Category: Grounding (Page 1 of 2)

The Grounding is Going Strong

August 16, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

Almost three years into this crazy grounding experiment and it’s going strong. (To remind you what grounding is, it’s my quest to put my bare feet on the actual, physical earth most days.) I’ve grounded in all kinds of weather throughout all four seasons and on all types of natural surfaces. I kept at it when pregnant with The Prince. It’s become an important part of my routine.

The kiddos have gotten into the spirit of it. They often take their shoes off while we’re outside and say they want to ground themselves (though I’ll definitely be limiting this once the weather turns colder). Recently, I even caught the hubby standing with his bare feet in the grass, staring off into space (and he hates dirty feet!).

The meditative aspect of grounding has become really important to the process. It’s a time to remember my breathing and think about, well, nothing really. It’s a few minutes a day, and it’s not every single day, but it makes a big difference to my sanity.

Finding Connection Through Grounding

October 26, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m learning a lot about the earth through grounding myself, literally going out pretty much every day and putting my bare feet on the natural ground (for more about how and why I do this, check out my other grounding posts).

I’m getting a feel for the different seasons. The cool, wet soil of early spring, often still hard from the winter freeze. The gradual warming and thaw, the earth more forgiving as spring turns into summer. Then there’s the crunchy, dry heat of late summer grass under my feet, lingering into fall. Eventually autumn ushers in a brief reawakening of the earth. The grass turns green and springy, the warm soil forms to my feet. Then the leaves fall and the earth is crunchy on the surface. Finally winter brings the snow and ice, often I have to dig under the snow to find a small patch of hard, cold earth.

The earth is strangely similar feeling in winter and summer, not in temperature (obviously!), but there’s a hardness to both seasons. The freeze brings the hardness to winter, and the dryness brings it to summer.

I’m also getting a feel for the time of day. I like to go out at different times during the seasons (though you won’t catch me grounding myself at night in the winter…I’m not that crazy!). Mornings are often wet with dew. There’s a quietness to the earth as it wakes. Midday groundings are usually quick, a quiet moment for me to let the tingles in my feet awaken and to take a few deep breaths before I get back to the business of the day. I don’t always have time to stop and think for too long about what I’m feeling.

I think I like twilight groundings the best, though it’s probably the time of day when I least often go out (it tends to be the busiest time of day with the family). I’ve always enjoyed the energy of twilight. The last burst of activity from the day animals, the night creatures starting to peek out of their daytime slumber. The sky is stuck between night and day, a lightness lingering in the east and the stars begin to shimmer. The earth is buzzing with all that has happened during the day but not ready to settle into night.

The quiet moment or two I take to ground myself not only connects me to the earth, it connects me to myself. I don’t need to think, I only need to remember to breathe as my feet touch the ground. I wait until the tingling starts, give it a minute to soak in. The longer it has been since my last grounding, the longer it takes to get that feeling but the greater the impact. Sometimes it’s good to skip a few days to regain the newness of grounding. But I never wait too long to get back out there and connect.

Spring 2015 in Pictures and the Final Push to Summer Relaxation

June 23, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got another week and half until I make it through a few final obligations and can begin to relax a little this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about having so many authory type things to do this year. I’ve had a wonderful first half of the year with book events, school visits, library talks…it’s been inspirational!

…But I really need a break. I finished the draft of Black Butterfly, but I have a few lingering things I need to work on before it can go out to beta readers. And I have some subbing I’d like to do for another project I’ve had in my pocket for awhile. Those things have been put on hold with the author craziness that was this spring. So in the spirit of getting stuff done (and I did check off one very big item on my to-do list just yesterday), here is spring 2015 in pictures. Enjoy!

Gearing Up for a Noncommittal Summer

May 29, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

This time last year I was preparing for the arrival of The Prince with plans to spend the summer enjoying my two boys and adjusting to life as a mom of two. Now looking forward to this summer, I have that strange feeling of not believing how quickly time has gone but also feeling like it’s been a long year.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll be kicking off summer a little early with The Prince’s first birthday party at my parents’ house. My birthday (a special milestone one if I were a hobbit) falls in the middle of summer, but no big parties scheduled for me. Fast forward to the end of August and we’ll be unofficially ending the summer with The Boy’s fourth birthday party, probably also at my parents’ house.

So what do I plan on sandwiching in between those two big events (besides celebrating/crying over getting another year older)? Hopefully lots of summer fun: beach days, playing in the yard with the boys, grounding myself every day, day trips with the family…that kind of stuff.

The first half of the year has been full of author events (all told I’ve probably done more author events in the last six months than in all my previous years combined) and I’ve got three more planned for June (check out my homepage for details), so I’d like to slow down a bit for the summer. Iced tea in the afternoon, wine in the evening, feet in the sand, and read a book for pleasure kind of slowing down.

I’m so very close to completing a good draft of my WIP, so I’ll be devoting some time to revising once I get my beta feedback and a little break from said WIP post-drafting. Maybe I’ll start drafting a new book…or maybe not. I think I’ll see where the winds take me on that one. I may need a break in order to refill the creative well.

I’d also like to pay attention to one aspect of my life I’ve been woefully neglectful of: namely, getting in shape. I’ve been slowly acclimating my mind to the idea of maybe getting back into running, and I might try working with a personal trainer and seeing if I like it. Not sure about going back to playing soccer. I’ll see how I feel after I’m in better shape.

Overall, I’m in the mood to be very noncommittal about things. Before long those boys of mine will be off running all over the place without me, so I’m trying to be more in the moment and enjoy them while they’re little (even through the hard times of them being little).

I’m thinking of running old posts here for most of the summer, and probably not too many guest posts. Keep things simple…yeah, that sounds real nice. What are your plans for the summer?

Where on the Web Have I Been Lately?

February 24, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

You would think with so many snow days that it would feel like a lazy time of year. But snow days means days with no baby-sitting and missed school for The Boy, which means less work time for me. So all these “lazy” snow days have me feeling behind on my work. With quite a few workshop opportunities booked for the first half of the year, it’s got me feeling a bit frantic.

Plus, February has to be my absolute least favorite month of the year when I tend to be low on both energy and good spirits. So that always takes its toll on me this time of year. I don’t even have any place to ground myself right now and I’m itching to get my feet on some grass…even in this crazy cold. (Normal high this time of year is around 40 degrees. This year our warm days have been in the low 20s.)

I have many ideas for thoughtful blog posts, but they take more time and brain energy than I have right now, so unfortunately thoughtful blog posts have taken a back seat for now. Lucky for all you blog readers, I’ve had some wonderful guest posts to share with you all to make up for my lack of ones. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find the time and energy for some good blog content soon.

In the meantime, here are some other places where you can find me on the web. I have lots of short posts with my thoughts, trials, and triumphs as a mother on Tumblr called Observation Mommy. You don’t have to be on Tumblr to check these out.

Lightning Quick Reads is a great short story blog I’ve been contributing to. Each month there is a different theme and each author posts once a month. My day is the 11th of the month and throughout the year I’ll be posting a series of related stories called “Tale From the Field” about a women’s high school soccer team. Each post is form a different players point of view, and I’m really enjoying tapping into my own memories of when I played competitive soccer. January’s was Captain Megan with a goals theme, and February’s was Addison in Love? with a, wait for it…love theme.

And if you’re local, the New Haven, CT launch party for The Great CT Caper has been rescheduled for Wednesday, March 25th from 4-6 p.m. It’s at the Yale Peabody Museum and all first floor exhibits will be open, including the Great Hall of Dinosaurs! Parents, kids, educators, librarians…everyone is welcome to come, and it’s free. Sign up here!