How to stay grounded when you're completely overwhelmed (spiritual perspective)

Q: How do I stay grounded when I'm physically and emotionally overwhelmed?

A: Whew. Isn’t that the question of the hour? Or the era?

You don’t need to get away from the overwhelm—you need to ground into it. You need to get close to it.

True grounding doesn’t come from escaping what you feel. It comes from getting closer to it.

So start with the simplest, most powerful move you can make:

Literally just name what’s happening. Out loud if you can.

“Wow, I am really overwhelmed right now.”

“My nervous system feels completely fried.”

“Everything feels like too much.”

Just naming the truth of your experience is already a way of coming home to yourself. It’s the part of you that says, “Ok, I’m here. This is what's happening. I see what’s happening.”

That actually IS grounding. Because you're not trying to escape what's going on. And weirdly enough, it'll help you to shift you state way faster than avoiding it.

If you're in the habit of escaping the overwhelm when it comes up (like, uh...... most of us) you can start by experimenting with spending just five minutes being with it.

When you get close to what’s true, you will feel more grounded. It’s actually the resistance that makes you feel ungrounded.

Once you’ve gotten close to what’s happening and you’re not trying to get away from it, then you can do some self-soothing (nervous system work, melatonin bath, postural yoga, etc.)

But most people go straight to self-soothing without even knowing what they’re soothing. You need to be with the feeling first. Otherwise it's like taking a random medication for an undiagnosed disease.

If you want to deepen this, become a scientist of your current experience. Get curious:

“Okay, what does this overwhelm actually feel like?”

“Is there tightness somewhere? Heat? A buzzing sensation?”

“What’s happening in my chest, my jaw, my thoughts?”

When you get close to your experience—not to fix it, but just to be with it—you’re already calming your system. You’re saying, “I won’t abandon you here.” That’s what the body wants more than anything.

And once you’ve been with it, then you can layer in something that soothes.

Here’s a phrase I like to use when I need compassion for what’s coming up:

“Given everything I’ve ever experienced in my life up until this moment, how else would I be feeling right now?”

Because really—how else could you be feeling? You’re not broken for being overwhelmed. You’re responding, exactly as you would, to a whole history of experiences, memories, pressures, inputs.

You’re not doing it wrong. You’re human!

You literally can’t feel any different than you do right now. So stop pretending that you can. Recognizing that = freedom.

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