The verb cavilar, which comes from the Latin term cavillāre, refers to the action of meditating or reflecting deeply on some question. The act and result of brooding is called brooding.
For example: “After several hours of brooding, the young man decided to leave his room and talk to his father”, “You cannot brood all the time: you need to act”, “When you come across such a scene, right away you start to ponder ”.
Brooding, in short, consists of thinking carefully. A person ponders when trying to understand something that is complex or when trying to draw some conclusion. In some cases, brooding is associated with doubt, since the individual analyzes a situation for a long time in the absence of certainty or conviction.
Suppose that a man who has been working in the same company for ten years, earning a good salary and occupying a senior position, receives a job offer from a newly created company. This new company offers him a much higher salary than he currently receives, although future prospects are uncertain as the firm is just taking its first steps in the market. That is why the man cannot stop brooding and wonders whether he should keep his current job or take a risk and bet on a change.
It is important to note that brooding is not a positive or negative action in itself. Pondering often means reflecting before acting, which is considered good, although in other contexts it can be a waste of time or lead to inaction.
This breadth that characterizes the verb to ponder, as well as many others that focus on issues related to personal opinion and decisions, makes it very difficult to define the perception that people have of it as well as the consequences that may derive from its execution. They say that “all opinions are valid”, and in the same way we can assure that it is as correct to think carefully before acting as to be carried away by an impulse.
Subjectivity, however, knows certain limits, which are triggered especially when events take place that generate a lot of suffering or that enter the realm of morals and ethics. For example, the acceptance of Nazism as a positive ideology is neither normal nor acceptable, so this “opinion” could be considered “incorrect”, something that contradicts what was stated in the previous paragraph.
With regard to musings, there is nothing wrong with spending hours, days and weeks contemplating a series of ideas and possibilities before making a decision that we consider vitally important to our lives; However, if we find ourselves in a high-risk situation that requires an immediate reaction, every second is worth gold and then excessive brooding can lead to death.
It is possible to say that brooding is almost a state of deep reflection in which some people immerse themselves and remain for a long time, much of their lives. The verb to ponder has several synonyms, among which are the following: meditate, think, ponder, ruminate, ponder, withdraw, become engrossed, reconcentrate and become absorbed; However, it is far from representing a mere moment of evaluation, since the people who practice it have a particular way of being, with a special tendency to reflection.
In this sense, we can think that individuals who tend to brood do so frequently, as an essential part of their passage through life, just as introverts are always with the same caution in front of the world and review their lines many times before making a sound.
