Professional Wellness Counseling, PLLC.
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A few years ago my friend from graduate school was relating to me how her daughter, who had recently acquired a new job was struggling with anxiety. She went on to describe to me how she got a great new job bit that one of the requirements of the job was to pass a comprehensive […]
A few years ago my friend from graduate school was relating to me how her daughter, who had recently acquired a new job was struggling with anxiety. She went on to describe to me how she got a great new job bit that one of the requirements of the job was to pass a comprehensive competency test. It seems that her anxiety was a form of test/performance anxiety. I suggested that she teach her the mindful grounding exercise. I will describe it and give examples below. I’ll come back to the conclusion of this story later.
Before you begin doing the grounding exercise you may want to find a few minutes and a place to yourself to concentrate on being mindful. The first step in the mindful grounding exercise is to identify five things you can see. Some examples might be…
The second step is simply to identify four things you can feel with your sense of touch. Some examples of this are…
The third step is to identify three things you can hear. For some people, this requires being more mindful than they are used to simply being cluttered with noise. Examples of this step are…
At this stage, it can get a little dicey for some people. From here on out the exercise requires mindful concentration. Step four of the grounding exercise is to identify two things you smell. Examples of this are…
The final step to the grounding exercise is to identify one thing you can taste. Examples of this are…
Now back to my story from above. My friend taught her daughter the grounding exercise. In addition, she told her to do the exercise a few times right before she had to take the test again. She did it, and consequently, her anxiety was lower and she did great on the test. This is sometimes called the 1-2-3-4-5 exercise. And as you can see it’s not complicated at all. It’s just paying attention to your senses and that can have a dramatic impact on struggles like anxiety, stress, depression, and coping with difficult situations. This and other exercises can be found here.
Click here to download my Mindful Grounding Exercise Infographic
In the United States, we have a Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a government-sponsored time to give gratitude for the things and people in our lives we are thankful for. But thankfulness is a mark of a healthy inner intellectual and emotional life. People who develop habits of thankfulness tend to be more people. So, why should we […]
In the United States, we have a Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a government-sponsored time to give gratitude for the things and people in our lives we are thankful for. But thankfulness is a mark of a healthy inner intellectual and emotional life. People who develop habits of thankfulness tend to be more people. So, why should we develop habits of thanksgiving?
Developing habits of gratitude is a staple in substance use and recovery counseling programs. Participants of such programs learn to do a daily list of things they are grateful for. This and other similar habits enable them to center themselves. Centering ourselves on the things in our lives that are good is a positive habit. It’s easy to focus on the chaos in our lives. Therefore, developing habits of thanksgiving keeps us centered.
When we are thankful, we are open to new things. Thankfulness helps us to become aware of the ways that we have been blessed. As we develop a sense of gratitude for our lives we are more open about future possibilities. Because of this, thankfulness opens new doors in our lives. This openness can lead to new relationships and opportunities for growth.
There are a variety of positive effects that thankfulness can have on our health. One of these is the benefits a habit of gratitude has on physical health. Research suggests more emotionally balanced people are thankful. This balance leads to a more healthy physical life. According to Psychotherapist Amy Morin people who are thankful are more proactive about their health. As a result, they take steps toward being more physically healthy.
Developing habits of daily gratitude can lead to greater inner discipline. Also, it leads to increased emotional and physical health. Above all, we stay centered and live in the moment. When we develop habits of thankfulness.
