Happy and excited to join the first ever Thoughtful Daily Post prompt, in our ThoughtfulDailyPost community. Thank you so much @wesphilbin, for providing us with these spaces, facilitated by this generous initiative. The proposal of contextualization before an uplifting or virtuous topic makes it easier for us to interact, socialize, and share our experiences, reflections, and feelings.

I especially enjoy these encounters that bring with them countless opportunities to unlearn, relearn, and learn as a group. It is satisfying and rewarding to strengthen and reinforce once again that I will never be absolutely alone. Despite the difficult and dark roads I may have to travel at some point, they will always be counterbalanced by light and flatness, thanks to loving hands and voices, tirelessly willing to give encouragement and support.

Let's go then to the Monthly Prompt

We all find our center in different ways. Tell us about a practice you have that helps you stay grounded. Bonus points for oddity!

As my years of existence go by, I get to know and recognize myself, and I nourish myself with practices that at a given moment can generate in me the necessary balance in a situation of instability. But on this occasion, I will tell you about an activity that came to me in the most accidental and unexpected way. It was really a serendipity, but it turned out to be a valuable find and I turn to it as often as I need it.

I understand that we are incomparable, exquisite, unique, and unrepeatable, and so are our responses to the events of daily life, those that make us fluctuate and oscillate, enveloping us in inconsistency, undermining and unbalancing our center. However, perhaps you can try my experience and see if it has the desired effect. That is what these meetings are all about, to share and support each other, to socialize our experiences.

Our world is becoming digitized by leaps and bounds. For many, having the latest technology is a priority, and cell phones are within everyone's reach. Despite this, for me, it is still necessary to wear a analog clock on my wrist.

I am a physician, with old-school tendencies. The one that gives value to a good conversation, as a privileged bond between patient and doctor, enhanced by trust. That magical space that allows the flow of feelings, pains, and ailments represented in information, that demands help and support. Where the notion of time is vital, although to be honest with you sometimes my connection with time has been ambiguous, vague, and enigmatic, transiting in emotional ambivalence, where from love to hate we have been a step away.

I tell you that one night in a hospital in my country Venezuela, eighteen hours of continuous work, without the necessary rest, were taking their toll on my body, undermining my balance. I was exhausted and tired, I needed to come back to myself, to feel peace for a few minutes, to reconquer my center.

I asked a colleague for support and retreated to a desk that was a bit distant. The first thing I wanted to do was to place my bare feet on the floor, but it was not the place for it. All that surrounded me were walls, with no contact with the outside. I took a chair, crossed my arms, laid my head on them, closed my eyes, and let myself be carried away by the moment.

The protagonist's unison sound in that space was the cadenced rhythm of the second hand. The sweet and pleasant euphony flowed in its synchrony and concordance, a real treat to my ears, soft as a caress, but at the same time constant, compassionate, and regular. The minutes passed and I began to experience a sense of calm and serenity, energizing my senses. I remained like this for about half an hour. I felt recovered and returned to my activities.

So it happened for the first time, and so was the unexpected finding. Since then I have done this practice several times and have achieved the desired effect of relief and balance, with the rhythmicity of the second hand.

Tell me what you think about this strategy, have you ever done it, and does it help you find your balance? It would be great to know your opinion about it.