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Tag: grounding techniques

Still Grounding Myself Every Day

I’ve got lots of writerly things going on lately (still working my YA thriller BLACK BUTTERFLY, my follow up to ELIXIR BOUND called ELIXIR SAVED, and my chapter for the Great CT Caper) and I got my first editing assignment post baby. Seems I’m really getting back into the swing of things now that The Prince is almost four months old (yikes…the time does fly!).

The year anniversary of my grounding experiment–basically my quest to put my bare feet on the earth every day in attempt to help with stress, overall mood, energy, and such–passed by some time in August with little notice or fanfare. The last update I did on this was December, and I’ve been going strong ever since.

I missed some days, especially over the long, cold, snowy winter we had, but I got out in the bad weather more than I expected. Plus I was pregnant for a good part of the experiment, which I thought might make it harder, but it really wasn’t much of a hindrance. As a bonus once the weather got warmer, The Boy showed interest in grounding himself, too, so he’s been joining me from time to time. And my mom started doing it as well, so we’ve been comparing notes and keeping each other accountable.

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Thinking back on my year of grounding, I’ve noticed several parallels to being a writer. You have setbacks, like missing days for reasons both in your control and out of your control; you feel bad/guilty after these setbacks; it’s helpful to have others hold you accountable to help you get it done; when you lose consistency in your task, it’s hard to get back to it, but it’s never too late to get back to it, and it might be hard at first but it will get easier after the initial push; and it’s important not to beat yourself up too much when you fail, as long as you get back on the horse as soon as you can.

I’ve learned some helpful tips along the way. In cold weather, wear your cold weather gear outside even if you’re just going out to ground. Don’t go out in the snow with just a sweatshirt and sandals. First of all you’ll freeze. Second of all it diminishes the affect somehow. After I stripped off my boots in socks, stuck my feet in my little patch of grass surrounded by feet of snow, and put my socks and boots back on, my feet felt awesome, like I was walking on clouds.

Make it part of your routine. I often ground when I go out to get the mail because I do this almost every day. Don’t worry about what others think. My neighbors must have seen me with my pregnant belly and bare feet on the cold ground and thought, “There’s that nutso lady again out there with her feet in the snow.” If you miss a few days, don’t stress about it; the whole idea is not to stress. Just get back to it when you can.

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And finally, mix it up once in awhile: ground in the sand or some other place than grass, or do it at a friend’s house or while on vacation (of course making sure it’s safe to do it wherever you are, and there aren’t say fire ants or animal droppings around), or do it with a friend.

So I guess you’re all wondering if it’s working. It’s hard to say definitively that it’s working or not. I’ve had a particularly stressful, exciting, wonderful year. I’ve had the most challenging year with The Boy since he was born, a new baby to take care of, and lots of upheaval with work being done on the house. I wish I had more patience with The Boy in particular and yell at him more than I’d like to. I get crabby for no reason (being pregnant and now breastfeeding make for some fun hormonal emotions) and take it out on my husband. So on the surface you might say it isn’t working.

But I think it is. I can feel the tension leaving my body often when I ground myself, and this feeling is particularly strong when I’ve missed a day or two or when the weather was cold and I wasn’t outside as much. It’s kind of like a tingling that stops after a minute or two, and is similar to the calming feeling I get when I hold The Prince on my chest while he sleeps, only the feeling is in my feet instead of my chest. So, yeah, for that alone it’s worth it.

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And given all the stress and worry and mixed emotions I’ve had over the last year, I’d say I’m emotional handling myself better than I might have been if I wasn’t grounding. Some times all I have to do is think about grounding when I’m in a stressful situation and it helps to calm me…and maybe that is more a mind over matter thing than the physical affects of grounding, but whatever works, right?

The other thing I like about it is that it’s a pretty simple, straightforward, achievable goal, and one that doesn’t have any dire consequences if I fail. I like having an item to check of my list that’s so easy to do, and it’s one that gets me outdoors, and it’s an interesting talking point, and it might just be helping my overall well-being and health.

