In those times when it feels like you’re finding it difficult to breathe, it feels like you’re losing your sense of self, you feel suffocated like the walls are closing in on you. Or maybe it’s not that deep and you’re just stressed and out of your depth and just need any means to regain your sanity and peace of mind.
I’ve felt every single one of those emotions and during those times, I just know I’ve got to plug into my centre and then I’ll feel calm. Because sometimes it feels like everything is wrong with your world and you’re losing ground on everything that matters. Like you’re losing your footing and you’re about to be swept off your feet. And not the good kind. The kind that may lead to a relapse.
I don’t know exactly when I started doing the few things I do to prevent the figurative ground from being swept under me. As far as I’ve known, it had always been little actions in my subconscious. Nothing elaborate or I consciously did.
Stilling
There are times when you need to quiet your thoughts. Quiet the voices. Cause our thoughts are the foundations for whatever actions we take. And many times, it’s our thoughts, which are spiralling to an overdrive that makes us lose that footing. So I become so still. Still my mind. Still my thoughts. Still my body even. And just try to connect to that inner calm that all the ruckus in my life pushes to the curb. That inner calm transcends just being quiet because it’s not something you can just do at the flick of a hand. You need to intentionally reach out to it. And stilling all external factors and lingering thoughts in my head makes that possible for me.
I’m not sure if it sounds weird or not but that scarcely matters because however odd it sounds, as far as it achieves that grounding I need. And calms all that chaos within, then it’s worth it to me. Because it’s one thing to know your issues and it’s another to know solutions to those issues and when you’ve found a way to safeguard your peace of mind, you’ll guard it with all diligence. At least I would because my peace of mind means that much to me.
Nature’s Elements
I think this one is pretty much the same as the first. Because in the first place, I don’t necessarily achieve that stilling, in my bedroom. I surround myself with nature. I don’t have some peaceful woods to go to. That would have been amazing, anyway. But at least I have my garden and I’ve got my porch that sometimes seems like it’s in the heart of the raging elements.
Maybe I’ve said it before but again I’ll say it’s during a storm that I feel the most calm. So no, I don’t need the place to be perfectly silent. That will be just eerie and frankly distract me since my senses are hyperactive and alert. But yeah, give me a good raging wind. The kind that precedes a downpour and that calm is achieved. Or sometimes, it doesn’t even have to be like that and a good breeze, the kind that makes the flowers dance is enough to make my centre calm and stable the rumbling grounds under me.
Knees To The Floor
I thought to myself, how can I leave this out, you know? It’s peacefully reaching out with the belief that someone hears you and understands and is there to fight for you. Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing to trust in. The chaos threatens to overwhelm you and like a lifeboat springing forth in the middle of the raging sea, you reach out and you feel safe. Like your anchor. Praying grounds me like nothing else. Praying is my safe space.
So amid the storm, the figurative ones that threaten to pull us down, and the ones we have no control over, I find my calm and I find my quiet. Then all is fine. The ground is sturdy. And the world no longer spins. Peace.
Jhymi🖤
Image is mine.
