When what you feel seems overwhelming, a technique called grounding may help you. Grounding involves recognizing details in your immediate surroundings that distract you from heavy emotions.
Notice what pictures are on a wall or the kinds of trees growing in an area. Doing this furthers your ability to put some distance between you and bothersome thoughts or feelings. It reminds you that your life is larger than the problems you have, and it allows you to view any pain you feel as part of the ongoing process of personal growth.
Another way to calm anxiety or panic using grounding is to make physical contact with your surroundings. Pat the armrest of a chair or tap on a table to put you in touch with your present reality. Any physical action like this helps to alleviate anxiety.
Any reassuring statement that you give to yourself can aid in grounding you in the present moment. Such sayings could range from “I am calm” to “I am relaxed.” This creates a less anxious frame of mind which leads to a better outcome in what you attempt to do.
Whether you are about to give a speech or run a marathon, feeling more at ease through the process of grounding will increase the enjoyment of your activity.
Picturing yourself sailing somewhere in a boat serves as another good example of grounding. It requires focusing on a destination, but only after gaining knowledge about the prevailing tides and currents.
One reason people keep pictures of loved ones or hold on to valued objects is to remain connected to the kind of life they want to live. The ancient Greek hero Perseus kept his shield handy because of events in his life that taught him to prepare in the face of many possible eventualities. Grounding can help us cope with life as it happens.
Observing the visual details in your environment at any given time lends freshness to experiences that may have become mundane. Guessing the age of some of the beautiful oak trees our area offers can increase appreciation of a familiar drive. Games like these come from a grounded point of view.
My hope is that you find something helpful in this technique, whether you are in a negative mood, or you are undergoing something more serious. The ground of life is firm, especially if you decide to make it that way.
How Grounding Works
The concept of grounding invites you to invent mental diversions from disturbing events. There are many ways you can think of diversions:
Notice where certain colors appear.
Make a list of high-performing athletes in games.
Name what kinds of movies your favorite stars have done.
Pat the armrest of the chair you’re sitting in.
Tap a tabletop with your finger.
Give yourself a reassuring statement.
This absorbs nervous energy that might otherwise go toward obsessing over what is not going well.
Scott Toler is a licensed mental health counselor living in Plant City. He can be reached at etoler25@tampabay.rr.com.