This is my response to @abundance.tribe's Question of the Week: How do I keep myself Grounded?
It's a good time for me to be thinking about this, what with the Olive Harvest just done, which was very 'grounding' but now being back into the crypto wonderland, which is somewhat 'ungrounding'!
What is 'Being Grounded' anyway?
According to the Marion-Webster dictionary grounded means the following:
- To be emotionally and mentally stable
- To be realistic and sensible
- To be unpretentious ('down to earth' I guess, humble, even).
It's not always the case that a simple dictionary definition gets to what I think the essence of a word is, but in this case, I think this definition does a pretty good job.
These are most definitely three attributes I associate with the term 'grounded'
Personally I don't go any further than this - to some, the term 'grounded' might have an eco-spiritual connotation - i.e. someone who is grounded is connected to the earth in a deep-way, personally I don't use the concept to denote this, and someone who is like this isn't necessarily all three of the above either, especially not 'unpretentious' and 'down to earth', ironically.
So below I'm using the 'grounded' version of 'grounded', the first one.
How to I keep myself Grounded?
Meditation and soft meditation are absolutely fundamental to this -a good cushion-sit once a day for 20 minutes to an hour, and a 20-30 minute daily yoga session work wonders to keep one's mental and emotional state stable, or failing either of these, a simple, short, 30 minute walk can do the job too!
I do think a good hour a day of meditation/ soft meditation is what you need!
Cleaning and tidying - OK it is pretty basic, but keeping a clean orderly, tidy house is also a useful way of keeping oneself grounded - the physical act is like a meditation in itself, the act of cleaning, and the result helps keep the mind calmer too.
Timetables help me enormously to set realistic and sensible goals - both weekly and daily. They help me stay focussed and remind me what I CAN do every day.
Physical work It's much easier to stay grounded doing physical work - simply because you can see what needs doing, there's an end result and you're 'there' - compared to online work which is typically fraught with distractions, a constant battle to stay focussed and grounded.
Listening and asking questions rather than talking about myself - It's a basic technique to help with humility - think of others first, put yourself last, helps with being unpretentious. (Chances are you're probably not that interesting anyway!).
Final Thoughts
The thing with being grounded is that it's easier IF you do grounding practices every single day, for at least a good hour, ideally a lot more, then it becomes second nature.
The challenge is when you've become ungrounded and need to get back to yourself after too much time online, or some kind of major life-disruption.
But however hard it is to get back to being grounded, it's worth it!
You and I are very different. I'm one of those who feels grounded when in touch with the earth. I don't think I am pretentious though, and am wondering why you think that those of us who feel a connection to nature are necessarily pretentious. That's how I read your statement
Instead of meditating as you insist is necessary to health, I do my version of meditating in various ways throughout the day, and being in touch with nature is a big one.
Timetables? I work backwards from the time I need something done.
Cleaning and tidying? I've never been accused of being fastidious.
Physical work? I agree here, especially outside work.
Listening and asking questions? This is very easy for me. I'd much rather hear someone talk about themselves, than talk about myself.
Seems we find our own personal ways to feel grounded, and there are many ways to do it, whatever your definition of grounded might be.
Maybe that comment was a bit blunt, of course feeling connected to the earth isn't necessarily pretentious, I think the tone just came out wrong there apologies!
And there are many ways to feel grounded, you seem to have a much more organic and spontaneous approach than I do, which is absolutely fair enough - I'm not like that at all, I like order, structure, routine!
It's just who I am.
Takes all sorts to make a world though so strength in diversity and all that!
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