“A person who thinks all the time Has nothing to think about except thoughts So, he loses touch with reality And lives in a world of illusions” — INZO
The world and the universe in it’s entirety is made of matter. All this matter is vibrating and wondering around. Our lives are but interpretations of this matter. We as humans have a central nervous system and this is our master interpreter. It takes in senses and signals from the vibrations around us and turns those inputs into a story the owner can understand.
These stories guide our actions, behaviors, and even our thoughts. My body might understand the vibrations of my bowels preparing to extrude its waste. My story is to then head to the toilet and to relive myself. Or on the other hand my story could be to ignore it and soil my pants, the stories we create depend on the regulation of our interpreter. I hope I don’t experience the latter for a long long time. The health we keep our central nervous system in allows us to live the stories that are productive.
Keeping that mind in balance is hard when sometimes the interpreter requests self deliberation. Thoughts thinking about thoughts. I struggle with worry worts and spirals of thought. They lead to panic or untrusting interpretations of my on going story. However, with assistance of a couple methods my thoughts can be channeled. Over thinking is but energy untamed.
Awareness: the quality or state of being aware : knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). When it comes to our wellbeing awareness has the greatest outcomes and ability to balance the mind with the body and even the soul.
A few patterns of action can lead to better awareness. Grounding oneself and then focusing on our interpretations of our own senses can lead to an enlightened state of processing. Our brains are have over 100 billion neurons with the capability of 100 trillion connections (Overview, n.d.). The job of these trillions of connections is to make stories for the brain to help the body survive.
Grounding lets us narrow the amount of paths the brain takes and interprets at a single moment. Allowing us to find awareness in stressful moments. For example you get called into your bosses office. The brain fires up a series of stories, “I’m I getting fired,” “why does the boss want to talk to me?” “Is this because of the accounts I help save,” “Did Hector complain that I was to slow at xyz,” all plausible stories. But at this point unknown to be true or even a worry. Here is where the grounding can help. Tame the energy and allow the stress to not build. We can only control what we can control and one of those things is our thoughts.
A major yet simple and effective grounding is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Kim Dunakey BSN NC-BC explained it like this in an interview with the Awakened Magazine podcast hosted by David Trotter:
“Look around the room and do this without anyone knowing. You can be in a meeting or a crowded room. Identify five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This activates all five senses, bringing you back to your body and grounding you, helping regulate your nervous system.”
(Dunakey, 2024, p50). Doing this will remind the brain what is real. Your active thoughts will push the incomplete stories aside. With a greater focus and a calmer mind the energy is restored and reserved for the future to come instead of blindly predicting the future.
Once this is complete the brain can calm. You become aware of your surroundings. Two you know what is real and what is just a story prematurely forming. Three the body and the mind are synced and you can process emotion instead of unknowns and the uncontrollable.
So back the boss calling you in the office. Your brain fires off the stories. Then you notice you need to ground. As you walk down the hall to the office of your boss. You preform the 54321. Allowing your head to clear and you can calm before this meeting. You get to the office and he simple is asking everyone’s shirts sizes for a new company T. See there was no need to get all frizzy. But imagine you get there and it was about Hector’s complaint about how long it took to do xyz. You are then with a calm mind to move forward with a productive conversation with your boss.
Next time you’re in a spiral or getting lost in thought or even just needing to focus a little. Will you join me in 5 4 3 2 1 grounding? I have been practicing this for a few months now and the amount of times I have talked myself down from the possibility of the house burning down because I thought I left the oven on is priceless.
Try this method even when your not in stress. Do it before you write in your journal. Do it while you’re eating. Doing this will teach the brain you want to be aware more often then not. It will workout the mind to allow you to control the busy mapping more and allow your energy to focus on the story that’s going on not the story that is coming up.
Stay balanced. Respect always. With warm love. -Dean
MBS | Mind
Vocab from this read:
Awareness – bringing focus to what is real
Grounding – allowing one to bring awareness to one’s own thoughts and emotions, sometimes guided by action
References:
Dunakey, K. (2024, December 15). From scrubs to Soulcare: A nurse’s path to somatic coaching – an interview with Kim Dunakey – Awakened Magazine. Awakened Magazine – Healers, Therapists, Coaches, Lightworkers. https://awakenedmagazine.com/from-scrubs-to-soulcare-a-nurses-path-to-somatic-coaching-an-interview-with-kim-dunakey/
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Awareness definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awareness#:~:text=:%20the%20quality%20or%20state%20of,of%20what%20was%20going%20on
mikacv. (n.d.). Free care & therapy. 7 Cups. https://www.7cups.com/path/exercise/anxiety-physiological-behaviors-and-groudning-1642840620/ Overview. Colón-Ramos Lab. (n.d.). https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/colon-ramos/overview/#:~:text=The%20human%20brain%20consists%20of,and%20assemble%20into%20functional%20circuits.
Overview. Colón-Ramos Lab. (n.d.). https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/colon-ramos/overview/#:~:text=The%20human%20brain%20consists%20of,and%20assemble%20into%20functional%20circuits.
Mind Body & Soul 