Are You Grounded?

May 16, 2024 Sarah Dennehy

With so much competing for our attention all day, every day, it’s easy to feel a bit…disconnected.

Next time you’re feeling jumbly, try this: grounding.

What is grounding and why is it important?

To put it simply, grounding is a method for bringing yourself into the present moment. It’s especially helpful when you’re feeling overwhelmed, super distracted, or stuck in a thought loop that’s not serving you in any way. Grounding activates your relaxation response and can help you feel more balanced and connected.

Grounding can also mean literally connecting to the earth by standing or walking barefoot on dirt, grass, or sand. This is also known as earthing, and there’s science to back it up.

How to practice grounding:

One of the simplest ways to ground yourself is to notice your feet. That’s it. And you don’t even have to be barefoot. You can try it right now!

Pause – you can be standing or sitting – and place all of your attention on your feet for a few moments:

Notice the feeling of support where your feet are touching the floor/ground
Notice the feeling of your shoes or socks
Notice the temperature of your feet
Notice any physical sensations (like tingling) when your feet are still and when you wiggle your toes

Here are some other ways to ground yourself, or connect yourself to the present moment:

Count your breath - slowly breathe in and count one, breathe out and count two, continue to 10 and start again if you’d like
5-4-3-2-1 - 5 things you see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste
Splash cold water on your face

Next time you notice racing thoughts or a difficult emotion, pause and try one of the above strategies. (A million bonus points if you go outside in bare feet to ground yourself!)

How to share a grounding practice with a child:

This practice can be done indoors, outdoors, in the car – anywhere.

Begin by grounding yourself, then invite your child to go on a color search with you. Using the colors of the rainbow, call out, “red” and then both of you name all the red things you see. Move to orange, yellow, etc. Once you’ve gone through all the colors, if you wish to continue, call out categories like: sparkly, really big, super small, square-shaped…get creative!

If you try any of these strategies, let me know how they go!

Looking for Joy

October 16, 2020 Sarah Dennehy

No way around it – life is tough right now for pretty much everyone. There’s no need to list all the reasons why 2020 is a mess – we’re still living it every day.

As a means of getting through it, I’ve found myself searching for joy - and I’m definitely not the only one doing this. Lately, I’ve come across a lot of social media posts and articles addressing this very topic. Looking for joy is not something that’s new to me. I have a daily gratitude practice, which helps me to be aware of the small, simple joys that are a part of everyday life.

However.

Please Don't Tell Your Child to "Take a Breath"

August 4, 2020 Sarah Dennehy

Our breath is our superpower. When we breathe, we are sending signals to our brain and body that everything is okay. We’re creating space in which we can respond – instead of mindlessly react – to the situation at hand. If you feel yourself starting to escalate to an out-of-control feeling, then you may tell yourself to take a breath, because you know it will help you feel better and get back on track. With practice, the breath will show up automatically and help you to regulate.

When I teach mindfulness to kids, we talk about all this stuff – we learn about the brain, and why it reacts the way it does when we get stressed out or frustrated, then we learn how to get control back with our breath. We practice breathing during our mindful minute, and we learn fun (yet functional) breaths, like balloon breath and finger breathing.

What Does It Mean to Hold Space?

July 9, 2020 Sarah Dennehy

As a behavioral specialist, it’s my literal job to solve people’s problems. So any time I see someone who’s struggling (client, friend, family member, TV character…), my first instinct is to give advice, solicited or not.

But wait a second. When I’m struggling, usually what I want is to rant or mope or just be hugged. I’m not looking for a solution, I’m looking for someone to see me, hear me, hug me. I just want them to hold space for me.

Just Checking In...

March 4, 2019 Sarah Dennehy

How are you doing?

How many times have you been asked that question and then rotely answered, “Fine, how are you?”

We often go through our days on autopilot, maybe too busy to stop and notice how we’re really doing. If we’re not doing well, and pushing aside some tough feelings, it could catch up with us later tenfold. If we’re doing well and feeling happy, wouldn’t we want to highlight that feeling and truly enjoy it?

What Do You Do With Anger?

February 4, 2019 Sarah Dennehy

“Is it OK to feel angry?”

When we talk about feelings in mindfulness class, I ask the kids this question, and there are always a few who emphatically respond, “No!”

Chances are, they’re thinking along the lines of: when I’m angry, I say or do “bad” things that get me in trouble, and therefore I am a “bad” person.

New (Year) Beginnings

January 1, 2019 Sarah Dennehy

*“Every moment is a fresh start.” - T.S. Eliot*

This is not an article about New Year’s resolutions. It’s also not about, “New Year, New You!” And it’s also definitely not about a New Year Cleanse. But in the spirit of new-ness and the excitement and possibility that comes along with the blank slate of a brand new year, this article is about beginning.

On Community and Gratitude

August 22, 2018 Sarah Dennehy

Like all new mothers, I spent a lot of time in my first pregnancy anticipating what life would be like after having my baby. I mostly envisioned the sweet times, but I also tried to imagine what would be most difficult: sleep deprivation, crying jags, the loss of spontaneity in my day to day. And while it turned out that all of those things were certainly hard, there was something looming even larger that was by far the most challenging part of becoming a mother: the isolation that came with it.

Is Busy Really Better?

July 6, 2018 Sarah Dennehy

“Oh, my day was so busy!”

“I was going to call you, but then I got so busy…”

“Can’t do 4:00…that time of day is too busy.”

“We’d love to, but we’re busy that day.”

Sound familiar? Either you’re saying it or your hearing it, likely on a regular basis.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fallacious belief that if we’re consistently “very busy”, then we must be super productive, important people. If we’re not busy, then we’re failing at life, or at the very least we’re just plain lazy!

But is busy really the badge of honor that society dictates?

I've Got the Power

June 6, 2018 Sarah Dennehy

As a kid, and even as an adult for many years, I was always super annoyed when Glinda told Dorothy that she could have gone back to Kansas anytime she wanted – that she always had that power. The Scarecrow asks her why she never said anything about this earlier, and Glinda replies, “She wouldn’t have believed me – she had to learn it for herself.”

I would always think to myself, “Listen, Glinda, if you had said that to me, I would’ve believed you and been on the first flying house back to Kansas in a hot second.”