grounding techniques and a 7th b-day.

I see a table.

I see a plant.

I see a pen.

I see a mirror.

I see a myself.

I think as writer I find myself watching movies and noticing things that I think normally people miss, today I want to talk about something I noticed in a show called “wayward” it’s about two best friends from different walks of life facing different various challenges of life and when various parents and neighbors become worried about their delinquent behavior the decide to send them off to “tall pines academy ” a youth mentally facility which is really a front for a cult ran by a very weird woman.  I’m not here to talk about the show itself though I want to talk about a grounding technique and what grounding techniques are used for in real life. the show is very good though I recommend it.

grounding techniques are used to deal with anxiety, stress, disassociation etc. You may have heard of them or have completed them yourself the most common ones are counting to 10, the 5 senses , and more!! they are rarely used in media but when people do use them, I think it opens the show up to more various possibilities and creates more relatable characters with personalities that seem more realistic. I think I would like to see more grounding techniques in media directed towards children though. in my opinion grounding techniques shows kids how to regulate emotions they don’t fully understand yet. I know as a kid I distinctly remember the first time I saw one I was like 11 watching steven universe and garnet had just taught steven and connie to deal with stress by bringing themselves back to earth through meditation which is another really good grounding technique. I think once find ourselves drifting or I like to say “falling into our minds” we find ourselves on a bridge and on each side of the bridge is blocked off and sometimes it seems like the only option it to fall. I think grounding techniques teach us to fly like a baby bird getting taught by our mothers grounding techniques guide us back towards the control panel aka our brains and the more we do them the more they become natural reactions for us leading to overall mindfulness and peace.

poem because I lowkey planned this like during the break:

Your 7.

The clock indicts the room at eleven.

One hour until the ceremony of age.

No witnesses.

They tell you to begin with five things you can see

as if sight has never betrayed you.

V

The door ajar

not opened, not closed

a decision deferred indefinitely.

IV

The wall’s pale aneurysms

paint blistered with secrets

it refuses to finish telling.

III

The ceiling fan’s slow verdict,

chopping the air into tolerable pieces,

each rotation decapitating the last.

II

Your reflection practices absence

in the darkened television screen

eyes learning how not to ask.

I

The clock’s second hand

stuttering like it recognizes you.

You remain contiguous to avoid rupture.

The house is not loud

it is attentive.

Every object rehearses stillness.

Every silence acquires intent.

Five things you can see.

Four walls with an avoidant geometry.

Three memories misled as dreams.

Two adults negotiating distance through doors.

One child developing an interior witness.

Time advances.

You fragment.

Ground yourself, they say.

But gravity here is nonexistent 

it pulls you inside.

It is nearly your birthday.

Something inside you has already aged out