The problem is not the thought
Everyone has unpleasant thoughts — several hundred a day. The difference is not which thoughts show up, but what happens next: some pass by, others get picked up, turned over, calculated through, thought to the end. That is rumination.
Rumination feels like problem-solving, but it is a behavior — one you can pick up and unlearn again. And it persists because it feels useful: “If I just think long enough, I will find a solution.” In the vast majority of cases you find no solution — only the next lap.
The idea behind it
Metacognitive therapy (after Adrian Wells) starts exactly here. It does not ask: “Is this thought true?” — but: “Do you need to engage with it at all?”
The way out is not to fight thoughts, refute them or push them away. Pushing them away strengthens them. The way out is to let them stand — and to direct your attention elsewhere. The thought is allowed to be there. It just no longer gets an answer.
That is trainable. LetBe is the workbook for it.
How LetBe works
Worries can wait
When a thought starts spinning, you jot it down and park it. It rises into your night sky as a glowing dot — visible, but no longer in the way. It isn't gone, it's just waiting.
Once a day, at your fixed worry time, you go through what's parked. That takes the fear out of postponing: you are not ignoring anything, you are just rescheduling it. What most people find: by worry time, most of it has taken care of itself.
Observe thoughts instead of riding along
Guided exercises with a calm voice, sound and imagery, in which you practice letting thoughts pass by without stepping in:
- Leaves on a streamPlace each thought on a leaf and let it drift away. The stream does the work.
- Trains at the stationEvery thought is a train. You stand on the platform and watch. You don't have to board.
- Clouds in the skyYou are not the clouds. You are the sky.
- A thought is just a thought90 seconds for in between, when the carousel starts up.
Attention Training (ATT)
Attention Training is the core of metacognitive therapy. You direct your attention deliberately between several sounds — sometimes one at a time, sometimes switching quickly, sometimes taking in everything at once.
This is explicitly not a relaxation exercise. It is training for one experience: I control my attention — not the rumination. Available in soundscapes like Everyday, Forest and Rainy Night, with a choice of voice.
Your evidence archive
At its core, a worry is a prediction. LetBe remembers it and asks later: how did it actually turn out?
After a few weeks this builds a track record from your own experience — in black and white, how often the fear was wrong. That convinces more lastingly than any argument from outside.
Who LetBe is for
For everyone who cannot switch off at night, replays conversations in their head, endlessly recalculates decisions or wakes up with the worry carousel already spinning.
LetBe is a self-help tool — not a substitute for therapy. If something weighs on you heavily, if you have been struggling with everyday life for a while, or if you are feeling very low, a doctor or a counseling service is the right next step. LetBe can accompany treatment, but not replace it.
What does LetBe cost?
The method is free and stays free: parking worries, worry time, Attention Training, the evidence archive and the basic letting-go exercises.
LetBe Plus is a one-time €9.99 — no subscription, no renewal. Plus opens up the spaces around it: all soundscapes (including every one still to come), two additional letting-go exercises and the voice choice.
No account, no registration, no tracking, no ads. Your thoughts stay on your device.
Frequently asked questions
How can I stop ruminating?
Not by thinking the thought through to the end, and not by pushing it away either. Both feed the rumination. The metacognitive route: notice the thought, give it no answer, and deliberately direct your attention elsewhere. LetBe trains exactly that — by parking worries, keeping a fixed worry time and doing Attention Training.
What is metacognitive therapy?
An approach developed by Adrian Wells. Instead of checking or reframing the content of thoughts, it changes how you relate to them: the beliefs about rumination itself (“ruminating helps me”, “I can’t stop”) and the control of attention.
What is a worry time?
A fixed, short slot in the day in which you deal with what you parked earlier. Rumination is not forbidden — it gets an appointment, which takes away its compulsive character. Usually it turns out that much of it no longer matters by then.
Is this the same as meditation or mindfulness?
Related, but not the same. Mindfulness often aims at awareness and calm. The Attention Training in LetBe is not a relaxation technique but training in attention control — it is allowed to feel like work.
Do I need an account?
No. No account, no sign-up, no tracking. What you enter stays on your device.
Does LetBe replace therapy?
No. LetBe is a self-help tool based on principles of metacognitive therapy. It does not diagnose and does not replace treatment.
LetBe is a self-help tool based on principles of metacognitive therapy (after A. Wells). It does not diagnose and is no substitute for therapy or treatment. If something weighs on you heavily, talk to a doctor or a counseling service. In a crisis, please contact your local crisis line (in Germany: Telefonseelsorge 0800 111 0 111, free, around the clock).