Sometimes things come up in our minds and bodies that are too much for us and our nervous systems get overly activated.
When this happens,
Grounding is a useful skill to know and to practice.
Grounding helps us to step out of the activation in our survival systems and into our more thoughtful brain systems in the frontal lobes where we can regain perspective and ground ourselves fully into the present and hang in there like a tree rooted into the ground of the present,
Standing firmly as the wind and the weather passes us by.
By engaging our frontal lobes,
Which we do by using a combination of focused attention,
High level language and high level critical thinking,
We can deliberately grow strong roots of connection into the present moment and by doing this we disengage our survival responses and settle down the intensity in our bodies.
Grounding is a special kind of mindfulness.
Rather than opening up your attention to whatever happens to be there at this moment,
You're selectively focusing your attention on something outside of yourself in your current surroundings to draw you into the present.
Grounding works best if you engage with something that you're interested in.
So look around you right now and find something that captures your attention in an appealing way.
Maybe it's something natural,
A plant,
A flower or a tree.
Maybe it's a living thing like a pet or an animal around you.
Maybe it's some art,
Some music or something else interesting around you.
It could really be anything,
The furniture,
The buildings,
Anything at all.
Just settle on something around you right now that will focus your attention fully.
Take a moment to really study that thing,
Noticing the colors in it,
The textures in it and what about it captures your attention.
Explore all your senses that are relevant.
What does it look like?
What do you hear?
Can you smell anything?
Is there a taste?
Can you feel it and what does it feel like?
Bring your curiosity to this thing.
What is it?
Why is it here?
How is it here?
You can get even more grounded if you use your language abilities.
So try to describe this thing in words and sentences in your mind and name and discuss with yourself what you're noticing.
You can also get more grounded if you use your higher thinking abilities because for the most part your survival systems don't play a leading role in your higher thinking.
So you could ask yourself why did I choose to focus on this thing?
What do I like about it?
What do I like less about it?
Is there a part of it that I like more and a part of it that I like less?
What would I change about it if I could change it?
If it was up to me to make or arrange this thing,
How would I do it differently to the way it is right now?
How could I make this more the way I would want it to be?
Take a moment now to notice how connected you feel in the present moment.
If you now feel connected and calm enough,
That's great you've grounded yourself.
If you're still feeling overwhelmed,
Then start again with something else in your environment.
If that hasn't worked for you after a few tries,
It might help you to stand up and find something small and safe to throw into the air and catch,
To bring your focus more fully into the present.
Keep at this until you get more engaged with the present.
And remind yourself that in this moment right now you can be fully present and be safe.
So remember this process of focusing on something outside yourself,
Being curious about it through all of your senses,
Using language in your thinking,
Using evaluation and critical thinking about this thing,
And getting yourself more settled and grounded into the present.
Remember to practice the skill of grounding when you don't need it so that it's there when you get distressed and you do need it.
Good luck.
I hope you find yourself more grounded as you go forward.
