Two for You — take two minutes to live and lead with intention
Episode 4.22
When you start to notice your body entering a stress mode, what do you do? When we are in stressful situations, the amygdala part of our brain jumps in and tells our body that there is a potential threat we need to be aware of. The good news is that you can help your brain reset by practicing a grounding technique that will help you refocus your body to get you “out of your head”.
3-3-3 is an in-the-moment grounding technique you can use to help you jumpstart that reset.
Resources
- Similar to the 3-3-3 grounding technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 coping technique for anxiety.
- Read about the research behind grounding techniques.
Transcript
Note: Two for You written transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before referencing content in print.
[Denise] Hello and welcome to Two for You. Before you go into a tough conversation or situation that you feel might be a little difficult, it's good to ground yourself to get yourself present and calm.
But what about when you're actually in that conflict or you're in that situation and you can feel your anxiety rising and rising. What can you do to ground yourself and bring yourself back to what's important?
[Lori] The tip that we have or the tool we have for you is something called the 3-3-3. So the first thing you do is take a look around and notice what do you see. What are three things around you that you see? And the second three is hearing. Right, so what are three things around you that you hear? And the last three is to move your body. So move three different parts of your body.
And what this tool does is really to help you refocus and reset so that your brain can shift where it was going and refocus on the conversation.
[Denise] So take this tool, 3-3-3 and put it into practice. Help ground yourself so you can be more present in the situation without that high anxiety. Use it in your leadership as you live and lead with intention.
Reviewed in 2022