Today’s big idea is that, well, let’s just go ahead and admit it, transitions can be hard. If you’re a parent, you know that tantrums are most likely to happen when something is coming to a close. Whether that’s a play date, or chill morning time, so that something new can begin, like a nap, or getting ready for daycare or preschool. The principle of inertia, that a body at rest will tend to stay at rest, and a body in motion will tend to stay in motion, applies to our inner experience, too–if we’re in a slow chill mode, we want tend to want to stay there, and if we’re in a go go go mode, it can be hard to shift into chill mode.
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The end of summer/start of fall is generally a mash up of a slower, less scheduled vibe, and a busier, more scheduled time. This period of transitions can be a bit of a jolt to the system.
Beyond that, being between two realities means you don’t really have a firm foothold in either one. This applies to all transitions, not just this particular ‘back to school’ moment. Anthropologists calls these not-here-but-not-yet-there moments liminal. I’ve also heard it described as between the trapezes–you’re swinging on one trapeze, and you can see the other swinging toward you. Maybe you’ve even taken one hand off the old trapeze, but you don’t yet have your full body weight transferred to the new trapeze yet. You’re not in free fall, but you’re sure as heck not comfortable, either.
Here at the end of August, that’s where we are!
And really, that’s the whole gist of what I want to share today–to remind anyone who may be feeling a little or a lot out of sorts right now that it’s so natural, and a perfectly common sense response to a weird moment in time. Having awareness of what’s going on with you and why you might be feeling how you’re feeling not only helps you understand yourself more, but it also helps point the way toward what you need in this particular moment.
To help you feel steadier during this period of transitions, it really helps to do things that ground you.
After all, the earth is always there to support us, but most of us don’t think about that fact. And we don’t tend to spend a lot of time in direct contact with the ground, as we’re either in a chair, a car, a couch or a bed.
Daily Tiny Assignment
So your tiny assignment today is to do something that is specifically designed to make you remember that there is something in this world that is always, always there to hold you up and steady you and provide you with a sense of safety and to do something that puts you in touch, literally, with the earth.
I’ve got two options for you:
This first is probably the most fun. Kick off your shoes and go put them outside on the ground somewhere. You can walk barefoot, or sit in a chair with your bare feet resting on the ground, or lie down in the grass with your knees bent and soles of your bare feet on the ground.
The second is to lie on the floor of your home somewhere. You might have to push some furniture out of the way to do it, as a lot of us don’t tend to have a lot of floorspace so we have plenty of room for all the furniture that keeps us hovering above the ground! Lie on your back, lie on your stomach, sit cross-legged, whatever feels good to you, and just let yourself feel the floor holding you up.
That’s it for today, come back tomorrow when I’m interviewing my nutritionist bestie, Mary Sheila, for her self-care tips on adapting to the new season.
