Breathe in…now breathe out.
What a whirlwind life has been taking me on lately, and even though there have been plenty of moments when I just want to say “fuck it”, drop everything and run for the hills, I don’t. I am very grateful and appreciative for the life I live and everything that encompasses it, but I won’t sit here and pretend that my life doesn’t get overwhelming at times.
Which I know is also the case for nearly every other person on the face of this Earth! Life can be hard, unexpecting, uncontrollable, and overwhelming. However, in spite of these hardships, we continue to honor the blessing we have been given and take life one day at a time. It’s a constant reminder for me to be grateful for the cards that I have been dealt because they could be a lot worse.
This post isn’t going to be about appreciating the life we have. We are all well-minded enough to know that each day we are given is a blessing. Instead, I want to share with you a grounding mindfulness technique that helps me get through the hardest of days and moments in my life. Like the past couple of months that I’ve been experiencing, which have been both, physically and occasionally mentally exhausting.
I work a very demanding job, and I love my job, but it is nothing short of working round the clock in order to best serve our community. Compared to my nurses I guess you can say I’ve got it easy, but I’m also aware that I carry a lot more of the weight of what this field of work requires than my nurses do. So maybe the work I do is not that easy, more on the demanding side, but not as time consuming as I know it could be if I were a nurse? I don’t know, but what I do know is that the job can be very taxing on the mind and body.
With hospice season coming up my workload will be picking up a lot more. Which I’m absolutely not complaining about because I love the fact that we service and support families through one of the hardest and most difficult times in anybody’s life, but dammit I’m going to need to be on my A-game if I personally want to make it out alive!
In preparation for the soon to be overwhelming workload, I’ve done something that I have NEVER done before at any job that I have ever worked. I took time off. What my company calls PDO. Which means paid days off. Where I don’t have to show up for work a specific number of days and hours in order to make some money. What!?! NEVER before I have ever done this and I’ll be honest, it’s been refreshing and weird all at the same time (but I highly and strongly recommend it!). However, I’m glad I took time off because my mind and body really needed this break in order to properly reset and prepare for the heavy workload we are about to take on.
During my time off I have been able to reconnect with myself and put into practice a mindfulness technique that I use to do daily but stopped doing due to the lack of mental clarity I was experiencing on a day-to-day basis once work got extremely busy. This grounding mindfulness technique is known as the 5-4-3-2-1 of mindfulness and it requires you to engage all 5 of your senses as you identify present moment experiences. I absolutely love it!
Grounding Mindfulness Technique
5 for Sight
First up we have our sense of sight. All too often I do believe we take advantage of this ability that most of us have been blessed enough to have. I believe that there is so much beauty and wonder that surrounds us and we don’t take the time to really appreciate everything we see. Ironically, that’s the beauty of the first step in this mindfulness technique.
Step one is to identify 5 things in your environment that you can see. Literally anything that you are able to move your eyes over and can put a name to it.
For example, as I sit here and write this post the 5 things that I can name in my environment consist of a suitcase, a book, a TV, a vacuum, and a cup. My suitcase because I just recently emptied it and have yet to put it away. A book that I am currently reading but have taken a break from as I write this post. A vacuum and TV because I’m sitting in my living room as I write this post. Finally, a cup because well I like to stay hydrated so it’s always on hand for me.
It’s that simple and easy, literally a caveman could do it. Yes, work can be stressful and extremely overwhelming but looking at these items reminds me that I wouldn’t have them if I didn’t’ work as hard as I do. What I like about this part of the technique is that it allows me to slow down and take in the little things that I am blessed enough to be able to have because of how hard I work. That way I’m not so hyper-focused on how stressed out I may be because of factors that come into play that are simply out of my control.
Life is all about perspective, and if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change. Food for thought.
4 for Touch
Step two is to identify 4 things in your environment that you can feel. What skin to object connections are you able to make (weird wording but it’s the best I’ve got)?
For example, my 4 things would be a blanket, the couch, my dog, and my keyboard. I’m literally wrapped up in a blanket because my home stays cold thanks the air conditioning that I constantly keep on because I’m always hot. One of my dogs is also snuggled up against me on the couch that we both are sitting on as I write this post. Then of course, the keyboard because how else would I be writing this?
