Grounding Myself Part II: Growing My Network of Roots
A little love letter to my corner of West Virginia
This post is a brief one - a bookmark, really. Just a midweek check-in to urge you to take a look at the big, wide world around you. Not the one that lives in your phone, but the one right outside your front door.
After a rough start to the week, I heeded the warning signs of my nervous system and took much better care of myself on Tuesday. Essential for me: pen to paper, feet to mat, water and coffee before any kind of electronic interaction.
A drive up to one of West Virginia’s oldest small towns to meet with a new friend - a fellow former fed and serial entrepreneur with big ideas and aspirations for her community - provided new fall scenery and filled me with hope: a public garden with figs, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, and grape vines where last year there was a neglected patch of lawn; a beautiful library giving out free toy microphones to delighted kids; a bustling coffee shop with a highly-charismatic Great Dane - apparently one of the regulars. My world immediately grew smaller as I could just about feel my roots deepening, expanding. The drive back was full of farm stands bursting with pumpkins, dappled autumn light, a favorite new album turned up loud.
If you haven’t tried the curative project of looking out into your local community to see what good you can find, I highly recommend it. The most recent activity on my community Facebook page (out here, that’s about as close as you’re going to get to a bulletin board, the biggest reason I’m still on that platform) includes an offer of free eggs; a photo of a hot cocoa special at the local grill; an ad for a holiday-themed bonfire; a resource event with food giveaways and information about other assistance. People are - despite all headline evidence to the contrary - leaning in to building social networks, helping their neighbors, celebrating seasonal joy and bounty. I’ll bet there’s not one of us who can’t find a similar example, just past their doorstep. But in the words of Levar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it - find a place, any place, and have a look around.
Continuing this week’s rootedness theme, below you’ll find a brief 6-minute meditation to reinforce feelings of grounding and stability - another quick tool for your emotional first-aid kit. Sometimes a quick look inward is useful preparation for looking outward.
Below: a 6-minute meditation (audio recording) for grounding and stability and the audio version of this post.
Meditation:
Post audio: