Word of the Day: PERSEVERATE

Repeat insistently or redundantly

perseverate (verb) - to repeat an activity or thought too much, for too long, or when there is no longer any reason to do so [per-sev-uh-reyt]

BREAKDOWN: PER- (thoroughly) + SEVER- (serious, grave) + -ATE (to make)

• perseveration is the repetition of a particular response regardless of the absence or cessation of a stimulus.

“In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. Do not make yourself ill with overwhelm. There is a tendency to fall into being weakened by perseverating on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.” —Clarissa Pinkola Estes