Yesterday, a neighbor asked me for my thoughts on what to do stop rumination. She explained that she liked her corporate job and could easily “detach” and stop working on her days off, but even if she wasn’t working, she still ruminated about her job tasks after work and through the weekends.

My first instinct was to talk about external systems — task capture, workflows, the Notion setup I swear by. But even as I was speaking, I felt a quickening in my body to shift gears.

Reduce Rumination

That’s when I asked her if she journals. She laughed and said she doesn’t mean to be rude, but she has recently tried to journal and felt it was not doing anything. She feels she has nothing to say. She asked herself why she should write this stuff down when it’s usually just a big list of what she did yesterday and what she needs to do today.

I shared how journaling from the stream of consciousness might seem boring and pointless, but it’s giving our brain a chance to dump all of those ruminating thoughts onto the page. As we get those looping thoughts out, we create space for more meaningful thoughts and feelings. We free up bandwidth that allows us to get curious about ourselves. Journaling can help us attune to what we actually want in life.

This is the place to practice telling ourselves the truth. It’s best to assume no one will ever read these journals – not even you. Be that honest. If you are concerned about someone else reading, burn it when you finish if that feels good. It’s not about creating a document, it’s about the process of getting the thoughts out on the page.

Journaling is a powerful way to increase your mind’s capacity for more of the things you actually want to think about and do. If you have tried it many times before and just lose steam for it, give yourself another chance.

Give Your Thoughts Somewhere to Go

Try what I recommended to my neighbor:

• If you already have another practice like meditation, prayer or working out, try journaling before you do the thing. My neighbor had already been meditating for several months, so I challenged her to journal first, then meditate and see how that helps her practice.
• Don’t try to be interesting, just dump words on the page. It might feel pointless, but think of it as a quick cleaning – a sweeping of the mind – to create an internal environment for meaningful thoughts and experiences to take root.
• Decide how many days you want to try journaling. Two weeks? 30 Days? You choose what feels doable for you. The key is to give yourself permission to just keep going if you miss a day. Don’t force yourself to keep a “streak” if you miss a day.
• Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write whatever bubbles into your mind. If you have to start with, “Amber said journaling would help with rumination so I’m writing this down to just fill up the page…” that is totally acceptable! Just let it flow.

Give your thoughts somewhere to go. Ten minutes, a blank page, no audience. That’s enough to start changing what your mind reaches for by default.

If this resonates, I share a weekly note called Override for leaders and their teams who have been overriding their bodies and are ready for a better way. Stories from my own journey, somatic practices to shift your state, and practical guidance on what changes when you stop pushing through. Sign up for Override for emails on Tuesdays.