The following little exercise has its origin in mindfulness and will quickly get you out of stress-causing thoughts by activating your senses.
This will allow you to relax again, have access to energy and creativity, and you'll likely find solutions that will help you move forward.
You can do the exercise anywhere and at any time (at least pretty much). In my opinion, however, it is most beautiful when you are in nature.
Here are the individual steps:
Find a place where you can sit comfortably. This can be a park bench, for example, or you can take a pad and just sit down on the floor.
Look around and name 5 things you can see. If you want to (and that's when it's the most fun, of course), pick 5 particularly beautiful things to see.
Then pay attention to the sounds around you. What can you hear? Name 4 sounds you can hear.
Now go into your body sensation. How does your body feel? What can you feel. Now describe 3 different body sensations that you perceive.
Also good: Take something in your hand or put your hand on the ground and feel how it feels.
Now focus on your sense of smell, what smells are there in your place? Name 2 smells that you can perceive.
You may also want to pick up some fresh soil and smell it. Of course, that's also possible!
Finally, pay attention to the taste in your mouth and describe it.
That's it.
Here is the short form again:
- 5 things you see
- 4 sounds you hear
- 3 Body sensations
- 2 smells you smell
- 1 taste on the tongue
The exercise is used in MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) to get out of stress and anxiety and to ground yourself. In MBSR, it is known as the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Grounding Technique.
And hence the name of this microexercise: Stress Countdown.
And if you are really stressed and don't seem to have any time at all (translated: have other priorities, because we all have 24 hours a day), then you can also shorten the exercise:
Name 3 things you see, 2 things you hear and a sensation you feel.