So after a year my year of grounding, I have no plans to stop. I’ll keep going out there and putting my bare feet to the ground, I’ll miss days and maybe feel guilty or maybe not, I’ll keep my reputation in the neighborhood as an eccentric lady, and hopefully I’ll feel better for it and will be a better mom, person, and writer for it.

Grounding Myself Update

Back in September, I mentioned how I’ve been doing this whole literal grounding technique (full grounding post here, but in short it’s my attempt to put my feet on the actual earth everyday for a year). Okay, admission time: I haven’t been out everyday since the weather has turned cold, but I have been trying to get out at least every few days.

We had a bit of cold spell in November (like temps in 20’s and low 30’s for almost a week straight). This proved to be a slight deterrent, but didn’t totally derail my grounding. And just the other day, in December, we were back in the high 50’s. A good day to get out there in bare feet.

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Barefoot on the beach during an unseasonably warm October day.

A few tips if you ever decide to attempt such a crazy thing. Don’t go out in bare feet because any concrete, asphalt, unnatural surface will be colder than a natural one and will freeze your feet before you get to your intended spot (even throwing on sandals or slippers works). Scout out a good spot before going outside because that equals less time in the cold. Don’t go out when you’re already cold. A good time to venture out is right after a shower when you’ve still got the residual heat of the warm water.

So all in all the grounding is still happening, and I think I’m a more relaxed person for it (and getting heartier in the process). What have you been up to lately?

Staying Grounded

Okay, some blog tour stuff first (because I know you all are dying to hear more about my blog tour–hey, quit the groaning!). I’m over at the blog of Stuart R. West (who you all met last month when he guest blogged about Females in YA and his Tex, The Witch Boy books) offering some sage (I hope!) advice about book openings, including my favorite ones.

Now for the actual intended blatherings of today’s post…staying grounded. Earlier this summer I embarked on a mission to ground myself every day. No, not I-stayed-out-past-my-curfew-and-got-grounded kind of grounded. A more literal kind of grounded, as in putting my feet on the earth kind of grounding.

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The hubby and I getting grounded in St. Lucia.

There seems to be some legitimate(?) health benefits to this and certain techniques that are supposed to work (here’s one article about grounding techniques and another with some supposed health benefits). It’s all bit new agey for my sensibilities, but try to stay with me here because I think it might be working.

I’m not doing anything crazy, but simply going outside and touching my feet to the actual earth (grass, dirt, sand, etc…) for a few seconds every day. (Admittedly I’ve already missed a day here or there, but it’s more the spirit of the idea than being super strict about it.) I’m going to try and do this for a whole year. That’s it!

And you know what? I have been feeling a bit more grounded lately. Less stressed, more even-keeled, even with a lot going on in my professional life, a toddler to take care of, renovations on our attic, and my allergies going a bit wonky with the change in weather.

If I think about some of the most relaxed people I have ever come across, I go back to Tahiti or St. Lucia and the people of islands. You know what they do? They walk around barefoot a lot (granted they also live in a less stressed environment in general)!

So the only problem is I live in New England. The weather is still pretty nice right now, so it’s not hard to get out there barefoot. But I’m a warm-weather kind of girl…some years I barely make it through the winter without falling into that sun-deprived kind of depression. I like to be warm and get cold pretty easily. So I’m not making any promises come January when the temperatures drop into the 20’s and snow is on the ground.

Though my husband (who has been oddly enthusiastic about this whole thing…probably because he’s not the one putting his bare feet on the grass everyday) says he won’t let me get away with NOT doing it this winter. He’s even offered to keep a little spot of grass in the yard free of snow this winter (how generous of him…notice he hasn’t offered to do this grounding thing with me!). I’m committed but not crazy, so we’ll see how it goes.

What’s the strangest, craziest, weirdest thing you’ve committed yourself to?

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