Grounding
I have been talking with someone recently about grounding. It is a technique to bring us back to the present when we are experiencing high levels of anxiety, flash back or recalling past traumas. I have been working through a number of things recently which keep taking me back to the past. I may decide to share in the future but right now I am not. What I do want to talk about is 
grounding as I found something interesting today and would like to share it.
The person I have been talking to advised me in moments of recall, to stop and just look around the room, noticing objects or colours. To be honest, this hasn't really helped me. It doesn't make me feel grounded, secure or safe, which is the whole point of grounding techniques, if anything it makes me feel more panicked as I start to feel trapped.
Today has been one of those days. I have been on my own, lost in thought, sometimes without thought just lost in feeling - if that makes any sense at all. I really needed that sense of grounding but how to get it?
I decided to go up to Lyme Park and up to the cage. It was a very quick decision. I just got my keys and left. I knew if I thought about it I would convince myself not to go. But I really needed to get out.
Lyme is one of those places that holds a special place in my heart. I used to go there a lot as a kid, family walks up to the cage. A lot has changed since then but the cage is still there. It looks the same. I suppose it is not really that interesting, just a square building on a hill not too far from the house. My friend and I always laugh when we walk up there because we still have no idea the history of it, why it is called the cage, what it was used for? We do keep saying we will find out, but we never have.
Nothing special has ever happened there for me either. So it is not a place of a specific memory, just a place that I feel is home. It is still there, unchanged. It has, I imagine, seen many different scenes in its lifetime and it still stands. It is strong, exposed, sturdy.
This is what grounds me.
It is unchanged. It is strong. It is sturdy.
It has weathered the elements and the people. It is exposed on a hill. Yet it is unchanged, it is strong it is sturdy.
It is still there and it is still home.
I know I am going to have to find other techniques to feel grounded as I won't always just be able to nip up to Lyme to see the cage. But it is good to know it is there and I feel calmer for it.
grounding as I found something interesting today and would like to share it.The person I have been talking to advised me in moments of recall, to stop and just look around the room, noticing objects or colours. To be honest, this hasn't really helped me. It doesn't make me feel grounded, secure or safe, which is the whole point of grounding techniques, if anything it makes me feel more panicked as I start to feel trapped.
Today has been one of those days. I have been on my own, lost in thought, sometimes without thought just lost in feeling - if that makes any sense at all. I really needed that sense of grounding but how to get it?
I decided to go up to Lyme Park and up to the cage. It was a very quick decision. I just got my keys and left. I knew if I thought about it I would convince myself not to go. But I really needed to get out.
Lyme is one of those places that holds a special place in my heart. I used to go there a lot as a kid, family walks up to the cage. A lot has changed since then but the cage is still there. It looks the same. I suppose it is not really that interesting, just a square building on a hill not too far from the house. My friend and I always laugh when we walk up there because we still have no idea the history of it, why it is called the cage, what it was used for? We do keep saying we will find out, but we never have.
Nothing special has ever happened there for me either. So it is not a place of a specific memory, just a place that I feel is home. It is still there, unchanged. It has, I imagine, seen many different scenes in its lifetime and it still stands. It is strong, exposed, sturdy.
This is what grounds me.
It is unchanged. It is strong. It is sturdy.
It has weathered the elements and the people. It is exposed on a hill. Yet it is unchanged, it is strong it is sturdy.
It is still there and it is still home.
I know I am going to have to find other techniques to feel grounded as I won't always just be able to nip up to Lyme to see the cage. But it is good to know it is there and I feel calmer for it.
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