This month I’m sharing tips and tools to overcome the “spinny,” distracted energy of seasonal change.
When you grow up in Ohio, spring means tornado drills. When the siren goes off, that’s your signal to head to the basement. We practice this over and over in school and at home so that if an actual tornado comes, our instincts will kick in and we’ll head straight to safety in the basement.
I like to think that honing my self-awareness skills the last several years means I also now have an early warning signal when I’m about to start spinning. And when that siren goes off, it’s my signal to get grounded. Even better, I practice getting grounded before the siren goes off so that I prevent the spinning from ever starting.
So what does “get grounded” mean and how do you do it?
Here are a few of my favorite techniques, from simplest and shortest to ones requiring a little more commitment
- Take five deep, even breaths. This helps stabilize your nervous system.
- Shift your state from frazzled to flow. This next tip comes courtesy of body-brain strategy expert, Cara Bradley. To get out of your busy, thinking mind and into your body try: Feet planted. When your feet are firmly planted on the ground, you feel more stable and steadier. Close your eyes and on focus feeling your feet touching the ground. Inhale. Exhale. (repeat) Open your eyes. Eyes steady. When your eyes are fixed on one spot, you feel clearer and more directed. Steady your gaze to one spot down on the ground, slightly in front of you. Relax your eyes on that spot. Inhale. Exhale. (repeat)
- Meditate. Personally, I prefer a guided meditation when I’m feeling frazzled or overwhelmed. I strongly recommend Insight Timer, a free app with hundreds of thousands of FREE tracks. To prevent getting overwhelmed by all the choices 😉, try searching “Grounded” on the home page, click on the “tracks” tab and then filter by 0-5 minutes. My search came up with eight options – a perfectly reasonable number of choices to get you started. If you want to get a little more “woo,” search “Root Chakra” and put one of the music choices on in the background while you work.
Find what works best for you. If you’ve got a favorite “get grounded” strategy, please drop me a note and share it. I’m always looking for ideas to add to my “tip jar.”
