The Therapy Edit - On a simple, quick and grounding tool

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

In this solo episode of The Therapy Edit, Anna shares one simple, quick and grounding tool to help you feel better. Sometimes we don't recommend the simple or the quick, but this tip always helps, no matter what. So don't let it pass you by! We hope it's a help.

Hello and welcome to the Therapy Edit podcast with me, psychotherapist Anna Martha. I'll be bringing you weekly 10 minute episodes to encourage and support your emotional well-being. Hi everyone. I hope you're well. Whatever you're up to in this moment, whether you're in the car or you're just doing jobs around the house or you've got a headphone in one ear as you're just dashing around after kids or doing a buggy walk whatever it is i hope that you are okay and i hope the words in these podcasts feel really supportive and grounding for you you know i often get told that my voice is really calming and this always makes me laugh because i always say i'm pretty sure my husband

and my kids would not agree but it makes me so happy to know that you find these little episodes soothing i think we all need a lot more of that don't we But do be, you know, do be aware that I also have very angry voice, irritated voice, hormonal voice, hurried voice, all of the other voices. I don't always sound like this. It would be nice to always be this calm and thoughtful and contemplative. But today I'm sharing with you a really simple, quick. We love the simple and the quick, don't we? In our fast-paced world, we often seek the simple and the quick. And sometimes that doesn't really serve as well because sometimes the simple and the quick aren't that nourishing. Not that nourishing. The simple and the quick snacks that we grab,

I'm a big one for a handful of chocolate out of the fridge door on the way somewhere, but then I get the sugar crash. So it's simple and it's quick, but actually is it serving my body? Is it serving later me that is scrambling around for another hip because my sugar, my blood sugar's crash?

So yeah, sometimes the simple and the quick are not always the best, but I have a simple and a quick grounding tool for you. This is one that has been really helpful for me. And often I forget to do it. I forget to do it. But I'm trying to be a little bit more mindful of doing this. Oh my gosh, because it's so good. So this simple quick grounding tool is to look up.

Just look up at the sky. There are many reasons for this. I actually found an article and it was called Skycology because it was all about the benefits of looking up at the sky. And often we forget, don't we? We forget that there is this whole vast, expansive place above us that stretches out into, well, we don't even know, infinity. It is broad and it is big and it goes on and on and on.

And I think sometimes we forget to look up. We get so caught up in the detail of life, of course we do. And our focus needs to be there a lot of the time. We need to be focusing on what's next. Often we're worrying. We're worrying and thinking because worrying motivates us to act, doesn't it? Especially when it doesn't turn into anxiety and we end up in that spiral. But our focus is so often on what is directly in front of us,

maybe even down as to what is in our hands. We are zooming in. We are often zooming in on things worried about things that we need to do, the to-do list, the hurriedness of life. And my encouragement to you is to look up. Maybe it's dark. Look up at the stars. Look up at the sky.

See the vast expanse above you. Now this increases calm. It gets you out in the fresh air, practically, physically. The colour blue in nature is known to lower stress levels. Looking up at the sky promotes mindfulness and you know what? It brings perspective. Now perspective is when we just have a broader understanding. Perspective is when we widen our mind to just that, the detail of day-to-day life.

It's when we're choosing to add in an awareness of a big, a picture and I think this is what I find so wonderful about looking at the sky is not only does it promote that feeling of awe and wonder that oh my gosh wow is you see the clouds move and you think how much of life we do not fully understand how much of life we have so little control over we cannot control the weather we cannot control the formation of the stars we try so much to control the minutiae of our lives. And so yeah, just looking up promotes this feeling of awe and wonder the perspective of the bigger picture, the vast expanse of life and how we are just a moment within it.

And I know that this can also sometimes promote this feeling of, oh my gosh, I'm so small. And that can feel really uncomfortable. It can really challenge that feeling of in our lives we feel so big and everything feels so important and the detail just feels so important. It can really challenge that and it can feel really uncomfortable. But what it does is brings perspective. A study in 2015 published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that exposure to more expansive spaces like the sky can lead to a greater sense of well-being and a reduced sense of confinement. So I think sometimes we can feel a little bit just trapped, can't we, in the day-to-day, the mundaneness of life or the

difficulty of what's going on in front of us. So looking at those more expansive spaces can lead to a greater sense of well-being and a reduced sense of that confinement. Another study in 2019 said that looking up at the sky has a restorative effect on mental health. So sometimes We need to push past that feeling of, I'm so small. Oh my gosh. This is such a finite thing, my life. I mean, we're really getting philosophical here. But actually, do you know what? When we realize how small we are and how in the vast expanse of life itself, we are a moment, it has two effects for me as well as feeling quite uncomfortable at points because I know quite how big my life feels. feels how important these things can feel. It's number one. It throws the mundane bits into perspective. You know, if we think about how fast our lives have gone by as it stands, my mom said to me the other day, I cannot believe. I have grandchildren. I cannot believe. I'm in my 60s. I cannot believe it. Where has it gone? Sometimes this can feel like a real mournful thought of life is just passing so fast. But actually,

If we allow it to, it can really motivate us to make it count or to absorb the goodness within it or to make really intentional decisions that just enable us to maybe address some habits that are sapping us of energy or resource, maybe to address some relationships that are actually just really unhealthy and unhelpful. So looking at the bigger picture can encourage us that we have a finite time on this earth. Why not live it to the fullest as and where and when we can? So it does these two things for me. It throws perspective on the detail and the little things I can get so caught up in and focused on.

And it just gives me a bigger perspective. But also it encourages me to make some more intentional decisions about and around my life, my behaviour, my thoughts, my family, my priorities. because if we're getting caught up in the detail, if we're getting caught up in the detail off, and that is how we live our lives, how we live our hours, how we live our days, is how we live our lives unless we choose to change these things. So look up, look up into the sky,

notice the ever-changing clouds or the stars, allow them to make you feel small, allow them to give you that perspective. that there is an infinite expanse out there and we are finite. So what might that encourage you to do off the back of that awareness? I heard a little quote years and years ago and it was saying, you know, so often we get caught up in the thick of thin things. We get caught up in the thick of the small things. And I think looking up, getting that broader a perspective just can pull us out of that little spiral, that little just, yeah, just getting

caught up in the thick of those meaningless things. When actually if we really think about it, that's not what we want for our lives or they're not really aligned with our values. So whether we're outside right now as you listen, just take a moment to stand still, to pause, to look up and bring some perspective down to sit alongside all that you are doing. ignore that you were thinking about to bring some balance to it. Yeah, I'm going to go and do the same. I'm going to go out for a walk after this.

I'm just going to spend a moment, probably in the middle of the field, just looking, just looking up. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Therapy Edit. If you have enjoyed it, don't forget to subscribe and review for me. Also, if you need any resources at all, I have lots of videos and courses on everything from health anxiety to driving anxiety. and people pleasing nail all on my website, Anna Martha.com. And also, don't forget my brand new book, Raising a Happier Mother is out now for you to enjoy and benefit from. It's all about how to find balance, feel good, and see your children flourish as a result.

Speak to you soon.