Weekend Design & Wellness Project

GROUNDING

Photo by: Amal Ben Saad @amalbensaad

Grounding is a practice of standing barefoot in the grass and imagining light entering through the top of your skull through your body and down past your feet into the ground. The light entering symbolizes a new beginning and pushes any negativity or pain into the earth. Standing in the sand can be a grounding experience especially with the flow of the ocean waves washing away any stress, frustration or grief that you carry around each day. Those emotions can become very heavy and interfere with your daily responsibilities if they are not released every once in a while. Water is very healing and comforting during rough times. This weekend try to place yourself near a body of water and definitely have those bare feet ready to release pent up emotions. Allow the lightness of the air to fill up your lungs while pushing down all of your troubles. Don’t worry, all of those emotions will pile back up on you soon enough so you will need to make this grounding thing part of your new cycle of releasing and resetting. Now, you will have a go-to stress reliever when you need it that can consist of you doing this while standing on your own lawn.

The next step to this process is writing or drawing right after your grounding experience. It’s important to capture this moment to see where you are in tuning into what your body needs.

Enjoy your beautiful and free weekend!

P.S. Remember when being “grounded” over the weekend was a bad thing…like the worst, life ruining thing EVER? Haaaa

Core Beliefs

Photo by: Joshua Woroniecki @joshua_j_woroniecki

A core belief is a default impression that is usually developed during childhood or after a major trauma in life. These beliefs are created as a protective defense even if the core belief is a negative one. A few examples of negative core beliefs are; I don’t matter, it’s my job to make others feel good, I’m unlovable, I’m a loser. Now, here are some positive core belief statements; Life is great, People are kind to me, I will receive help if I ask for it, I have many talents.

Try to become aware of the snap statements you say to yourself. If these statements/beliefs feel limiting or negative, write them down on a piece of paper and on the next line write a positive version of that statement. Reread the new positive beliefs over and over, first thing in the morning and last thing before you go to sleep. Repeat this for 30 days or until you truly believe the positive statement. What actions can you take to live an example of this positive statement?

For extra guidance listen to this brief meditation, Core Beliefs Meditation.

Foundations of Design

Foundation: ”Upon which something stands or is supported.”

Photo by: Fausto Garcia-Menendez @faustogarmen

A foundation is the most important part of any structure, product, business, garment or recipe. In many cases the foundation is unseen or covered with aesthetically pleasing elements. Throughout this week take notice to all structured items that you encounter including those that provide shelter. Think about the planning, engineering, construction and time that goes into creating the foundation of something. Too often, we expect the things we depend on to just exist or appear before us. Keep in mind the vast amount of minds and hands go into creating the many structures and items we encounter each day.

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*Definition from Merriam-Webster