Dropping Anchor

What do you do when the storm of difficult thoughts and feelings comes round? Do you get caught up in it to the point where you lose touch with the present moment? Or do you try to fight it and push it away? Or a bit of both?

Let’s think about actual storms for a minute. Imagine you’re the captain of a boat. And as you’re turning to the harbour you can see a storm brewing. Something you might want to do is drop an anchor to stop your boat from getting swept in the storm.

Now, dropping an anchor doesn’t stop the storm. The winds are still going to blow, and the rain is going to keep falling. But it holds the boat safely in place until the storm passes.

And we can do that too. (With the FACE acronym) 

F - Focus on what you can control.

Our thoughts are really difficult to change. And you can’t really directly control your emotions. What we can control is our behaviour.

A - Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings.

See what comes up for you - whether it’s memories, urges, physical feelings. And see if you can name it. “Ah here’s anxiety again.” “Oh here comes my worry.” “I’m having thoughts that I need to check things.” “I’m noticing that I’m having a feeling of sadness.”

C - Come back into the body.

Very often we get so caught up with what’s going on in our minds, we forget to connect with our body. There are a few ways. Stretch your arms over your head. Adjust your posture if you’re sitting. Press your fingers together. Push your feet into the floor. Anything that involves actively moving your body. Because this is something you have control over. If you’re really being flooded, just start really small, like wiggling your fingers or toes.

E - Engage with the world.

Turn your focus back to the activity you were meant to be doing. Whatever your emotional state was taking you away from. This is usually something that’s important or meaningful to you. Like spending time with loved ones. Working on that assignment. Going out and enjoying nature. One way to start is:

Notice 5 things you can see and name them (you can add a twist, like name 5 blue things).

Notice 4 things you can hear.

Notice 3 things you can touch (and try and touch them if you can).

Notice 2 things you can smell.

Notice 1 taste in your mouth. 

How are you feeling?