The grounding exercise
When your mind is somewhere else, this walks your attention back into the room, one sense at a time. It takes about a minute.
Work through the five steps. Name real things, the actual objects and sounds around you right now. Specifics, not categories. There are no wrong answers.
Look around and name five. The more specific, the better.
That's the exercise.
Notice where your attention is now, compared to a minute ago. It probably didn't erase the worry, and it wasn't meant to. It moved you out of your head and into the room you're actually in, and from here the next thing is easier to do.
Anxiety lives in the future and the past, in what might happen and what already did. Your senses only work in the present. Deliberately naming what you can see, feel, and hear gives your attention a job in the here and now, the one place the worry can't follow. It doesn't argue with the anxious thoughts. It just stops feeding them your attention.
Grounding pulls you back to the present. To work on the loop that kept pulling you out of it, I'd start with the Pattern Library, where each loop has its own page, and how the shrinQ system works, which walks through the four moves I use. When you want the full structure, the shrinQ program is where I teach it.
If the worry is more constant than a single spike, try the Anxiety Reset, a psychiatrist-designed guide to calming chronic worry (opens in a new tab) on shrinkMD. shrinkMD is part of The Shrink Network, founded by Shariq Refai, MD.
Grounding is one skill. shrinQ is the set.
The program teaches a full set of attention and body skills, in an order that builds, so you have the right one ready for the right moment. Enter your email for a short series that introduces it.
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Common questions
It is a short exercise that walks you through your senses: name five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. Naming real, specific things gives your attention a job in the present, which is the one place a worry about the past or future cannot follow.
Grounding works on where your attention is rather than on the content of your thoughts, which is why it can help even when a worry feels too strong to reason with. It will not erase the worry, and it is not meant to. It moves you out of your head and into the room you are actually in, so the next thing is easier to do.
Use it when your mind is somewhere else and you want to come back to the present: during a spike of anxiety, before something stressful, or any time you feel scattered. It takes about a minute and you can do it anywhere without anyone knowing.