Finding an Anchor

When life is crazy, I either get swept up in it or I find a way to ground myself. Whether the chaos is in my house (right now we're a couple of months into replacing floors and nothing is going as smoothly as we expected!), with my kids (who are in the midst of transition), in the world (right?!?), with friends or extended family, or even the weather (writing this in front of a fan), it helps to recognize the chaos and recognize that I'm not the chaos.

To do this, I turn toward my mindfulness practice, spending extra time practicing and bringing some structure into the practice. My practice usually feels less pleasant during rough times, but I remind myself that it helps even when I feel like I spend the entire practice watching busy thoughts.

If you, like me, need some support to stay centered, consider your anchor. In meditation or any part of life, bring attention to that anchor to keep yourself centered rather than caught by external events.
Consider five minutes right now:

• anchoring in your breath, feeling the sensation right at the tip of your nose or in your belly,
• anchoring in the present moment, coming back again and again to direct experience, or
• anchoring in awareness, watching whatever arises and noticing that you are the watcher rather than the thing you're watching (observe emotions, physical sensations, thoughts, outer conditions . . ).

​Wishing you peace inside and out!

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