Slow down, take a deep breathe, feel your body relaxing, feel your muscles loosening, your thoughts calming, Grounded.
This is a very simple, quick and yet effective exercise in the art of grounding one’s self. There are many other techniques and practices, some work, some don’t, it is an experience that is uniquely individualized, Qualia.
To be grounded is a way to center back into a sense of inner awareness, of how we are feeling. It is used to calm us down when the stresses and pressures of every day living have exceeded our threshold of sanity. It is a way to clarify chaotic thoughts and emotions, that could otherwise cloud judgements and perceptions.
To be grounded, I find, has been used to tell another person that they need to slow down, take a step back, and to rethink a situation. “You need to ground yourself”, and usually this is true. Though maybe just telling the person to slow down and to take a step back, and rethink the scenario would be just as effective?
Why is it that people tell other’s to “Ground themselves”? Why do we say “I have to Ground myself”. Generally speaking, it is a way that says we need a break, some time to calm down and allow our thoughts to become more manageable. To contain and to allow emotions to subside and not to take over our thoughts and actions. But, do we really know what grounding is? Do we all practice grounding on a regular basis? Yes, but not in the sense that everyone believes. Grounding, can be a positive experience or a negative, let me explain.
When one intentionally grounds themselves, it is usually a routine, a set sequence of motions, positioning and thought control. (your thoughts) Slowing your breathe, feeling your body relaxing, feeling the flow of thoughts and emotions slowing. Bringing into focus, clarifying what thoughts you are having that are causing any sort of dis-ease within your psyche. Meditations, yoga, are just a couple of avenues that are used to help one achieve grounding. There are certain rituals in place that help and show people how to ground one’s self. While grounding is an act of bringing into focus our thoughts, it does not just mean that the only way to ground is at a certain time, while doing a pre -rehearsed regiment of still posture or slow moving stretches. Grounding can be almost anytime that we have focused our thoughts, come into awareness of those thoughts and emotions that are affecting us, at this very moment. It does not always indicate that we are in a positive frame of mind. Being grounded can also manifest the negative. When we focus our thoughts, when we slow our thinking down, IF, we are in a high stress, high pressure thought mode, these will be the predominant thoughts that we will be slowing down and focusing on. So in essence, when we are stressed, anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, etc. We are in fact grounded. So, depending where our thought energy is, when we decide we need grounding, or some one else does, maybe first we need to be aware of what ground we or they, are already doing.
#mentalhealth #beingme #awareness #mindfulness