Do you sometimes feel unsafe… even when you think you should feel fine? That everything should feel okay? Or perhaps when you hear about events in the world, you feel unsafe, unsettled, overwhelmed?
A feeling of safety is essential to our well being. When we feel safe, we feel confident to go out in the world, to explore, laugh, and go for our goals. When we don’t feel safe, it can make us feel fearful, tentative, trapped, or even like we don’t want to go out into the world.
Let’s help to create a feeling of safety within you, a resource you can access even when the world seems dangerous.
When I need to feel safe the first thing I like to do is ground myself. Here are the steps to help ground yourself:
- Sit or lie back comfortably
- Close your eyes if that is comfortable for you, if not, leave them open
- Feel whatever is supporting you, the floor, the ground, the earth, the chair, the cushion…
- Notice where your body is in contact with that support.
- As you inhale, allow yourself to feel the support holding you up
- As you exhale, allow yourself to feel like you are melting into that support
- Breathe like this for several breathes.
Now Notice… This next exercise is just 5 steps:
- notice 5 things you see (you’ll need to open your eyes for this if you closed them before)
- Then notice 4 things your feel or can touch (with your body)
- Then notice 3 things you hear
- Then notice 2 things you smell
- Then notice 1 thing you taste
Now that you are grounded, let’s build a sense of safety within:
- Bring into your consciousness a place where you feel safe, calm, at ease. This can be a place or memory from your childhood, a real place in your home, or a place that you create in your mind.
- Give yourself time to allow this place to appear in your mind’s eye
- Now, notice again..
- Notice what surrounds you in this space
- Notice what you can touch in this space
- Notice what you can hear in this space
- Notice what you smell in this space
- Notice what you taste when you are in this space
- Notice how you feel emotionally in this space.
This is your own personal safe place. You hold this space within you. You can access it anytime you need to by taking a moment, breathing, and bringing it into your consciousness.
I hope that this practice brings you a sense of safety in those moments when the world feels dangerous and overwhelming.
May you have peace within,
Julia
