grounding and support

[sonia]

I recently had a couple of people suggest grounding exercises in the context of offering support. I experienced that as the opposite of support. "Please ground yourself so I don't have to be around your messy emotions."

Thinking it over, I could see how getting grounded, connecting with this big planet we walk around on, could be a supportive experience. I could see how they were trying to offer tools that are generally useful.

I still think there's something one human can offer another which involves *being supportive*, listening, offering validation, allowing emotions to be big and messy, rather than suggesting tools for self-support.

What is your experience around grounding and support and how they relate to each other?

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I've never encountered "grounding exercises" before this post (even tho I've had more than 20 years of therapy). What I saw on the web was like a body scan in MBSR. Huh, sounds useful BUT telling someone to ground themselves is ten steps more pushy than telling someone to take a shower.

What I want from support is confirmation that I'm not the only person on the planet who feels this way; that even the scariest feelings will pass; that the world isn't full of people living down to my worst paranoid anxieties; and if I ask, brainstorming techniques/responses to help me manage intense misery.

[sonia]

Haven't hung around pagans, I guess! There's all sorts of "sink your roots deep in the earth" and "open your crown chakra to the sky" stuff that never worked very well for me. And most guided meditations seem to start with "allow your weight to sink into the chair" which is only recently something I can feel.

I like your definitions of support. For whatever reason, there hasn't been a whole lot of that in my life, less as I've gotten older. You folks on dreamwidth have been a great source of support though!