I was in England for my PhD studies when the highest-level lockdown was ordered just before Christmas of 2020. Confined on my own for months, my constant companions were anxiety and loneliness. Then, the endless news about the fears and suffering of millions became personal, when sad notices about people I knew started trickling in.
My PhD supervisor recognized symptoms of burnout and told me to stop work for a while. This pause from overstimulating my heart and mind gave immediate relief. I had time and space to seek help. I asked for prayer from my spiritual friends and ministry supporters. I went on walks with my supervisor, chaplain, and trusted friends. Through the university’s student services, I met counsellors regularly online and learnt proven techniques of handling mental and emotional stress.
When churches reopened their doors to full congregations, I stepped into a church building again after a year away. To gather within stone walls that have heard the prayers of the faithful for a millennium, to receive communion from the hands of the vicar, to feel the wood of the pew and the heft of the hymnal—these physical sensations in offering worship and receiving grace became a vital part of my healing.
By God’s grace and provision at every step, I feel back to ‘myself’ today. But to remain inside my ‘window of tolerance’, where I am neither overwhelmed nor frozen by inevitable stressors from within or around me, I need to keep practising what I have learnt along the way.
One lesson is to return intentionally to the present moment, so I can appreciate exactly where I am, instead of dwelling on the past I cannot change and worrying about the future I cannot control. I invite you to join me on a short exercise that practises coming back to ‘now’. It involves reflecting on some words of Scripture and sitting still for a few minutes.
- Find a quiet place with a chair on which you can sit up straight. Adjust your sitting position, so your feet are planted flat on the floor.
- Read Genesis 2:7 slowly: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
- “Dust” refers to soil, which is “of the ground”. Every human is first a physical being made by God from the same ‘stuff’ as the universe.
- Read the remaining instructions before proceeding.
- Close your eyes. Feel the floor against your soles: wriggle your toes, shift the ball of each foot from side to side, and press your heels down. Feel the air flowing around your feet.
- You are experiencing physical proof that God made you to be a part of this world—you exist in this time and place, because he wants you here and so loves you.
- Notice your breathing. As you breathe in, think about becoming a living being as God breathes life into your nostrils. As you breathe out, think about releasing to God a burden you have been bearing.
This is my way of ‘grounding’ myself, so I can return to this present moment, grateful to be here with God. If you give this exercise a go, you could end it by saying with me, “Thank you, Lord.”
For REFLECTION
Think back to how you were feeling before the exercise, how your feelings shifted during it, and how you felt afterwards. What has changed, and why?
