Grounding 3-2-1 |
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Your deep, slow breaths and tension release have sent calming messages from your body back up to your emotional brain.
Purposefully calming your body helps your emotional brain calm as well.
As you break free from stress in your body, you loosen the grip of stress in your mind.
Purposefully calming your body helps your emotional brain calm as well.
As you break free from stress in your body, you loosen the grip of stress in your mind.
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KEY FACT:
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Calmer body ----> Calmer emotional brain----> Clearer thoughts As your emotional brain calms, there is more activity in your higher, rational brain, and you are able to think more clearly.
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After calming your body, if you allow your attention to return to stress-provoking thoughts, your body and brain will return to a stressed state.
If you're used to trying to push stress away, mask it, or just try to switch to positive thoughts, you know those methods don't really work. If you distract yourself, the stressful thoughts, emotions, and tension in your body come back. If you "have to stay busy," you are probably trying to distract yourself, to avoid being alone in your own head, because it feels like the negativity or stress is just waiting to take over.
If you're used to trying to push stress away, mask it, or just try to switch to positive thoughts, you know those methods don't really work. If you distract yourself, the stressful thoughts, emotions, and tension in your body come back. If you "have to stay busy," you are probably trying to distract yourself, to avoid being alone in your own head, because it feels like the negativity or stress is just waiting to take over.
If you are not thinking about your thinking, your mental spotlight will drift back to whatever it has been focused on the most. Your most-repeated thoughts, or well-traveled neural pathways, will pull you in.
When we ground ourselves, we are not working with the content of our thoughts, but we are quieting them by
shifting our attention to the here-and-now.
shifting our attention to the here-and-now.
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You can choose where to aim your mental spotlight.
You can consciously, purposely decide where you want to put your attention. |
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Instead of trying to avoid, mask, or distract yourself from stress, grounding brings your attention inward, so that you are putting the focus of your mind on whatever your body is experiencing right here, right now.
You use your sensory systems, your perception, to bring your attention into the present moment.
You are taking your mind's focus, and putting it on your body.
Grounding is not about challenging or changing your thoughts; it is about managing your attention.
When you ground yourself, you are being observent, objective, and nonjudgmental. You are not distressed about the past, worried about the future, or frustrated about what other people are thinking or doing. You are not thinking about what is happening anyplace other than right where you are.
If you are "lost in your own head", not present, not grounded, you are experiencing body unawareness.
Your sensory systems are disconnected from your awareness. Grounding reclaims neural activity in your sensory systems to your conscious mind.
You use your sensory systems, your perception, to bring your attention into the present moment.
You are taking your mind's focus, and putting it on your body.
Grounding is not about challenging or changing your thoughts; it is about managing your attention.
When you ground yourself, you are being observent, objective, and nonjudgmental. You are not distressed about the past, worried about the future, or frustrated about what other people are thinking or doing. You are not thinking about what is happening anyplace other than right where you are.
If you are "lost in your own head", not present, not grounded, you are experiencing body unawareness.
Your sensory systems are disconnected from your awareness. Grounding reclaims neural activity in your sensory systems to your conscious mind.
When you take care of each moment, you take care of all time. ...Unknown
The truth is that many moments are okay, but if we are not present, they slip away from us.
This happens if we are physically present, but mentally absent.
This happens if we are physically present, but mentally absent.
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Daily stress is often connected to thought patterns that sustain or amplify anxiety, frustration, anger, or many other possible negative emotions.
As you learned here, thought patterns are rooted in past experiences, and when we repeat these patterns over and over, they become automatic and feel like facts. |
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They can form false beliefs that seem to define you as a person. You may think this is just the way you are, or even label yourself as a stressed, anxious, or frustrated person.
For example, if at some point in your life, making a mistake resulted in embarrassment or shame, you may be living your life with a fear of making a mistake or of being judged by others. You may be aware of being upset when you make a mistake, but you may not be aware that throughout your day, in the back of your mind, a part of you is hypervigilant against making a mistake. This can look like perfectionism or defensiveness. It can manifest in isolation, blaming others, or countless other unhelpful coping behaviors. However it manifests itself, unhelpful distorted thought patterns create patterns of reactions, behaviors, and even relationships. They become states of being.
