today i had my writing group, like i do every monday and have done for years now. one friend in the carolinas, and one in cornwall. we share a prompt, do a ten minute write and then share with each other. we’re all different in style but all skilled, even me. And mostly i say that because these women tell me so. and i trust them and admire their own skill. they are really quite strong people, and i really appreciate that, and the years we’ve been together.
today’s prompt had me writing about my dubious center. and what that meant was that, in the world, when i think about ‘centering, grounding down, placing myself at the center of the universe’… I find myself bobbing along in the water.
its not exactly what is planned when one thinks of those things. I have a physical and emotional sense that i am adrift, gently so, but adrift. no feet on the ground. I’m not struggling, just awash with the waters.
I trust my imaginative plane as much as some people trust their god, or their tarot, or their psychic. I do. So, as I float about… what does it mean that i can’t stay still, that my foundation is afloat? Is it bad? Is it the world? Has the utter crazy of the global and national scene just knocked my roots from under me? The hope that is a usual tether has been snipped and I’m off.
What does it mean? And if i’m doing just as much garden and farm and outdoors scrabbling in the dirt as any other time, do i need to change my drift/head for shore? Am I supposed to be connected, dialed in? Is my life in such an expanse that i cannot see the bottom? cannot see the land?
What is it? Where are you finding yourself these days?
Centering is complicated and simple, though it takes consistent practice to get to simple. Breathe, focus in, let your thoughts come and go – they are not you – and breathe, focus on the breath; be. If you’re wanting to “ground” yourself, be more physically rooted, then focus in on the connection between your body and whatever you’re sitting in. If it’s a chair, feel the seat, the back and your physical connection to each. With each distracting thought, return to your breath and your focus on your connection to your physical support.