Listen while you workout, cook, or commute.
I’ve spent 35 years pretending I’ve got it all together and desperately avoiding the fact that there will always be things I just don’t know.
Uncertainty and I haven’t gotten along very well.
When Everything Feels Like Chaos
Many aspects of my life are going at a rapid and exhilarating pace. I’m truly inspired at the insights I’m beginning to glean from every direction, even amidst the ego-wounds of my own embarrassment.
My romantic life right now is a cluster. I’m in an entrepreneurial reset mode. I’m uncovering a million and two white lies and blatant untruths that I’ve been spreading around the globe for several decades. My next steps aren’t always clear.
But…
Grounding Techniques for Stress and Anxiety
Hitting up storybook paths through the trees with an elevated heart rate and a good micro-dose of nature always puts me in a greater place of clarity than when I walked into the forest.
Our bodies are electric and there’s something grounding and healing about the way nature can smooth out those frantic frequencies.
It doesn’t take long. Just a short detour is enough to trigger a whole new perspective. These are my favorite grounding techniques for stress and anxiety, and they don’t require anything more than a nearby patch of trees.
I forget to do this often and I’m looking to make the time more and more.
New Awareness Brings Old Stuff Up
With each new level of awareness comes a welling over of newly recognized sins from the past. We don’t even know they’re there and then new eyes tell us we’ve been naked all along.
If I’ve failed you in some domain of life, please know I’m doing my best to get back above water.
I’ve been the absolute worst at receiving other people’s love and generosity. That kind of vulnerability is terrifying to me.
What the Trees Teach
Nature is giving me perspective. I’m putting in the work and listening as best I can to those tiny whispers in the wind and the fluttering which arises from deep within my heart.
These wooden giants are a micro-dose of something beyond myself. Wise wizards in green hats reaching for the sun.
They say: “Don’t judge us until we’re finished.”
The Practice
When everything feels uncertain, step outside. Find trees. Walk among them.
You don’t need an hour. You don’t need a destination. Just a few minutes of presence with something older and calmer than your anxious thoughts.
Let the ground receive your weight. Let the air fill your lungs. Let the trees remind you that growth takes time and the best things happen slowly.
This is shadow work in action.
If you’re ready to process what’s been running your life, explore the Shadow Work practices.