As life-time passes, each one of us forms a generalized world view which brings us comfort, sometimes referred to as cognitive consonance. We would like ourselves and our worlds to fit into some homogeneous eternity, so we take out our inner crayons and colour our world to fit what we previously thought it was. To keep that system, like any other system, clean requires maintenance. When you reflect on different segments of your life, you will find generalized thoughts occurring. In the patterns of those feelings lies the trail you have blazed though your life, a path which may or may not be more useful, if it were changed.
Generalizations specifically fit nothing, and include everything.
This is not thought. It is thought avoidance. The greater the sense of self, the more you build an image of yourself through doing deeds which you admire, the greater your chances become at paying attention. The more you cheat the system, ignore facts, generalize away truth, and make excuses for your behavior, the higher your distractibility becomes, and the less able you are to even focus your attention on any one specific topic. Because in the paying of attention, you are gathering into your Netscape both bits and pieces of information, and a wide range of emotional and spiritual values.