The AM (when cortisol spikes) & PM (when we’re less busy) are often trigger times of day for rumination.

Maybe you notice that sitting at your desk first thing in the AM sets off rumination. Or perhaps shutting down your computer at 6pm leads to a cascade of worry thoughts (e.g. “what if I made a mistake?”)

Our moods can trigger rumination - especially sadness, anxiety, anger & shame - because moods affect how we think.

If you’re already feeling sad, it’s easy to start ruminating about past regrets & personal failings. Similarly, feeling anxious can catalyze rumination about future deadlines, a presentation you have to make in…2 months.

If we have gotten stuck in negative thinking cycles in specific situations, those situations will trigger future rumination.

For example, if after every meeting with senior leadership, you find yourself second-guessing everything you did or didn’t say, you’d expect to ruminate after every future meeting like this.

Sometimes we feed off someone else in a process called “co-rumination.”

For example, maybe you text discontentments to your co-worker whenever something bothers you at work & they respond, “Ugh, YES. And DID YOU HEAR ABOUT…!” We may feel better in the moment, co-ruminating, but it sets in motion a conditioned pattern that can erode connection.

Sometimes certain contextual locations get paired up with rumination.

For example, if you anxiously ruminate on the train en route to work, the train can become a conditioned trigger for rumination. This can be a hard association to break!

Rumination can set in during certain activities that don’t occupy much of our minds or sensory awareness.

Do you tend to ruminate while driving, or photocopying, or sitting on zoom meetings? Again, the more we ruminate during an activity, the more likely that activity will be to “trigger” rumination again.