FINDING SANITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Life gets chaotic. And when it does, our mind often meets it with its own brand of turbulence—unsteady, distorted, spinning out. Difficulties begin to feel heavier than they are, sometimes surreal. We wander through a kind of neurotic hall of mirrors, chasing meaning, searching for something to anchor us. In that disoriented state, we’re susceptible—to harmful beliefs, sweet distractions, spiritual bypassing, even addiction. All trying to ease a discomfort we can’t quite name.
But the answer for which we’re reaching will never be clear if we’re not here to see it. It’s not our ideas. It’s under our feet. Touching grass. That’s it. Stop, drop open and breathe. Let the earth hold you. Because when your body remembers it’s safe, the mind begins to settle. And when the mind settles, clarity returns. Then we see things as they are.
But, there’s the rub. Things as they are, are not always as we want them to be. Sometimes facing what’s actually here is uncomfortable. This makes it hard to settle. So we react—grasping, theorizing, telling ourselves stories, reaching for complicated solutions to soothe a panic that’s already passed. The mind assumes if we feel this much urgency, the answer must be profound and complex. But, it can be quite simple.
In the face of complexity make it easy. Just come back. Just come home and let the view become clear. The body needs grounding, so the mind fnds stillness. Then no matter how chaotic life is, we don’t have to be. We can be grounded and clear. When we are grounded, our next step becomes clear. We don’t have to plan our future, we don’t need to finish the post or clear our to do list. We don’t have to feel embarrassed by our past or anxious about what lies ahead. We come home to now. Then take one step.
Our panic is ancient, primal. But so is our connection to the earth. That’s why the remedy works—it speaks to the same deep psychology. Like an inner child in a storm, calmed by the presence of something strong and still. Not because the storm is over, but because we are there to sit with us in it.
The earth is always here. And storms always clear.
When we don’t feel that connection, we scramble. Running out into danger as the mind starts inventing enemies, catastrophes, theories, someone to blame, someone to save us. And that swirl of confusion becomes the climate of our inner world. We lose trust in ourselves. We lose track of what’s real.
But what if most of our stories aren’t real at all? What if they’re just echoes of a body that doesn’t feel safe, a mind trying to make sense of an inner alarm? What if the clarity we long for doesn’t come from answers—but from coming home?
Touching earth reminds the nervous system: You are here. You are held. You are okay. When the body feels safe, it naturally softens, opens and the mind clears. Then we see what is happening and know we have the strength to meet it.
Perhaps, the only meaning to life is that we’re here. This breath is happening now. That the ground still holds us. No need to theologize, strategize or apologize. No need to diagnose or decode. There’s nothing wrong with seeking when we are on a clear path. But when times are difficult, maybe it’s best to stop searching and solving and start listening. Come back to the basics. The basics are what is here. The breath. The body. The grass. The places sanity returns. And no one needs to know. No one needs approve. No one needs to agree. This is between ourselves. We can be the family we need, we can be the guidance we seek, we can be the reason we’re here. By just being here. That’s it. That’s the whole of the law, as Crowley never said.
We can practice this each day. Being aware of our feet on the earth as we walk. Coming back to our seat at work. Feeling the breath in meditation. We can begin each session feeling our feet, feeling our hands, feeling our seat. We can let ourselves find safety in the present. It’s important to acknowledge that everything we want in our future has t0 begin with what is here right now. Just stay here with your life. And when you stray -as inevitably you will- just come back. Right now, come back here.
And we have everything we need to be here.