Greetings and welcome to the Why Struggle Podcast.
I'm your host,
Barbara J.
Faison,
And my intention with this podcast is to offer ideas,
Insights,
And inspirations so you can live life better.
Greetings and welcome to 2025 Week 8 Tools Part 3.
This is an episode about grounding yourself in the present moment.
If you're new to the podcast,
Welcome,
And if you listen regularly,
Thank you.
It's been somewhere around 30 years since I started meditating.
I started slow and then made it a daily practice.
I believe having meditation as a practice has helped me navigate life in a more intentional and calm way.
I believe meditating really helped me avoid a lot of things,
Including having a lot of anxious feelings.
Unless you're living under a rock,
You can see that there's a lot going on in the world right now.
Using tools and practices is one way I manage my emotions during these interesting times.
We're on Part 3 of Tools for Living.
So far,
I've covered breathing in Week 1 and the practice of gratitude in Week 2.
The tool for this week is a grounding practice.
What is grounding?
Grounding is a practice that relaxes your mind and body and helps you stay in the present moment.
You see,
Your mind is designed to protect you.
It is actively paying attention to everything that is going on.
It's noticing and calculating how to keep you safe.
When you practice grounding yourself,
You become connected to what is happening right now,
And that allows your mind to focus.
The beautiful thing about the mind is that you can tell it what to do.
That itself is a practice.
Scientists have studied the brain and we know that the brain is dynamic and we can actively help it.
I say train your brain,
Be kind to your mind,
Pay attention to what you think about and how you feel.
I heard from somewhere that if you name your mind and talk to your mind,
It is really a good way to train yourself to stay focused.
I call my mind Gracie.
I talk to her like I would to a person,
And an example is when I'm about to go to bed.
While in bed,
I say,
Gracie,
I appreciate all you've done for me this day.
It's time to relax and go to bed.
You've done enough today.
If you're a person of a certain age,
They used to say,
If you talk to yourself,
You are crazy.
Now we know that talking to yourself is helpful.
So,
Let's practice grounding ourselves,
Which will help us stay in this moment.
It's time to practice a grounding technique called 5-4-3-2-1.
In this practice,
We will focus on five things you see,
Four things you touch,
Three things you hear,
Two things you can smell,
And one thing you can taste.
You can also adapt this practice to focus on only one of your senses,
Like five things you see,
Or you may adjust the number of items for that particular sense.
An example might be,
Instead of noticing five things you see,
You may notice three things you see.
Let's give this 5-4-3-2-1 grounding practice a try.
Here's an example of how it goes.
Notice five things you see,
Rose bushes,
Birch trees,
A red cardinal,
A lounge chair,
A white truck,
Four things you touch,
My chair,
My hand to my heart,
My cell phone,
My yoga mat,
Three things you hear,
Cars passing by,
Someone cutting their grass,
A plane flying overhead,
Two things you smell,
The heat,
And my hand lotion,
One thing you taste,
A ginger mint.
Are you ready to give this a try?
Let's do it.
I'll lead you and give you time to notice the items,
And then we'll end the practice.
So,
Are you ready?
Let's begin.
Name five things you can see right now.
Wonderful.
What are four things you can touch right now and touch them?
Great.
Now,
Tell me three things you can hear.
What are two things you can smell?
And finally,
One thing you can taste.
Now,
Let's take a deep breath in through the nose with a loud exhale.
So,
Breathe in.
And out.
And this is when you would check in with your body to notice how you feel.
And remember,
This 5-4-3-2-1 technique can be done anytime you start to feel a little anxiety or discomfort coming on and you don't feel grounded in your body.
This is a beautiful grounding technique.
5-4-3-2-1.
Five things you see,
Four things you touch,
Three things you hear,
Two things you smell,
And one thing you can taste.
I like ginger mint,
So that's usually my one thing I can taste.
What did you notice about yourself when you were doing the grounding technique?
Would the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding practice be something you could use as a tool at some point?
Feel free to leave a comment,
Observation,
Or reflection where you're listening to this podcast.
