Our world today moves so fast, it’s common to lose ourselves in it every once in a while. Being inundated every second by distractions- some welcome and some unwelcome- is a common cause of us become ungrounded.
Ungrounding can take a toll on us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we become ungrounded because we’re constantly distracted or stuck in a pattern of monotony, we can forget to bring ourselves back down to earth- or worse, we don’t even notice we’re becoming detached. From there it becomes harder and harder to realize that it’s even happening until, ultimately, we begin to lose ourselves and our sense of living altogether.
I’m extremely familiar with this feeling of being ungrounded, probably due to my tendency to plan for the future and dwell on the past. In other words, I have trouble living in the moment. But even though I’m familiar with the feeling, there are still times where I slip into the trap of going through the motions which is a tell-tale sign of being ungrounded.
Here are some signs you may be ungrounded:
- Going through the motions. Your might feel like your mind is a separate entity from your body, and while your body is going through the motions your mind is just floating around in the ether. You might be going about your day, getting everything you need to get done but while doing so you’re ultimately absent-minded. In slightly more severe situations, you may momentarily come out of your stupor and somewhat unable to remember what happened earlier in the day because you were inattentive.
- Feeling unhappy or anxious for no obvious reason. The affects of being ungrounded are often quite subtle. As mentioned previously, it can be hard to recognize what’s happening so we end up with a feeling of gnawing unhappiness or mild to medium anxiety that we may not immediately know how to place. This is normal and don’t worry- in the case of your unhappiness or anxiety stemming from feeling ungrounded, there are ways to bring yourself back. (Note: A constant feeling of unhappiness or anxiety no matter what you do, may be an underlying symptom of depression and/or chronic anxiety. If these feelings are getting in the way of daily life, don’t be afraid to seek help.)
- Unable to focus. When we’re feeling ungrounded, we are generally not feeling emotions to the fullest that we could be. This is because when we are detached we don’t really feel anything– and when we’re denied the ability to emotionally feel, it can make us feel ‘cloudy’. Additionally, once we inadvertently get into the habit of being ungrounded (and therefore clouded) it can take conscious effort to then re-focus ourselves- which isn’t always easy.
Now that you have a little bit better of an idea of what it feels like to be ungrounded, you can recognize your feelings faster, put a reason to them, and ground yourself using the techniques below.
How to Ground Yourself
Focus on physical touch.
Connecting your mind with your body is a good first step to take to get grounded again, as it combats our tendency to go through the motions. When we carry out our routines in our every day life, it’s easy to forget how things actually feel because we are used to moving too fast and with an accidental absent-mindedness.
Wherever you are, begin to touch and feel everything you can- whether it’s your clothes against your skin, or the couch underneath you, or even the keyboard beneath your fingers. Take a moment to just feel these things, before then emotionally appreciating what they bring you- whether it’s the warmth from your clothing, the comfort of your couch, and so on. It’s easy for us to take these and many other things for granted, but if we can take a moment to recognize them and appreciate their physical existence and what they provide us with in the physical sense, this naturally connects our body and mind.
Eat a meal- with no distractions- and focus on how good it tastes and smells.
We all fall into the same trap more often than we care to admit (or even notice)- you know, the one where we are always doing something while we eat, be it watching TV or working or studying. It’s all too easy to turn the part of our brain off that tastes and appreciates our food because we’re too busy vegging out in front of the TV.
Luckily, taste and smell can be powerful tools in grounding us as food is often something that brings us great joy- when we take the time to appreciate it.
When sitting down to eat, before doing anything else (getting to studying/working, turning on the TV) get a bit of your food ready and just smell it, and let the smell bring you joy. After getting a good whiff, slowly take a bite. Chew slowly, and let the taste bring you joy. It also helps to close your eyes while doing this.
The best way to do all of this is to just eat at the dinner table so you can focus the entirety of your attention on your meal. However, I know that that’s pretty unrealistic- you’re probably still going to eat in the front of the TV! But when you do sit down to eat, even if it is still ultimately with some sort of distraction, just try to remember to take a small moment before each bite to actively appreciate just what you are tasting and smelling.
Meditate
What better way to block out the overwhelmingly fast-paced world around us and connect our mind and body than to meditate! Meditation provides us with so many overarching spiritual and mental benefits, and grounding is one of them. In fact, grounding ourselves is usually done during meditation, but this attentiveness often stays with us for the rest of our day.
Other than separating ourselves from the stress of the physical world, a major component of meditating is paying close attention to things like our breathing and our body, effectively grounding us and bringing us back to center. You can read more about meditation in this previous post to get some ideas of the additional benefits of meditating and my personal preferred method of meditating- it’s easy for anyone, even if you hate meditating!
Think about where you are, on a smaller scale and then on a bigger scale.
When we take a moment to pay closer attention to our place in the Universe, it brings us a sense of comfort because we realize that we are not just existing but that we are living. That feeling of being alive feels so good, we tend to crave that feeling more and more and it encourages us to work harder to get ourselves grounded and stay grounded.
Begin by recognizing your immediate surroundings, be it your bedroom, living room, classroom, etc. Notice the details of your surroundings and how much work has been put into the creation of it by the Universe over time. If you’re outside, notice the trees or the grass or the clouds above you. If you’re inside, notice the care that has been taken to create the space that surrounds you.
Once you feel you have sufficiently taken in your immediate surroundings, expand your mind and imagine your place in the Universe as a whole. It doesn’t have to specific- in fact, it will most likely be a feeling. You may feel very small, perhaps even insignificant. But before you go down this rabbit hole, recognize that you are not only a part of the Universe, but the entirety of the Universe is inside you as well. It will likely bring you a sense of comfort that the beauty that you are made up of is the same beauty that the Universe surrounds you with.
Do something out of the ordinary of your routine.
Since a common cause of becoming grounded is getting stuck in the monotony of every day life, doing something out of the ordinary can shake things up a bit and ‘wake you back up’, so to speak.
Think about your daily routine. For example, maybe you wake up, eat breakfast, work, watch Netflix while you eat dinner, and go to sleep. You might do some variation of this every single day, so it’s natural that you would get so good at doing these things because you’ve programmed yourself to do them that you would get caught up in the monotony of it all and forget to truly live.
Now comes the fun part- expanding your mind and adding in things that are out of the ordinary for you. It can be as simple as listening to a podcast instead of watching TV, or something that takes a little more effort like having a picnic in the park.
Either way, carrying out anything that’s out of the ordinary for you will take just a little bit more attentiveness and, in turn, this awareness will naturally ground you.