressing the present moment's sounds and light and happenings that make life worth living, damaging our current friendships and relationships with individual people as well as with the wider world with cynical and false comparisons and with guilt. I freely admit that I personally suffer from quite a bit of this.