Simple practices for staying grounded

In my last post, I pointed out the importance of reconnecting with the heart or heart center. The feeling sense of presence or aliveness that is our true being.

While turning within is simple enough on the surface, it turns out that it is quite difficult for most of us because we are so conditioned to keeping our attention focused almost obsessively on the objects and experiences of the world.

In so doing we forget ourselves.

We take ourselves to be our experiences and our identity and don’t recognize the deeper sense of being at our core which you could call consciousness or awareness.

It is the obsessive quality of that outwardly focused attention that causes us suffering in the form of stress/anxiety, depression/despair, confusion/hopelessness and irritation/anger. We become ungrounded and disconnected from the peaceful calm center that is our real being.

Reconnecting with ourselves takes some practice at first. Having time to spend alone in a quiet peaceful place helps but most people’s lives are busy and there often isn’t much downtime. This results in getting caught up in the world pretty much from the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to bed at night.

This leaves no time for the part of us which calms, inspires and nurtures us!

Once your attention starts getting engaged in the world it becomes quite difficult to turn it back around and focus within. Doing this consistently takes some effort at the beginning.

A strategy for staying grounded in the heart

The most potent time for establishing ourselves in a peaceful state is when we first get up in the morning before we get involved in the day.

When you go to sleep at night the mind becomes quiet. Thoughts and perceptions cease and the mind is at rest. Waking up from sleep we initially carry that peaceful quiet with us as we awaken.

This is why if you can take a few minutes to linger in the state just after waking you can use it to go deeper and carry more of that peace with you into the day. All it takes is remembering when you awaken not to get up right away but rather spend a few minutes abiding in the peace you feel from sleep.

Once we engage the day however we can still get caught up in stressful situations, worrisome thoughts and emotional eruptions. We may not have the time or the wherewithal to be alone and sit quietly so it’s important to have other ways to stay grounded.

There are some quick simple things we can do to re-ground during a busy day to keep the stress to a minimum and stay more peaceful, joyful and productive.

One of those things is to simply stop and take a deep breath when you are feeling the stress, irritation or despair build. Breath is a fundamental aspect of our being and a key function of life.

Take a couple of minutes to focus on your breathing and breath in deeply and slowly and then a long slow exhale letting yourself feel and imagine all the tension and negative feeling being expelled as you relax into your breath.

Do this for five to ten slow breaths.

Given how much time we spend on devices these days another practice to help stay grounded is spend time outside. Take your eyes off the screens and look at a natural setting; trees, mountains, the sky, the clouds or animals. Nature has a silent peace to it if you pay close enough attention and it will awaken that part of you if you let it.

Taking a walk and getting out any pent up energy while you breathe fresh air deeply sounds simple but it does amazing things for you!

All our device time tends to make us more prone to virtual connection with others as well. This is ok but it is a very poor substitute for real face to face engagement. Humans are social creatures and we do not do well psychologically if we are isolated from in the moment physical connection with others.

All that’s needed is to go engage another person directly, a friend or family member but someone who is uplifting to be around. If there isn’t a person you find uplifting to connect with then time with an animal will do just fine.

In fact sometimes animals are more grounding to be around than people! Animals are naturally in the moment creatures and they understand perfectly well how to enjoy the moment.

Another little practice I appreciate when I am feeling stressed or despondent is to do something to help someone else out. Maybe someone I don’t even know. It might be something as simple as offering a smile to someone who looks depressed or lonely. Perhaps it’s doing a favor for a friend or picking up an expected gift for a loved one or even giving a homeless person $10.

Taking the focus off yourself and attending to the needs of others and appreciating them helps to open us up and prevent obsessive attention on our problems and hang ups. Plus helping others tends to make us feel good about ourselves while we also take joy in the happiness of someone else.

The bottom line is that it is possible for us to be consistently and deeply at peace and happy. However to realize that requires an effort to turn within and be our true selves. It doesn’t require you to give up anything or to take on a new set of beliefs or dogmas.

It just requires you to be still and to quiet down and notice yourself and the world around you in that silent stillness. You may be shocked at what you find when your mind is not running the show….