Finding our Center

Finding our Center

By Breanne Szabados

This is a subject that has been on my mind a lot lately, and it is fitting that this is a theme running through events at The Pharm, as well. I am someone who lives in my head most of the time. I overthink everything and create my own suffering by continuously allowing my thoughts to run the show. As a result, discovering ways to find my center and root myself are imperative. This isn’t always easy. There are people who say that they can’t meditate because they aren’t able to ever quiet their mind. Well, that is what our minds do! They think – constantly. It has always helped me to think of meditation as focusing on one thing at a time in the current moment. To come back to my breath and my body when I get distracted with my thoughts.

I’m not sure if anyone else feels this lately, but it seems like the last few months have really ramped up in terms of activity in all areas of life. I thought I was ready for it and that after having two years of relative quiet and calm imposed on me, that I was prepared to tackle “real life” again once it arrived. Well, I was wrong. I have had a lot of changes in my life this year on top of life getting super busy all of a sudden, and it has caused me to feel untethered on a regular basis, unable to find my center. I am someone that thrives on ritual and routine, and over the past few years, I have found both morning and afternoon routines that serve this purpose of finding my center and grounding me. My morning routine has hung on (for the most part), but my afternoon routine has gone out the window on most days. I have noticed what a huge difference this has made in contributing to that untethered feeling. For over a year, I made time in the late afternoon to journal, reflect, go inward, do some breathwork and simply pause amidst my day and let go of all of the things that arrived to throw me off kilter. I had no idea it was so impactful in helping me continually come back to my center each day – almost more so than my morning routine. So, this is something that I am trying to commit to making time for again each day, even if only for a few minutes. It brings me back to myself and helps ground me; I feel so disconnected otherwise.

So, as life gets back to the hectic pace we were all used to before the pandemic, I have found that it is even more imperative than ever to dedicate time to our grounding practices so we can find our center amidst the shifts and changes that will inevitably arise in life. What are some of the things you do to find your center?