Visual grounding

As I’ve mentioned previously, grounding is a profoundly important coping skill to learn to deal with dissociation in the moment when it’s occurring.

I’ve reviewed grounding with nature and by using your sense of touch, so today I want to talk about visual grounding.

Look around your current, actual physical environment and name (out loud or in your head) 3 red things that you see. It is important to actually do the naming, so that you are really taking a moment to notice the red thing you are naming. Then do the same thing with 3 orange things you see in your environment, then 3 yellow, then 3 green, then 3 blue and finally 3 purple things that you see.

Then check in with yourself, notice how are you doing and what if anything has shifted. Are you more connected to and in the present moment? If so great, if not, try something else to ground yourself. Obviously, this exercise uses the image of a rainbow as an easy way to remember the skill, and having that type of anchor to the exercise may make it easier to remember the skills and what you are supposed to do.