Anchors To Ground Us (Part Two)
I’m continuing the theme from last week, sharing my thoughts on anchors I use to keep me grounded, especially when I feel low or stressed out. This is Part Two of my first aid kit – Part One was on 2nd February. These anchors help me stay balanced and return me to more of an even keel.
READ the BOOK “Help, Thanks, Wow – 3 essential prayers” by Anne Lamott
I recommend that you buy this compact book, if you don’t already have it. When the clouds are looming, dip into its pages for support. I carry mine around with me, when I’m feeling low.
Reading about these three simple prayers helps me get though everyday struggles and ‘the hard work of everyday life.’
The first section ‘Help’ is concerned with asking for assistance – when everything feels a bit hopeless. As Kurt Vonnegut said: ‘Welcome to the monkey house. This is a hard planet and we’re a vulnerable species. And all I can do is pray: Help.’
We are in charge of so little and can do with all the help we can muster.
The second section ‘Thanks’ is appreciating the good we experience. Or having gratitude for the ability you found in bearing the barely bearable.
The third section ‘Wow’ is about feeling awe at the world around us. Those breath-taking moments when wonder literally takes our breath away.
PRAY FOR HELP
When you’re desperate, praying is a way of asking somebody, anybody for some help. I often seek support from Beatrice (my guardian angel with ginger hair) or Tara (female Buddha) or a Higher Power, basically anyone who happens to be listening.
My plea for help goes something like this:
‘Please help. I need a hand here. I don’t know what to do. I’m scared I’m going to push a self-destruct button. Help me find a way through this darkness. Give me some kind of clue as to what I can do. I don’t know how to deal with this situation.’
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any particular faith or religion. Anne Lamott says that prayer is a communication from the heart - a cry from deep within to life or love. What’s important is not what you say but that you’re talking, praying to someone or something outside of yourself.
Pray for help even when it feels like your angel of faith (if you have one) has wandered off and deserted you.
Asking for help, in any shape or form, is not a sign of weakness but of strength.
Prayer helps change me from a place of desperation to one of hope.
READ SOME INSPIRATION CARDS OUT LOUD
Make yourself a set of inspiration cards from your favourite sayings, as messages of well-being to yourself to use when the clouds are around. Mine are on bright yellow cards. I carry them in a special pouch and read them out loud again and again, like mantras. They help shift my energy into a more positive state.
These are some examples of the sayings that help me:
· All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
· Don’t judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I’ve fallen and got back up again.
· There is always a Plan B.
· Prayer is a way of saying I’m willing to be healed.
· I make mistakes. That’s OK. I’m not perfect.
· Hope is good for the soul.
· What if this all works out well?
· There is always a new beginning and a different end.
WALK OUTSIDE
If I need to shift my energy, I take a walk outside to refresh the air in my ‘bell jar’ head. I watch the people and become aware of what is happening around me.
There is a beautiful prom walk a few minutes from where I live, down by the river with waterfalls, surrounded by mountains. I focus on the strength of the trees and the power of the flowing water. My spirits lift and I can have one of those ‘Wow’ moments. This helps me face the rest of the day with renewed energy.
I hope you’ve found some of these anchors useful. They have certainly helped me find welcome relief when struggling to keep my feet on the ground.
Part Three of ‘Anchors to Ground Us’ will appear in my next blog in a week’s time.
Author of ‘Wearing Red, One Woman’s Journey to Sanity’
Available at www.amazon.co.uk and www.browndogbooks.uk