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It's a fancy word that means pondering past experiences -- often, our mistakes -- over and over. It could be something you said. Something you did. Something you didn't do.
Whatever the reason, we as human beings spend a lot of time dwelling on our past. And science says 70 percent of the time we only relive the negative aspects of our lives.
Why do we have such a hard time letting go? Perhaps it's because, deep down, we're wired to be problem solvers. We need to make meaning out of negative experiences.
But obsessing over a mistake won't change the past. It won't solve the problem. It will make it worse (according to psychologists at Yale and the University of California).
These psychologists say that living a mistake over and over impairs our problem solving abilities. It leads to increased negative thoughts and depression. It even erodes our support network -- no one wants to hear from the person who can't let things go.
In short: Dwelling on past mistakes puts us in, and keeps us in, a bad state. The very thing we're trying to get out of.
Via The Learning Factor
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