Embodying Groundedness
Whether we feel anxiety, panic, stress, sadness, guilt, regret, or anything else, we can feel sometimes like the ground is removed from under our feet. We can feel uncertain, unsteady, and feel like whichever way emotions or thoughts are taking us, we are going.
Basic principles of many different therapeutic models and theories suggest that the more we feel grounded, the less chance emotions have to catch us up in their chaos. But what is feeling grounded? Imagine there is a field with not many plants or animals, just a barren grassland. In the middle there is one tree, which is flimsy, thin, and does not have many roots beneath the surface of the ground. If there is a big gust of wind, the tree will sway and bend with the wind. If there is a tornado, it may get pulled out of the ground completely. It is completely subject to whatever the external environment throws at it.
If someone has a difficult time managing or getting through emotions or difficult internal triggers, they may feel like the tree. The wind represents the emotions or thoughts that come through here and there, which has us feel unsteady or unstable.
To embody groundedness, we can picture a mountain off in the distance from this tree. It is heavy, wide, big, and seems like it has been there forever. It doesn't change, move, or pay attention to whatever wind, snow, rain, storm, or earthquake it feels. It does feel weather, it doesn't run from it, but it remains grounded, secure, and strong.
It can do this because it has a solid foundation and enough strength to know that: whatever the world throws at me, I can handle it, and I will be okay.
It is hard in the moment, but we can try to embody this mountain. We can try to reassure ourselves that difficult emotions, thoughts, or feeling will pass, will come and go occasionally, but I will remain still, grounded, and strong. I will be able to get through whatever the world throws at me, because I am not the flimsy tree.
The more we can try to do this, sometimes with more success than other times, we can come to believe that we are the mountain, and what we try to embody has become a part of us, and our identity. We become a strong person, because we embody it without even thinking. Difficulties come and go, yet we remain strong, and grounded.