Are You Grounded?

An entire day, week, vacation or project can be thrown off balance from lack of grounding.  The term grounding refers to connection of your energy to a solid foundation on the earth.  When we are grounded we feel at ease in our physical body and stable for whatever presents itself along our path.  There is strength in the center of gravity this connection provides, like the roots of a tree anchor it while the trunk and branches sway in the wind.  To trust our intuition requires accessing it from a grounded place.  If we act on intuition when we are not centered in this way the information is likely to be incomplete or distorted by the influence of outside energy.

Grounding is a simple principle to apply to our energetic body.  It is an essential function our mothers provide in our infancy and childhood until we are ready to individuate and manage our own safety and survival needs (first chakra). When we are ungrounded it increases our odds of allowing outside elements to steer our life in directions that are not for our highest good.  We can get sucked into someone else’s emotional experience and take on their battles or wounds, neglecting our own.  Sometimes the concept of 100% ownership of our personal grounding space triggers guilt in care takers.  We have is a sense of responsibility to be the foundation for others who need stability.  When we do so it allows outside energy to enter our space and we lose some of our capacity to maintain our own footing.  Alternately if we are feeling ungrounded we may seek grounding through another whose energy feels steady. 

Here are some signs that let me know when I’m ungrounded or I’m giving some of my grounding space to another person, I feel: distracted, unclear, busy, tired or off-center.  When I’m grounded I feel clarity, a greater sense of trust and inner peace about my ability to handle whatever may come my way.

Visualization to activate your grounding:

Close your eyes and imagine a tree trunk firmly connected to the base of your spine running down into the earth through all of its layers and rooted into a beautiful meadow at the center of the planet.  With your mind’s eye write your name on the trunk.  Bring this connection into present time by adding today’s date.  Breathe into awareness of your alignment with the earth’s solid yet fluid support system.