A friend’s husband was upset about an altercation he had had with a colleague. He had lost his temper on what he realised was an “insignificant matter” and the other person had reacted badly to it as well. Within minutes the spat had spiralled out of proportion to affect a long-standing and important work relationship. 

Though he regretted the incident, he had begun to reflect on various dimensions of this association with his colleague— what he liked about him, what he had disliked; situations in the past, both pleasant and unpleasant, that had transpired between them. Evidently his mind was beginning to turn a big wheel of thought, digging into the far past. At the same time, he was contemplating implications way into the future, were there to be a split. It was consuming his time and energy, to make him feel worse.