A Small Pause in a Noisy Season (Festive Grounding Meditation)

The world can feel loud this time of year.

Lists grow longer.Conversations arrive unfinished.Work carries questions with no simple answers.And beneath the sparkle of the festive season, many bodies hold quiet tension — bracing, rushing, waiting for a moment to exhale.

This is your permission to pause.

You don’t need a retreat, silence, or an empty room to begin.You only need sixty gentle seconds.

A Small Grounding Practice

Wherever you are right now — sitting at your desk, standing in a kitchen, wrapped in a bus or train seat — let this be your moment.

Place both feet on the ground.

Let your shoulders soften.Not drop — just soften.

Feel the weight of your body being held by the chair or the floor.Notice where contact exists — feet, back, hips, hands.

Then:

Name quietly to yourself:

• Three things you can see• Two things you can hear• One thing you can feel inside your body

There’s no need to change anything you notice.Just register it.

Now place one hand on your chest and one on your belly.Take a slow breath in through your nose…and let the exhale fall gently out of your mouth.

Silently say: I am here.I am safe enough in this moment.I don’t have to solve everything right now.

One breath.Then another.

And when you are ready, continue your day — not lighter perhaps, but more anchored.

Why This Matters

When life becomes chaotic or uncertain — professionally, emotionally, relationally — our nervous system tightens first.

Grounding practices are not about escaping reality.They are about meeting reality with steadiness.

They remind the body:“I am not in danger right now. I can respond instead of react.”

This moment of attunement does something quietly powerful:

• It calms emotional overwhelm

• It restores clarity

• It offers nervous-system relief

• It reconnects us with ourselves

And perhaps most importantly:

It reminds us that care does not require perfection or lengthy rituals.Sometimes, care is simply the choice to stop — and notice — before moving forward.

A Closing Invitation

If this short pause helped you breathe even a little more freely today, know that you deserve many more like it.

Therapy offers a wider version of this practice — a space to slow down, make sense of what you’re carrying, and feel less alone with it.

But for now:

Let this be enough.

🤎

Dr Dom

Counselling Psychologist