Last weekend I spent hours cutting up tiny, beautiful, red crabapples from the farmer’s market and hot peppers from my garden so that I could make crabapple-hot pepper jelly. As I’m new to canning, it took several attempts to get all of the jars to seal (thanks Elizabeth Peirce of the book You Can Too! for pointing me in the right direction). The end product was 7 beautiful jars of jelly.
A whole weekend for 7 jars. And I couldn’t be happier. So what was that about? This fall we continue to remain close to home. Not by choice but by the pandemic that is continuing around the world. There is huge social unrest and much-needed shifts happening in diversity and inclusion. It can feel out of control and unstable.
I recognize that my desire to work with my hands, to create something of beauty was very grounding. So that is Tip 1 for grounding – do something (gardening, handwork, bake bread) with your hands.
Tip 2 – eat fall season grounding foods such as root vegetables, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, whole grains, apples and pears.
Tip 3 – look for moments of joy around you. Look for colours or objects or anything you can see that gives you pleasure. Then try to notice how it makes you feel and where you feel it in your body. My experience is, the more I look for moments of joy, the more of them I see. Looking for moments of joy helps us to be in the present moment.
Tip 4 – limit news and how much time you spend talking about the negative aspects of our current world. I’m a big believer in what we focus on is what we attract.
Tip 5 – It was no surprise to me that I chose to make a deep red crabapple jelly. Red is the colour of the Root Chakra. It is the colour I turn to when I feel the need for grounding. I wear my red shoes and scarf, put out red towels for company and work with the colour red.
Dancing in the Wind is a rug about remaining rooted while moving and swaying with life. We are all in the process of adapting to our changing reality. I’ve been working on pivoting my business to have a much wider impact, while remaining true to myself and my values to inspire creativity in others so they can find their passions in life and work.
I’m working on embracing the strong, wild energy of our current world without getting knocked over or carried away. I want to operate from a position of strength.
The final tip (Tip 6) that helps to keep me grounded is my journal. I write about how I want to feel, what strengths do I bring to this current situation, and what do I need right now?
Writing prompt:
How do you want to feel? (i.e. Calm, Centred, Strong) Write and sketch about this feeling. What does it look like? Where do you feel it in your body?
How I can help
Reach out to me to work with your team to relieve stress, help them to feel more connected to work and each other and to identify and design a vision for your workplace going forward. All of my services can be delivered virtually.
For more writing prompts, see my One Loop at a Time, The Creativity Workbook.
