How do you sit with anxiety without ruminating?

You can sit with the feelings and not react to it. The thoughts can be there. They are in awareness but we are not directing attention to it, we’re not trying to answer a question, not trying to figure it is just there. We are aware of the issue and your only job is to do nothing about it.

Try to focus on the job on hand, while letting the obsessional thoughts & anxiety be there. Then, you will learn that you can function, even when you are anxious!

Listen to Michael Greenberg’s podcast on ocd stories

Rumination is a compulsion

That’s what the title is

Thanks all, still don't think I've quite got my head around this but your comments are helpful!

Try doing something active, like making some food or reading a book. Just gently turn your attention to that activity, even while the intrusive thought is screaming for attention. Keep coming back to the activity you're doing, and the anxiety should eventually ease up. Practice makes perfect!

Something that really helped me was delaying. I would be like "oh look here's that thought again, I'm just going to let it be there, if I really must think about it, I will in 15 minutes." Once 15 minutes goes by, try delaying again... and again after that. See how long you can delay! "One of the most effective ways of combating these obsessions is not to fight them at all, but to accept their presence. A thought is not a prediction, instruction, or call to action. A thought is a chemical and electrical event in your brain, neurons firing this way instead of that way. You have weird, unpleasant, or violent thoughts simply as a result of having a brain, which means you can think about anything." - Jon Hershfield