It’s always national something month or national something day. Going to nationaltoday.com can be such a hoot and might give us an excuse for an indulgence.

For instance, with next Tuesday’s posting deadline looming, and editor, Sheree, is starting to panic because this is Thursday, I have discovered that today is National May Ray Day. Who knew we would recognize the rays of sunshine lighting our lives with hopes of spring and an eye toward the summer?

Ahhh.

Or, that it’s the National Devil’s Food Cake Day as well? Many of us could really get behind that one.

Tomorrow is something I may have to honor: National Quiche Lorraine Day. Yes!

Today is also National Barber Mental Health Awareness Day – which is also recognizing that May is National Mental Health Awareness Month.

Talk about a hot topic in today’s world.

Clearly better mental health is something we should all be striving for in our lives. Any reminders and skills we can get to boost our personal approach to balancing, centering, or being grounded should be appreciated.

Case in point. Last night, I went to a presentation titled, Mental Health and Well Being, led by Sarah A. Patterson, D.Min., LCSW, from WakeMed. She pointed out that life changes – births, deaths, marriage, divorce, new job, moving, etc. – create emotional responses that are colored by our respective past experiences.

The research into resilience building I am doing for my next book in the Toolkit for Caregivers series, has taught me that emotions are just thoughts, and that we can learn to guide/direct/control our thoughts. If our emotional responses in the past have only created more anxiety for us, then it is possible to retrain ourselves to achieve better outcomes.

One difficulty we often face is our inability to calm down in stressful situations that are eliciting all kinds of anxiety. At foodtalk4you, we have explored techniques in box breathing, gratitude and blessings jars, forest bathing, naming our emotions, exercise, and journaling to help de-stress.

That tried-and-true method of slowly breathing and counting to ten may help somewhat if we are short on time, but I learned from Sarah last night that researchers have found it takes a full two minutes – or more – to really calm down and regulate our responses.

What to do in those magic 2 minutes?

Sarah showed us two new things I want to pass on to you: Guided Grounding and The Pretzel Move.

Guided Grounding is as easy as a 5-4-3-2-1 in focusing on each of our senses:

Find a quiet spot to leisurely survey what you are sensing as follows:

5 things you are seeing right now – colors, objects, textures, smiles, sunshine

4 things you are physically feeling/sensing – feet feeling the ground, pressure of chair on your back, the warmth or coolness of the environment, hair falling on your face

3 things you are hearing – voices, birds chirping, your breathing

2 things you are smelling – coffee brewing, fresh air

1 thing you are tasting – the lingering taste of your toothpaste

This survey of your senses helps to focus thinking and concentration on something other than the object of your anxiety triggers.

The Pretzel Move we did was a stationary hold of position; an active version for children can be found at healthymindstherapy.blog, “Pretzel Breathing Technique for Children,” which is complete with a child-led video. Here’s how we did The Pretzel last night:

Find a quiet spot to do the following – otherwise, you’ll have to explain why you look so funny

Sit with your ankles crossed

Hold your arms out straight in front of you, palms facing together

Turn your palms with thumbs down

Cross your dominant hand/arm over your nondominant hand/arm

Join your palms and lace your fingers

Bring your joined palms down and in toward your chest and up toward your chin

Hold for two minutes while you box breathe (count of 4 in, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4, repeat)

If you are unable to bring your crossed arms/palms into your chest and up, just keep your crossed arms extended in front of you.

You can see that both techniques are basically ruses to get your mind to concentrate on something other than its source of anxiety – but these simple methods are effective in bringing us back to center to be “grounded.”

Sarah reported that she’s seen this Pretzel technique stop an anxiety attack quickly.

If the source of your anxiety or your response to it is too overwhelming, there is still help for you. Sarah shared with us that psychologytoday.com can be used to find resources in your own community based upon the specific needs you may have such as symptoms, diagnosis, availability of health insurance or not, transportation, and more. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

Being healthy physically, spiritually, and mentally does not mean we accomplish it alone. On the contrary – when we break a bone, we don’t think twice about getting medical help – when our minds are challenged beyond our capabilities to treat, we should think nothing about seeking outside help.

We continue to gather tools to help ourselves as in these grounding techniques shared here but being proactive about our mental health also includes seeking help from others.

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In health-

Deidre

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