Do you have an anchor?

"Have an anchor so that life doesn’t toss you around"

Debby Ryan

Anchors.

We need them to find ourselves, to reclaim our voice that can get lost in the noise of the many calls we answer.

But, at a practical level, what does it even mean to find ourselves?

Our circadian, pattern-based nature can make us inertia-prone. It’s how we create and live inside routines that keep us going.

Sometimes, some external triggers can push us into a different type of pattern. We may have weeks of heightened activity, anxiety and stress. Other times, we may go through a plateau where nothing much seems to be happening.

Whatever the pattern is, it tends to exacerbate and exaggerate certain aspects, certain capabilities of ours more than others. For instance, you may go through a phase where you may be highly creative, but struggle to get anything done. Equally, you may have (like I did recently) a hyper-productive period where you just cannot sit still.

Usually, we come out of such a phase naturally as the external triggers subside.

However, there can be times when we can stay triggered although the original trigger has gone. That’s when you know you’re trapped in a pattern. Inertia has taken over and it may no longer be necessary to stay that way. This is true for everyday triggers as well as the more unfortunate, traumatic ones we might encounter.

The need to break out of the inertia is obvious. It keeps us in a certain mode of viewing and engaging with our world that negates many other possibilities. Continuing to run in a hyper-industrious mode can significantly limit our creative expression. So, when the need for us to be creative inevitably arrives at some time, we might struggle.

This is where anchors play such an important role. They help us reset our system from being in a triggered state to being relaxed and present. They clear the window pane first, then the glasses and eventually, the voice that guides our gaze, enabling us to see clearly again.

"Life's greatest storms prove the strength of our anchors"

~ Unknown

We need to know what our anchors are. They could be anything – reading a book, speaking with a loved one, an inspiring conversation, engaging with art, music, exercise and so on.

For me, yoga does the reset. I’m able to notice the shift in my thinking and behaviour when I go through a phase of being irregular with my practice. It’s usually because of circumstances, but losing the flow of practice creates its own collateral damage. In my case, it is losing connecting with myself and getting carried away by external circumstances. That means going through a phase where I get too task-focused and unable to think creatively, to write, to read or to do anything that arrests my attention for a significant amount of time. Sometimes it is necessary (you may have to care for a loved one or an urgent issue comes up) to make sure we do what is needed.

Anchoring is necessary and simple, but not always easy. We may need to stay with it for as long as needed or as frequently as required for it to start having an effect. As it kicks in, we are able to ground and find ourselves slowly.

The anchor needs time to ‘sink in’ and find ground.

This is as much a practice as your ‘practice’ itself.

This, for many of us can be a blind spot. As a result, we can slip back into the pattern that was driving us and keep going. It’s easier that way because it’s automatic, but not always effective.

As you go through your day, perhaps you could take a moment to check how it’s going. Have you slipped into a pattern or an inertia of some kind?

What does that pattern predispose you to?

What could be an anchor that could help you settle and take a larger view of your landscape?

What might happen if you experiment with a new anchor today?