Skip to main content

Staying Grounded in a Time of Anxiety

When anxiety hits, it can make you feel disoriented as though everything is spinning out of control. You might feel immobilized, not sure where to turn – or engage in acts that you think will reduce the sense of confusion, but they only end up making things worse.
People may tell you to “stay grounded,” but what does it mean to be grounded? I see it as being aware of your body and present in your surroundings. But how can you get there when your mind has whipped you up in a state for anxiety and confusion?
I have written a lot about the impact of attention on our experience. Our focus has a significant effect on our thoughts and feelings. Controlling our attention plays a crucial role in managing social anxiety and dealing with unwanted attention from others. You can also use your attention to deal with anxiety and calm yourself down. Remembering that you have control over where you put your attention is key to managing your anxiety.
How do you come back to your senses? Consider doing so quite literally by using your attention to focus on your five senses.
Begin with your breath. Tune into your breathing, notice whether you are holding your breath or breathing in your upper chest. 
Intentionally bring your breath down to your belly so that you are breathing in three parts: breathing in expand your belly, rib cage, and collarbones and then breathing out by gently contracting your collarbones, ribcage, and belly. 
Look in the mirror, notice yourself present in the moment, don’t look in your eyes if that makes you feel more anxious, but watch your body move with your breath.
Feel your body moving with your breath. Feel the texture of your clothes against your skin as your body moves.  Feel the air moving in and out of your nostrils, and feel the air brushing against your cheek.
Listen to hear your breathing. Expand your senses to listen to sounds in the environment. Don’t focus on identifying the sounds. Let them wash over you like sound waves.
Open your sense of smell. Can you experience smells without needing to label them? What is the quality of the scent – pungent, sweet, foul? Be with the experience not trying to avoid or enhance the sensation, but just letting it be present – as you are present.
Now intentionally expand your attention out to your surroundings and engage your five senses there. A popular meme of unknown origin suggests these five steps to engaging your senses.
  • Find five things you can see.
  • Find four things you can touch.
  • Find three things you can hear.
  • Find two things you can smell.
  • Find one thing you can taste.
Research in psychology on mindfulness suggests that this formula is, in fact, effective at bringing your attention back to the present moment and calming yourself in the here and now. Remember, no matter how out of control you may feel in the moment, you can always come back to your senses.

By Tara Well Ph.D.

References


Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Hyperion.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Most Americans will need a new ID to fly, starting in October

#RealD #DriversLicense #Travel #Airport #HomelandSecurity #TSA Think your driver's license is enough to get you through airport security in the United States and onto your domestic flight? Maybe not. Some two-thirds of US state driver's licenses are not compliant with a post-9/11 security law set to go into effect on October 1. Those who are not compliant will not be able to fly if they don't have other forms of "REAL ID-compliant" identification. Concerned about the impact on travel, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security loosened the restrictions this week, allowing the various state agencies to accept identity documents electronically. While Wolf says this "pre-submission" of documents will result in a faster application process, it's not clear how much faster it will be. The REAL ID Act, which established minimum security standards for the issuing of state licenses and their production, prohibits federal agencies from ...

A Poetic Reflection on The New Year by Sharon L DuBois

#Happy New Year #NewBeginnings #SharonDubois #2025 H ow many times has one year flown by, without my humble, wide-eyed A mazement at the awesome wonders and blessings contained within? Is it P ossible that I have forgotten about the seemingly small, occasionally overlooked, daily miracles?? P eeking a blind eye around a blind corner to the approaching tomorrow, neglecting the precious gift of all Y esterdays. Reminder to self: Express genuine thankfulness for my family, friends, my job, which provides harvest-yielding seed, & All Praises to My Heavenly Father, whose Grace abounds brand spankin’ N ew every morning, as evidenced by my health, life,  and strength. With each drop of rain, and rising of the sun, I am made aware of the E ver-present opportunity to do a “new thing”, a “new way”, with a “renewed mind”!! No logical reason to W hine or complain about difficulties along the journey, “JUST DO IT!!” The sum total of each and every one of my Y est...

Stress may lead to lower cognitive function, study finds.

#Stress #Cardiovascularriskfactors #Yale, #JAMA #AfricanAmerican #Alzheimers #cognitivefunction A new study found that people with elevated stress levels are more likely to experience a decline in cognitive function, affecting their capacity to remember, concentrate and learn new things. Stress is known to take a physical toll on the body, raising the risk of stroke, poor immune response and more. It can also drive people to unhealthy behaviors like smoking and poor physical activity. The study, published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, did find that participants with elevated stress levels were more likely to have uncontrolled cardiovascular risk factors and poor lifestyle factors. But even after adjusting for many of these physical risk factors, the researchers found that people with elevated stress levels were 37% more likely to have poor cognition. People who struggle with memory slips can be stressed because of the challenges that brings. But the new study suggests that the connecti...

Yale neuroscientists debunked the idea that anyone is “normal”

#Yale #Normal #neuroscientists  #Study  #Human  Don’t you wish everyone would just act more normal, like you? I know I do. But normal is a relative state that depends on time, place, and circumstance. There’s no one right way to be a human, and that applies to mental as well as physical states. That’s why neuroscientists are advocating for more recognition of the bizarre normalcy of all complex humans in psychiatry—an argument that can help all of us take a bigger-picture view. A new study published in Trends in Cognitive Science on Feb. 20 debunks the myth of normalcy in people and animals. “ The Myth of Optimality in Clinical Neuroscience ” (paywall), by Avram Holmes and Lauren Patrick of the Yale University psychology department, uses evolution to show that uniformity in our brains is totally abnormal. What’s much more common in life, during its  3.5 billion years of evolving existence on Earth , is range and change, variety in and among creatures and ha...