All of these words came to me today in my meditation. If you are an empathic person you understand that the ability to “feel with” those around you can be very draining. And, after a while that draining can be damaging. The climate of America 2019 is one of hurry and busyness and the work that really counts…rarely gets done. Here’s what I mean. In the hustle and bustle of life we often find ourselves exchanging our energy, our emotion, our focus and our time for things that do not sow back into our lives in meaningful ways. Sure our bills may (or may not) get paid due to our busyness but our sense of peace, our health and relationships suffer. Now that is just in speaking about busy lives. But, what about busy lives that are filled with trauma, toxic people, unfulfilling work environments and the like? It’s doubly hard to put your hand to the plow of each new day knowing that on top of the pressure to produce you also have to appear to be “fine.” If this is a prolonged state of being it leads to “toxic shock.” I think you probably gather at this point I’m not talking about a bacteria that needs to be treated with medication. But, it is something just as sinister. And, it does require treatment. Follow me? When we go through prolonged periods of stress our nervous systems can develop inflammatory patterns and lose it’s seamless ability to flow and heal us the way it once could. Restoration is needed and in this hurried society that is hard to find. And, that is why I’m thinking on the verbiage of “toxic shock.” It’s a place where our nervous systems, our mental and emotional health and physical health all become affected. In short we go into shock and end up living in survival mode. We do just the necessary things to survive because to do more means more energy expenditure. Think about when someone shocks a pool. This is what I’m getting at. The level of chlorine becomes so high that it kills off all things organic. In the same way, stress if left unchecked can rise to levels that kill things within us.
When I think about empathic people I get the visual image of dark, rich, healthy soil. A medium in which you can grow just about anything and know that whatever is produced will be hardy and abundant because of the material in which it was cultivated. Have you ever wondered why you attract people who feel so draining to you? It’s because replete attracts deplete. And, I am convinced that once someone who is depleted learns how to focus the energy of their empathy towards themselves true healing and replenishment take place. It is in that place that we are most effective and equipped to help the depleted people in our lives.
The practice of grounding has been popping up in my daily grind. I hear people mention it. I’ll see an article on social media about it. My mother will suggest that I do it and so on. My mother was the first person I’d heard about this from. We have ended many of our conversations with her saying, “Zett, you need to go out and get you some cool mountain air and walk around barefoot and let your feet feel the earth. It’ll be good for you.” Albeit I didn’t understand at the time what she meant and I paid little attention to it because I used to think some of her free spirit ways were hokey at best. But, here I am at forty and I’m desperate to ground.
We understand that all things are made of energy. ALL. Rocks, water, human beings, the cells that comprise us, the sun, the moon, the shops in your city, and the skyscrapers in New York. Big to small all things are energy. Just as a tree sends down it’s roots into the earth so that it’s energy mingles with the energies of rocks and soil we can also benefit from planting our bare feet onto the earth and allowing pent up energies to flow through us and discharge. Empathic people are like lightning rods. But, if we do not have a ground then all the negative energies that hit us end up stuck in us. Like a lightning rod is grounded to render an explosive charge harmless, so in grounding we are able to disperse the emotional turmoil of life as it enters our system.
But, what if it’s too cold or there are no good opportunities to get my bare feet onto the earth? Grounding doesn’t have to be just finding some grass to walk around in. It’s any practice that brings you back to your center. It’s any practice where you can feel the scattered and fretful parts of you coming back together in harmony. This can be in prayer, breath work, or anything that helps you find your center.
Questions I hope you’ll ask yourself and that I am asking myself is:
- Am I remembering that I myself am earth and that I reside in an energetic container?
- In what ways am I feeling led to ground myself?
- What are some ways to ground myself?
- Have I been experiencing toxic shock but putting the acknowledgement of it out of my mind because I’d rather address seemingly more pressing things?
- At what point will I begin honoring my own emotions as opposed to juggling the emotions of others?
Here’s to grounding. Here’s to just being. Here’s to being successfully and healthily empathic.
The Catalyst 
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