The Gift of Staying Grounded

By Sanyu Estelle

If ignorance is “bliss,” where does that relegate clarity in such a framework? 

In our modern capitalist culture, us being confused and ungrounded is lucrative. If you don’t know what is going on, what “is wrong” with “you” and what to do with or for yourself about it; you may very well try anything. And a willingness to do “something” is not inherently an incorrect response. If anything, it is instinctive to take care of ourselves in the ways we know-how. 

Yet, the hows are strongly influenced by the heteronormative culture and that is not necessarily good for anyone in the longterm. One must look to the mainstream culture and see what is happening because of it. This includes what it is made of and how it got us to where we are now to determine the quality of said influence. 

If you live on the globe right now, you probably live somewhere reckoning with something from its past. You may be that somewhere, in fact. There’s nothing amiss about that. Right now, one of the most important ways to ground ourselves is to appreciate what is actually happening in our spheres of socialization. 

To guide us all through the many goings-on that is happening this next moon cycle, I pulled a few cards from the Deck of Character by Hannah Wnorowski. This spread will allow us to see how we can ground ourselves in these uncertain times.

GLASSES

Take stock of what is coming up for review. This isn’t always something we want to address. But, when it is something that is necessary to address the concern, will make itself repetitious. Magnification is a form of energetic communication. It’s not random, but that doesn’t mean it will be obvious. The review requires reassessment. Not from a place of arrogance, but from a place of genuine curiosity. If something occurs for you, it’s not because Existence has the wrong person.

PUNCH

There’s no taking a hit without purpose, so there should be no throwing punches without them. It can be easy to become combative in these times. Which causes resentful of the experiences that have been long overdue or needed. It can feel like a punch in the gut to realize you and I are of a generation of people who really have to deal with things. However, there are many means with which to cope with being winded. You simply have to choose your methods and then put them into practice. 

GIFT

There are a lot of good ways to ground. Depending on the person it can be taking a walk near the water or on the mountain. Maybe meditation in a relaxing inside space, or catching up with loved ones, or cooking a good meal, etc. Needing the gift of grounding isn’t always born out of choice. Sometimes it is due to necessity. If that is the case, don’t neglect any self-care practices that you trust to ground you at this time. That can be something as literal as taking the Grounded by TONIC (wink wink!), working with the soil, to writing out your thoughts to laying down and taking a nap.

WIZARD

We often want some magical situation to come and fix our circumstances. When we wait around for “saviors” to do something that we can very well prove ourselves capable of doing, we expose ourselves to anyone who believes themself responsible for our wants. At first, this can seem like the ultimate gift. The fabled “genie in a bottle” experience. Yet we all know from movies that such magic comes with contingencies and often the suffering of others who we do not or choose not to see. It is essential that we pay attention to what goes on behind the curtain.

SWAMP

The circumstances are never going to be completely ideal for any particular person. For the one second that all is right, all we need is another or the next second to turn what was right on its head. Time is the greatest regulator of all and, while we wait on it, experience our most immediate teacher. The swamp’s medicine is thoughtfulness and patience. One must know whether they are the type that can even survive the swamp. Once that has been decided, one must then decide how that experience will actually be survived. 

If the Swamp were a level in a video game, it would be home to a BOSS. It’s not a place for amateurs to get lost. That being acknowledged, we are each the bosses of our personalized experiences. If we feel bogged down by such experiences, we are also the major player responsible for presiding over the righting of them. 

The tricky nature of “privilege” is that it convinces people that something unnatural. This can be unsustainable. Thus inherently, specifically and exclusively “theirs” to experience. Yet if that were true for everybody (because any of us can feel this way), it would require a lot more consideration and regard in terms of engagement than most people are willing to give. 

So the person with privilege takes offense at the fact that the swamp exists rather than just accepting that it is where they are at the moment and so those are just the circumstances to deal with. From this state of being, they can contribute little that isn’t an inconvenience to all those who are not denying the situation as it is. 

The balm and the injury here is that you can be both the put upon and the privilege seeker when it comes to how you allow yourself to grow, develop, and move on in your own life. If you want to ground yourself, above all you must accept your own experiences and where you’ve come from. If you are unwilling to settle in the recognition of what has actually taken place for you and in the places you have been, you are very unlikely to exercise that muscle for ongoing character development.

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