It's great that you're doing this! Keep it up!! Much hugs and you deserve kisses as well!!
Yay!!!

I think grounding activities are a good idea for our well being.... it's great your seeing success ((hugs)) polar

thanks guys!!

Yup, the two go hand in hand. My left hand doesn't get to be a mile ahead of my right hand.

Simpler is better in my grounding exercises. I work them through my physical senses. The touch of a table. The smells on the breeze. The sound of a bird. The taste of water. The feel of air moving through my lungs. The sight of clouds shifting through the sky.

thanks arfie!

i wish you all the peace and good living that is on its way to you right now.

I like imagining I'm a tree with roots going down into the earth... but thats maybe a bit woohoo for you! lol

:) thanks irish! thanks moobbus!

Good for you Marky..... You work hard at being well...... It's nice to see you so plugged in sweetie... You inspire me.....xo

((((jan))) :)

malibumark, how did you know I needed grounding activities? The vibe must be out in the universe. I'm glad you put this out. And so far sounds like good stuff. :)

I do a couple of things. I play Freecell or Solataire on my computer and I don't let myself stop until I reach a certain number. Like I know I can beat Solataire in 47 seconds, so I make myself play until I hit that goal. This is something a Pdoc taught me a long time ago. It makes your brain tired and the activity winds it down to get ready to sleep. But keep the computer in a room other than your bedroom. No electronics or bright flashy lights in the bedroom.

I also play Majong Tiles until I can rapidly win the game, it's all about winding your brain down, as that's the part that needs to be reset into a more calm pattern. I do Zentangling in black and white only as that only affects the left lobe of your brain and that lobe calms the agitated state of your body. I sit calmy against a pillow against the living room wall and slowly count up to a 1000 and then count back down to 1 and I repeat it over and over until my body feels calm and ready to relax. If i'm really jumpy and restless, I grab my 22 rifle and walk around the horse pasture for 30 min to an hour, keep at the same slow pace, don't let myself race, just keep to the same steady pace, making my brain control my body. The rifle is just for foxes and skunks.

After 7:00 - 8:00 at night try to avoid coffee, caffeine, chocolate, alcohol, spicy foods, rich deserts, big rich meals, etc. I actually replaced my ice cream with sherbert and noticed a big difference.

And keep any and all electronics out of the bedoom, no TV, no computer, smart pone, tablet, etc. The bedroom should only be for sleeping and husband/wife time. I have a small white noise machine on my side table it has settings for: Forest, Waves, Heartbeat, Rain, Waterfall, and Rainforest and I put in on Rain and have my fan going on me with the room nice and cool so I can snuggle into my comforter like I, like to do and I sleep great. There only like $30 at bed, bath and beyond.

Relaxation techniques, deep breathing exercises, stretching exercises, self massage to get all the knots out of your limbs and pushing out the bad thought and just thinking of the good. There are tons of things you can do to calm your body and get it to a more relaxed state.

Lying on my back on my couch or bed. Hands on my belly I do "belly breathing" on counts of 4. First, I tense my whole body squeezing everything really tight...hold for 4 seconds and release. Feeling body releasing tension helps me to go into the breathing mode. With hands on belly I focus on regulating my breaths to a count of 4, then release 4-1 slowly out of my mouth...I think about intake of calm, breathing out releasing the negative...this is a DBT skill. I also go to utube and type in grounding meditations...there are Many!

thanks mlr! there's also a really good website that is called "Headspace.com" - it has guided meditations that are really good.

WEEDING. And other gardening stuff. Those were what I use to do, before the surgeries. But, I got out of the "habit". I went to get the mail. And was thinking about what you said about putting some grounding activities together. (my driveway is 190' long) As I walked up to the house I saw a weed that could just be easily be picked and tossed off. But once you pull one, the rest are doomed. The weeding lead to mulching, mulching lead to scraping the moss off the walk way around the house, which lead to raking. Which lead to 3-1/2 hours of "grounding activities". I got myself completely in the zone of the gardening. Smell of the dirt, mulch and moss. My shoulder, neck and back weren't to happy to start, but they soon got into it. The second trip with the wheel barrel of mulch wasn't as bad as the first. I'll do some guided imaging before going to bed. That works for me. Love picturing Wood ducks out on a peaceful calm lake. Birds chirping in the background, the sound of the water splashing up on the shore line and a light breeze with warm sun to top it off.
OlderCper@ I also like to play games on the computer. I play 4 suit spider solitaire. Goal is to win at least one before I stop. Doesn't always happen. not an easy game with 4 suits in play. I like the majong tiles. Don't know what zentangling is. But I think I would be interested in anything that can get different parts of my brain to work. Thanks all great ideas