Reconnect with the earth and your Self

There’s something magical about simply slowing down enough to notice all the beauty around us.This week, I’ve changed my schedule to actually make time to do all the things I ‘should’ be doing and ‘need’ to do in the garden and field.We’ve made a proper start on the deadhedge I’ve been planning since before even moving to Ireland and I cannot believe how happy it’s made me. I’ve been taking my breakfast outside and eating it while looking at this pile of branches and sticks.It’s the little things…Today and everyday, what teeny tiny thing might you start doing in order to connect with the day’s energies and the earth itself?le grá (with love),EveiFULL TRANSCRIPTtook us more and more away from our own bodies and more and more away from the earth that our ancient ancestors and some people still now recognise is our life support system. So this is not to get all depressing about the climate emergency and all of that but instead to remind you that you are part of nature, you are part of the divine, you are part of the earth.Hi, I'm Eve Menezes Cunningham and welcome to the Feel Better Every Day Podcast.I am so excited to be sharing new trauma-informed and ADHD-friendly ideas for you to help you take better care of yourself, that highest, wisest, truest, wildest, most joyful, brilliant and miraculous part of yourself, as well as the basic self-care which we all know can be so challenging at times. I really appreciate you tuning in.If you want a deeper dive, you'll be getting bonus content each week if you sign up to the Sole to Soul Circle. You can do that for free or from as little as eight euros a month and you can also find more ideas in the book, 365 Ways to Feel Better: Self-care Ideas for Embodied Wellbeing.Welcome to episode 51 of the Feel Better Every Day Podcast. Ot was Earth Hour on Saturday and it always feels like a shame to limit our connection with the earth to one hour or one day a year when we have that earthing, supportive, nourishing energy to draw on 24-7.We are so lucky. It's a gorgeous, beautiful planet and wherever you are right now, you can begin to connect with that support, that energy that we were disconnected from like hundreds of years ago as colonisation took us more and more away from our own bodies and more and more away from the earth that our ancient ancestors and some people still now recognise as our life support system.This is not to get all depressing about the climate emergency and all of that, but instead to remind you that you are part of nature, you are part of the divine, you are part of the earth and you can anytime, anywhere remind yourself that you are safe, you are held, you are protected and I want to encourage you to do that right now.Wherever you are, if it's safe to go into a mini meditation, so not if you're driving but you can still listen if you're driving, it's not going to put you to sleep or anything, but pressing into whatever it is you're sitting or standing on.If you're walking, you might continue to walk or you might pause for a moment, just press into the soles of the feet, feel the air around you.Press into everything that is making contact with the earth through what you're sitting on. You can do this on an aeroplane, up in the sky, you can still ground yourself using intention, using your imagination. Noticing how it feels to really connect with the boundary of whatever it is you're sitting or standing or lying on and if it feels good, imagine that you've got roots going from the soles of your feet and any other part of the body that's touching the bed or what you're sitting on, going deep, deep, deep into the heart of the earth.Letting yourself feel that earth's nourishing supportive energy as you breathe in, imagining breathing in that nourishing supporting earth in grounding energy from the heart of the earth, up through your imaginary roots and up into your body, up through the feet, through the legs, up to the lower lungs and back out again.You can imagine yourself just breathing this nourishing supportive energy in and out, connecting with each breath.If you want to go a little bit further, you can imagine releasing energies that no longer serve you and with each exhalation, letting them flow out down through those imaginary roots into the earth, knowing that energy is energy and it can all be recycled for the benefit of the planet. It doesn't help anyone for you to stay stuck.Maybe pausing this and staying with this for a few moments if that feels good for you and if it also feels good for you, grabbing your journal, grounding your experience by writing about it, making a few notes.It might be that you've got time to explore right now or it might be that you want to write a few notes and revisit it later. Writing can be really grounding, especially writing by hand.Noticing where you are in any given moment can be really grounding. We are so busy, we're so delighted with our devices and we can get quite disconnected from the present moment.Just taking a time moment every now and then to pause, look around you if you're walking, if you're listening to something.You don't have to do a full-on mindful walk but just notice every few minutes or so or every half hour a degree that feels good for you, that's going to feel indulgent and enjoyable, not punitive like, ‘Put that phone down!’ or whatever it might be.Other things that can be really grounding are to prepare food like batch cooking, making soup, if you peel potatoes, peeling potatoes, putting laundry away, sweeping the floor, anything that's helping you work with that base chakra energy. So you can go back to evemc.substack.com or the blog at selfcarecoaching.net and look at the chakra journey from last year, 2024 if you're listening to this later, and go back over the base chakra episodes and that has many many ideas.Notice how you feel when perhaps you've been away or you've been really busy. The washing has piled up and the washing up has piled up, you haven't like kind of the simplest things like changing the bedding and sweeping the floors or vacuuming or cooking is such a nourishing lovely thing, especially if you're using vegetables, if you're using things to genuinely nourish yourself.Really, really grounding, you're telling yourself you're worthy, you're honoring the fuel you're putting into yourself and it also it's something that humans have to do, we have to eat for fuel so we have to cook, we have to eat either way so you can really use what you're eating, what you're cooking. Even how you're cleaning, how you're tidying, how you're getting stuff organised and sorting through your finances can be really grounding. It can help you even if you're not happy with your finances.Being honest with yourself and getting a clear sense of where you actually are as well as deciding where you want to be and making a plan to move towards that. Even looking at where you are now, very very grounding.Gardening is obviously very grounding and there's all sorts of research about the microbiomes when we have our hands in the soil. Personally, I don't like that but I love being barefoot in the garden. I love being barefoot as often as possible wherever but I don't like my hands getting dirty which is embarrassing to admit but some of you especially with ADHD and other neurodivergence might feel the same.I still get enormous benefits from grounding even if I'm wearing gardening gloves but there's something so delightful for me, there's the added bonus of feeding the donkeys next door with the safe to feed them weeds and grass and what have you.Thinking for yourself, like if you like getting your hands dirty, whether you've got space indoors and outdoors for plants just placing your hands on that earth if that feels good for you.With all of these suggestions, all of these self-care ideas, all of these self-care rituals, do what feels good for you.You know yourself best but walking barefoot if that feels good for you, again depending on where in the world you are, if it's long grass you need to be careful but on many, many surfaces, on the beach, in the water, it can be wonderful.I'd love for you to pause this or after you listen to this take some time to make a list of some of the things that help you ground.With trauma therapy, if you're feeling flooded, anytime if you remember coming back into your body doing an EFT tapping can be very grounding bringing you back into the body. Tensing and releasing the thighs and noticing what's around you.Some people look at like five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can feel, if there are any smells, if there are any like…You don't have to make it complicated just letting yourself come out of your head, out of your ruminating mind and into the present moment.Things like cold water swimming or yoga or being in the steam room or anything that is going to help you connect in your body with your body in a safe friendly you're part of this wonderful wonderful world.How can you enjoy it more? I always go on about swimming as well as yoga but especially the swimming. As I'm moving through the water I feel most like myself. Hugs with loved ones. Sex. So many normal, everyday easy ways to ground yourself to connect with the earth to send the earth some love.And you might also want to, as well as drawing on the earth supportive energy, think about how you can potentially leave the earth better than you found it.Every day if you see litter and it's possible for you to be picking it up doing so maybe carry a bag with you on your walk. And maybe join others too. In Westport, we've got a strong Tidy Towns community (and in many towns...