We’ve done breathing and stretching, heck on one troubling Monday we even tried resting our meat (tragically safe for work). But on this most solemn of days — when some readers will be fasting while for others, like me, it will just be the usual ritual of constant hunger independent of actual calorific intake — we may be more than ever aware of our bodies.
In that spirit, I offer a grounding exercise.
We can’t always take the day to pause and reflect. Events and obligations can feel relentless, emotional rationing essential. So, for when the mind would rather stall than sit in neutral, when it yearns to scan for worries, reach for uncertainties and mine the bottomless pit of double standards, this technique can act as a circuit breaker.
I sometimes think of it as a deus ex machina that, if it occurred in the third act of a film, you’d reflexively roll your eyes and halve your emotional investment. It has a name that could do with zhuzhing up a bit: the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. But it delivers exactly what it promises.
Simply name five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste. I’ll go first:
I can see a young mother searching for worms with her toddler
I can see a tall building rising into the distant clouds
I can see a runner having what looks like an absolutely miserable time
I can see a local government gardener trimming a hedge
I can see a picnic that would be ruined by my beagle
I can feel my toes wiggling on the grass
I can feel the sun warming up my forearms
I can feel my heart flutter in protest
I can feel my neck reluctantly propping up my head
I can hear the wind wreak havoc with my headphones
I can hear the hum of electric vehicles on the road
I can hear the sort of contagious coughing that sometimes erupts in theatres and exam halls
I can smell the faint whiff of perfume
I can smell the worst smell in the world (Pret coffee)
I can taste Greek yoghurt
It takes no more than two minutes. Try it — not forgetting to breathe.
Now, I have some dispiriting news, followed by a satisfying synthesis.