For example, if at some point in your life, making a mistake resulted in embarrassment or shame, you may be living your life with a fear of making a mistake or of being judged by others. You may be aware of being upset when you make a mistake, but you may not be aware that throughout your day, in the back of your mind, a part of you is hypervigilant against making a mistake. This can look like perfectionism or defensiveness. It can manifest in isolation, blaming others, or countless other unhelpful coping behaviors. However it manifests itself, unhelpful distorted thought patterns create patterns of reactions, behaviors, and even relationships. They become states of being.
Because they have such a strong grip on us, our habitual and often unhelpful states of being can be hard to recognize.
We can be completely unaware of this mechanism and may just accept them as the "only" way we can possibly be.
We can be completely unaware of this mechanism and may just accept them as the "only" way we can possibly be.
Furthermore, stress unchecked can bring us to a point at which we are not thinking clearly at all, because our emotional mind has taken over, or hijacked us. Stress can build until we feel like imploding or exploding.
Grounding can help interrupt this process and reset ourselves to a balanced state.
Grounding can help interrupt this process and reset ourselves to a balanced state.
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Grounding helps you still yourself.
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After discharging stress from your body with deep, slow breaths and a body scan with tension release, you can use your sensory systems as an anchor for your attention.
The Grounding 3-2-1 exercise is a structured form of mindfulness. After you do this 2-minute exercise, you'll understand how purposefully putting your attention on what your body is perceiving has a calming, centering effect. You will then be able to bring the concept into your everyday life.
Grounding may seem simple, but it will do three important things for you:
1 - Give you a respite from stressful thoughts.
2 - Help you increase your skill of managing your attention.
3 - Allow you to experience moments of your life as they occur.
The Grounding 3-2-1 exercise is a structured form of mindfulness. After you do this 2-minute exercise, you'll understand how purposefully putting your attention on what your body is perceiving has a calming, centering effect. You will then be able to bring the concept into your everyday life.
Grounding may seem simple, but it will do three important things for you:
1 - Give you a respite from stressful thoughts.
2 - Help you increase your skill of managing your attention.
3 - Allow you to experience moments of your life as they occur.
Grounding 3-2-1 is a structured form of mindfulness that helps you bring yourself, body and mind, to the present moment. Initially, going through the guided exercise takes two minutes of your attention. After you have done this a few times, you'll be able to take the concepts and bring them into your daily life. Not only will this not interrupt what you are doing, but it may help you focus and engage more fully.
When you first do this, it's helpful to take a few deep, slow breaths, and do the body scan and tension release before grounding.
When you first do this, it's helpful to take a few deep, slow breaths, and do the body scan and tension release before grounding.
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Where was your mind focused during that exercise?
Notice that your body and mind have been reset and brought to the present.
Try doing this exercise at least 3 times a day at first. After you practice it, you will get used to the mental activity of paying close attention to your sensory perception. You will then be able to pull yourself more fully into your present moments as they occur.
Notice that your body and mind have been reset and brought to the present.
Try doing this exercise at least 3 times a day at first. After you practice it, you will get used to the mental activity of paying close attention to your sensory perception. You will then be able to pull yourself more fully into your present moments as they occur.
You can ground yourself at any point during the day.
Throughout your day, feeling your feet on the ground, noticing more detail about what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching, will ground you, calm you, help you focus, and think more clearly. How do you think you'll be feeling when you are grounding throughout your day?
Throughout your day, feeling your feet on the ground, noticing more detail about what you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching, will ground you, calm you, help you focus, and think more clearly. How do you think you'll be feeling when you are grounding throughout your day?
You Can Always Use Your Breath as an Anchor
If you are waiting in traffic, feeling impatient, or already still and quiet, you can tune into your breathing - you can feel it and hear it. Your breath is with you always and can be your ever- present anchor to the here-and-now. You can combine deep, slow breaths with grounding.
If you are waiting in traffic, feeling impatient, or already still and quiet, you can tune into your breathing - you can feel it and hear it. Your breath is with you always and can be your ever- present anchor to the here-and-now. You can combine deep, slow breaths with grounding.
