Sometimes, life is really hard and overwhelming. Hopefully, you have activities and people who can support you when this happens. However, things like playing an instrument, hugging a friend, or going for a run are not always options when you need them. Maybe it’s raining, your instrument is somewhere else, your friend isn’t available, or you’re stuck in a meeting. Tapping into your senses could help in these situations when you cannot use other techniques or when you need a little something extra in addition to them.
When we’re overwhelmed, sometimes just a drink of water or smelling a candle can remind us where we are – right here, right now. These activities activate your senses to help you center in the present moment. Everyone has different senses that work best for them, sometimes different ones on different days. Which senses work best to keep you present? Try the exercise below to find out!
- Start by noticing how you’re feeling in this moment – check in with your thoughts, your emotions, and your body.
- Next, go through each of the senses below, one at a time and put all of your attention into the sense you’re engaging with as best you can. Take just a few moments with each sense, about 10-15 seconds each.
- Touch – Find something in the room to touch, or maybe a few different things with different textures (if it’s a person or someone else’s thing – ask first!).
- Sound – Notice the sounds you hear around you, from loudest to softest.
- Taste – Get a drink or a snack and allow yourself to put all of your attention on the taste of it for a few moments.
- Sight – Find a soothing item or image in the room and put all of your attention on that object – notice colors, shapes, shadows, textures, and so on.
- Smell – Find something with a scent, perhaps a drink, food, or essential oil and take a few moments smelling the scent you chose.
- Movement – Stand up and stretch or shake your body, whichever feels good, for a few moments. And come to stillness.
- Notice how you’re feeling now – check back in with your thoughts, your emotions, and your body.
- Which sense or senses worked best to center you into the present moment?
The above exercise can be used as a grounding practice itself. Or, perhaps there were a few senses that helped ground you, and you want to focus on those. Either way, let’s think of some ways this new information can be helpful.
First, identify some situations that are often overwhelming for you. What tells you that you’re getting overwhelmed? Is it a body sensation, a way you behave, thoughts or feelings that arise?
These are indicators that you could use some extra support, like focusing on the smell of your coffee or tuning into the sounds around you for a moment to recenter before the overwhelm gets too intense.
What helps you when you’re starting to get overwhelmed? How could these things that already help become stronger by inviting in your senses? What senses could be helpful to recenter you in those moments? Keep in mind that activating different senses might be more appropriate in some places than in others. For example, at work, tasting a lollipop might not be okay but pressing your feet into the ground would be. If this works for you, make a list of each situation you often feel overwhelmed in and note which sense or senses could be most accessible in that particular moment. Feel free to use the same sense or item for more than one situation!
Anything can lead to overwhelm, though I want to note that different symptoms can increase your likelihood of getting overwhelmed. For example, many trauma and anxiety symptoms take you out of the present moment, taking you and your senses into the past or the future. Flashbacks are a prime example, often overwhelming your visual sense (though it could be other senses too) and transporting you into the past. Focusing all of your attention on something visual that’s soothing can help to calm visual symptoms, recentering you in the present moment. If you experience any of these symptoms, what sense do the symptoms tend to overwhelm? Is that the same sense that helps you reground when those symptoms arise? Try some of the grounding practices below, and reach out if you need support! Trauma and anxiety can be tricky, and often a therapist can help you regulate and find what works best for you.
Some people like to make a little sensory grounding kit to carry with them or have in specific spaces where they can access it when feeling overwhelmed. This kit gives an option to activate each sense so that if one item or activity isn’t working that day or in that situation, you can try another. For example, maybe you keep a kit in your desk at work and use it to recenter after a stressful meeting. If this is something that interests you, read on!
To make this kit, you’ll gather one item from each sensory category and collect them in a bag or box. You can keep your kit somewhere you think you’ll need it or best be able to access it, such as at work, in the car, or in your house. Where would be a good place for you to keep it? Do you need a few in different places? This kit could also be a digital note or written on a piece of paper that you carry with you or leave somewhere to access as needed, guiding you through your senses with whatever you have nearby. Choose whatever works best for you.
Having only one item or activity per sense keeps you from getting overwhelmed with options.
Here are some ideas, but you know yourself best! Get or write down something that works well for you for each sense. Feel free to try them out as you review them.
- Touch – fiddle with a fidget, putty, or jewelry; massage yourself; use a weighted blanket; feel the warm sunshine on your skin; put your hands in running water; knead a towel in your hands or rub a blanket against your cheek; pop some bubble wrap; cuddle your pet or a loved one; drink a hot or cold beverage; etc.
- Sound – listen to soothing music or turn up whatever music fits your emotion (you could even make a playlist for each emotion); listen to the sound of a loved one’s voice either in person, by calling them, or playing a recording; play an instrument; listen to the sound your fidget makes; talk or read out loud to yourself or sing a song; put on some nature sounds; etc.
- Taste – taste a mint, candy, gum, a drink, or a snack (sweet, sour, spicy, or salty); bite into a lemon or lime; take a bite of chocolate and notice how it feels as it melts in your mouth; etc.
- Sight – find a beautiful color around you or a piece of art (feel free to get one from a magazine or print one out to have on hand in your kit!), find a nature scene online or wherever you are, start coloring or doodling, look at a photo or a trinket, name the colors you see around you, count the pieces of furniture around you or every circle you can find, put on your favorite movie or tv show, play a distracting game on your phone, read a book, complete a puzzle, etc.
- Smell – put on some scented lotion; smell and/or apply an essential oil; smell a mint or gum before and while eating it; light a scented candle or turn on a diffuser; smell your tea or coffee; etc.
- Movement – stretching, shoulder or neck rolls, pressing your feet into the ground, going for a run, exercising, progressive muscle relaxation, movement meditation, etc.
For non-physical items, like a song or exercise, you can write it on an index card to put in your kit and remind you to listen to it or do the activity.
Here’s a few examples.
A physical kit, in a small box in a desk drawer at work:
- Touch – a small stone
- Sound – a plastic beaded necklace (that makes a sound when rolled between my hands)
- Taste – a package of gum
- Sight – a photo of a waterfall
- Smell – a bottle of lemon essential oil
- Movement – a paper that reads: “press your feet into the ground” and “do some shoulder rolls”
A physical kit in a “calming corner” at home:
- Touch – a soft blanket
- Sound – an mp3 player with a preloaded playlist
- Taste – a couple of favorite snacks
- Sight – photos of nature and loved ones on the walls
- Smell – a scented candle and a lighter
- Movement – a yoga cardeck
A note on a phone that can be accessed whenever needed:
- Touch – Touch five things, noting their different textures and temperatures
- Sound – For soothing, put on Ebudae by Enya; for uplifting, put on Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root.
- Taste – Taste whatever beverage/food/gum I have
- Sight – Look at the latest pictures of my nephews!
- Smell – Smell something, even if it’s just lip balm
- Movement – Do 5 jumping jacks and stretch afterwards
If you decide to make a kit, what will help you remember to use it? It can be difficult to remember a new coping strategy when overwhelmed, so I recommend using it before you’re overwhelmed every day for about a week so that it’s easier to remember when you really need it. Some people find that telling a loved one or support person about the kit helps because if they notice you’re starting to get overwhelmed, they could go with you to your grounding kit or bring it to you so that you can use it.
Even if you just read this without creating a grounding kit, I hope you got some new ideas of how to support yourself next time you’re feeling overwhelmed or need some support tapping into the present moment. May you be at ease and enjoy your day today with all of your senses!