Being able to acknowledge things within your environment that you are able to make physical contact with is a great reminder of how important it is to live in the present moment. All too often my stress and anxiety will propel me years into the future until I’m literally spiraling out of control mentally. Taking the time to notice things that I am able to make contact with now helps to keep me in the present tense. This helps to put any stress and anxiety I’m experiencing at bay for a little longer all as a means to help keep my sanity.
3 for Sound
Step three is to identify 3 things in your environment that you can hear. This step for me is often approached from a survival standpoint. I do believe it is important to engage your sense of hearing at all times, especially in new and unfamiliar environments. Our sense of hearing can provide a lot of unspoken and even unnoticed (visually) context to our environment.
For example, even though I am safe and sound in my home I am still able to notice 3 different types of sounds. I can hear the TV that is currently playing an episode of You (yes, I’m late to the party). I can hear the light humming from my air vent letting me know that the AC is indeed on and working. I can also hear the birds outside my patio window chit chatting with one another.
I am safe and sound but these three distinct sounds help to reassure me of the fact that I am also comfortable in my environment which is familiar to me. This is also reassurance that I am blessed enough to be writing in an entertainment of my choice, and there is still life among me even as I am shacked up in my comfy apartment.
2 for Smell
The fourth step is to identify 2 things in your environment that you can smell. This can either be good or bad, fun or not so fun, depending on how strong your sense of smell is. Often times for me I’ve found that when I’m outside doing this technique it’s not so enjoyable, but at least I know my nose is working! So, since I’m currently in my home writing this it should be a little bit more pleasant.
Things I can smell are my dogs because they are overdue for a bath (happening once I finish this post), and a bag of sour cream and onions chips that I am snacking on as well. Two very different smells that are reminding me of two very different important tasks to take care of once I’m done. First, lunch and then bathing for the babies. Also, I’d like to not that I got the best of both worlds, one scent that is pleasant and one that is not so pleasant to smell.
1 for Taste
Our last and final step is identifying 1 thing in your environment that you can taste. I think this is the hardest one, which is why I’m glad it’s only 1 and not 4, but none the less it’s an important step.
There are so many signs and signals our bodies will give us that we tend to ignore. Often times we have specific tastes that tell us about our dental hygiene, our current diet, daily habits that are of importance, like drinking plenty of water throughout the day, and consuming foods that are safe for the body. Now by no means does engaging in this step have to be about your health or a hyper-focus on foods you are consuming. Just simply take a moment to be mindful of what you are tasting, or can taste.
For example, of course what I currently taste in my mouth is the leftover crumbs from my sour cream and onions chips that I’m snacking on. I can also taste a bit of dryness in my mouth because of the chips and my need to balance it out with drinking my water.
One moment as I take a drink.
Even though this step can be tricky I don’t want you to think too hard about it. If you can’t directly identify a specific taste in your mouth, simply name something in your environment that is consumable in which you can then identify a taste for.
Conclusion
All in all, engaging our 5 senses in this mindfulness practice is a great way to just slow down mentally, reset emotionally, and provide ourselves with mental clarity about what is presently happening. Trust me, I know all about getting caught up in stressful moments and allowing those strong negative feelings to guide you throughout your day. The reality is yes, we are just acting authentically how our emotions are showing up for us, but it’s not really getting us anywhere positive.
There are no moments for breather. No moments of taking a step back and analyzing the situation at hand. No time to stop and think before we put action behind our impulsive thoughts and behaviors. Instead, we’re hyper-focused on all the negative and uncontrollable factors existing in the now that we can’t take time to appreciate all the positive and controllable factors in the present moment.
Of course, like all things discussed on this platform this is a practice makes perfect type of technique. Doing it one time is not going to produce significant results, but it will provide you with instant gratification. You will also come to quickly learn that in order to truly reap the benefits of this technique, like with most things in life, you will have to make a habit out of doing it over and over again.
Repetition is your friend. I would argue it is your best friend. Tedious? Yes, it can be. Worth it in the long run? Absolutely.
Give this grounding mindfulness technique a try. You by no means have to be experiencing stress or anxiety of any kind to do this, but if you do find that you are, then definitely put this practice into play.
Give it a try, stressed or not, and be sure to share your experience with me! Until next time loves.
Love and Light,
Kimora