Grounding with bipolar.

I want to try to ground myself.

How do I that?

I tried sleeping, sleep hygiene, and it is not working.

I tried deep breathing. Muscle relaxers like tizandine. Counting down from 10. Cold temperatures like running water and ice.

My therapist has me draw an infinity sign. For me it works best on a whiteboard but that's not important. I then trace the infinity sign 10 times with my right (dominant) hand and then 10 times going to other way using my left hand. Something about engaging both sides of the brain. It does help me although I think it sounds strange. For me the bigger the infinity sign the more it calms me. At his office he has a huge whiteboard that is great.

Another thing I do is to get a bunch of crayons or colored pencils and a sheet of lined paper. I color each "stripe" on the paper alternating right hand/left hand. I do have to make myselt just randomly select colors or my OCD would turn that into an obsession to be perfect and it's definitely not that.

I never tried grounding myself when I was manic. Dissociative yes, my favorite was to go outside and hug a tree then stand barefoot on the grass touching a tree. I’d look at the tree and note everything about it. The bark, the texture the way it spilt into branches, the leaves, I’d hold a leaf and note the detail. Feel the grass, the dirt. I’d use different trees because all of them are different types.

If you are able to, find your favorite show and lose yourself in the silliness or familiarness of it. Sometimes you don't have to really be paying attention but the noise and the familiarity of it helps. When my head is all over the place, I put on Star Trek the Next Generation and let it play on a loop of the same old episodes. Right now my thing is Xena Warrior Princess I found on the Roku channel. I find that things are familiar help me ground myself more.

@Nammu love your tree idea - I used to go out into my backyard all the time during the night when I lived in NY> I miss having the trees there now. I get to visit the trees around my church, and its really grounding.

@BeyondtheRainbow - just looking at the infinity sign gives me peace sometimes - I can see how tracing it back and forth can be grounding. Great idea!

Lay down in the dark and listen to your favorite music with your headphones on. Take a rest period. If you can't sleep, at least try to rest.

Listening to music, guided meditation works for some, counting the 5 senses. Listening to an audio book while laying down. Ear buds over head phones because head phones don't sit right when laying down.

These are all wonderful suggestions! Please keep them coming! I may or may not be able to focus on more than 1 post at a time today. Understand if I don’t reply to all of you in 1 post or forget to address all the suggestions here. I may not give hugs or thanks for for your post, but I don’t mean to upset 😭 you or make you paranoid. I didn’t know hugs were a thing until recently considering how long I have been here. And just forget about thanks. I really didn’t know about that one!

I joined 7 years ago! I made over 6,000 posts! I really am surprised it is not 1 million already!

I really never considered doing things like writing or coloring with my 🫲 non dominant hand? Who here is lefthanded. A lot of left handed people have done so many things like becoming a police officer, baseball player, or well known politician. Left handed people are should be awfully proud of yourself. Ha, ha! I almost people lying about yourself. I really do not think you or most people here lie. Though I may if I think my posts are too boring?! I’m being honest about the part from liar on!

Or maybe not today at this point! I’m just glad a am not hallucinating too!

My daughter is looking for my cat Licorice right now. Licorice helps ground me. When I know where she is, I can put her next to me. She is easy to coax up to the couch. (coach a couch potato now!).

See how easy my brain alliterates even with my pets' real names!


She can't find Licorice. I can't find Licorice, and I have looked everywhere with a sprained ankle. Some licorice candy would be a treat if I had some and didn't have to order online with my real information.

Editing is easier until I can slow my on-line journal down and stop repeat letter sounds like I maybe should break a leg, train for the Olympics, and not even **** off!


I may even be able to write with a pencil or pen or crayon soon!

I could even be grounding myself some at any point today!

I'm not a hot air balloon!

I even like dictionaries
Maybe not too long today!

I ate a plateful of spaghetti with a salad and a granola bar I like!

I understand Texans in Texas speaking with a foreign accent, a bad un-fluent accent in any language!

I Could TURN my OWN self again brain off and come back!?

If you drank a beer or so you might be slowly slowing down early!

Because my own bed does exist!

I really might need those ZZZ's!

influenial definiton, please! but I forgot my own dictionary. Go type a lot that is nowhere near me, and please come back here!

influenial definiton, please! but I forgot my own dictionary. Go type a lot that is nowhere near me, and please come back here!

Even paste with a formatting consideration for you!

@Blueberrybook

Did you call your pdoc again? What did he say? PLEASE add more than just 25mg of seroquel to your daily regimen!! Or go to the hospital. Do SOMETHING. You're going on and on like a raving lunatic!!! (I don't mean that in a mean way. Just saying.) You need to SLEEP. Go to the hospital and have them put you to sleep!

I hope you are feeling g grounded and better today.

I hope she went to the hospital! Honestly- for her own sanity but for mine too! Her incessant posts are driving me batty!

Me too!!!! Lol.