I often like to ruminate. I find it sort of fun, kind of like a sick, tortured hobby. I sometimes take ideas and run them into the ground. And yes, sometimes these are good ideas and other times, bad ideas.
Rumination most often fails to end well, however. Rumination can quickly turn into unbounded worry. And endless worry wreaks havoc on your mental state, physical state, and emotional state. We always need to be mindful of pushing and pulling the different levers... such as "let yourself feel the emotion," but let's be realistic: not for too long.
When I find myself in a "worry spiral," it usually takes me a few moments, or days, before I catch myself and realize this incredibly helpful mantra: do not worry alone.
In that same vein, why fail alone?
Tonight, at the dinner table, my wife put this idea into practice. She asked each of us to describe "how did we fail today?" This was, of course, not an invitation for us to throw a collective pity party. It was an invitation to think critically - constructively - about our day, what happened, and what we did about it.
The point is that we were able to share, and celebrate, our failure. We embraced the circumstance of stumbling through a particular moment. We gave a big hug to resilience and what it looks like to conquer minor failures within a day.
When we make this a communal experience, we can lift ourselves to an even greater height (and understanding).
So the next time you break bread with your friends or family, I challenge you to put this into practice. Let me know how it went!