It has never been so hard to stay grounded, with so many distractions, be materialistic, personal issues and negative talk, it is a struggle not to get caught up in day-to-day trivialities that force us to lose focus on our own lives and journey.

We have put together 5 tips to help you stay grounded in todays world and though some may seem easy and practical, ask yourself If they are the things that you are applying enough in your life.

How To Stay Grounded

1. Give back to the world

We have brainstormed a list of ways that everyone can give back, so there is no excuse not to.

Donate regularly to your local Salvation Army /Red Cross store, be it clothes, linen, shoes, a lamp, a TV or refrigerator, you never know what someone less fortunate than you may need to make their life that little bit easier and you could contribute to this by donating.

Give Blood – Did you know that less than 500 ml’s of blood can save up to 3 lives and out of the 37 percent of the U.S. population who are eligible to donate blood – less than 10 percent do annually?

People die of blood loss every second and your brave donation could help to save some lives.

Sponsor a Child – There are many ways and much information out there for people who are interested in sponsoring a child so if this is something you are interested in, Google is all you need. From as little as $1 a day, you can help to provide basic life saving necessities that many of us take for granted, such as, education, safe water, nutritious food and healthcare.

Volunteer at a local soup kitchen – In January 2012, 633,782 people were homeless in the United States. 105,237 in Australia and this list goes on from around the World. Homeless people are the same as you and I, they too have a story however their story leads to how they came to being homeless. Soup Kitchen’s provide relief for our homeless people and gives them a chance of survival, meeting people and gives them faith in others, faith that they are important enough to want to be helped.

Volunteer your time in a different country – I have an older Sister who recently volunteered her time in India with a group of like-minded people. They would travel to an Orphanage each day and help children with their English. My Sister said it was one of the best experiences of her life and was extremely rewarding. There is information on the Internet and many travel agents will help to arrange all of the details with you. This is a good way to make a change in peoples lives and give back.

Write to a pen pal – I’m sure a lot of us remember having a pen pal when we were younger at school perhaps? Well this is kind of the same except the part of being at school. There are many websites dedicated to helping people connect with a pen pal from anywhere in the world. This is a way of being able to connect with someone in the world and share experiences from your world and see how different they are to that of you pen pal. This is giving back as it is providing a hobby for somebody and you are building a friendship and sharing experiences. There is something to learn from everybody (I believe).

2. Make time for a hobby

This sounds pretty simple but most adults I meet don’t have a hobby, something they enjoy to do for themselves, just because. I think this is very important for everyone and can be something as simple as reading to gardening to collecting cars or doing yoga. The key thing here is to make time for your hobby. If you have a very busy schedule it is important to include time every few days for yourself and to spend on your hobby. This keeps your head sane in learning how to have a balance and forcing yourself to do something enjoyable.

3. Do something by yourself

Most of us are surrounded by people all the time. At work, at home, at the gym, a Pilates class, and it isn’t often thought about consciously doing something by ourselves. We need to learn how to say no more often. Even if it is once a week or fortnight, go out to lunch alone, or have a coffee and cake, watch a movie, see a play or go for relaxing walk. I think this is an important one as we often forget what it feels like to be with ourselves with no one around. Having this time alone makes you more aware of your surroundings, of how you are feeling in the moment, gives you time to reflect on you and for some of us, will get you out of a comfort zone which is a good thing.

4. Call your Family – Regularly

This is another one that sounds quit simple but when was the last time you spoke to your Mum or Dad, Sisters and Brothers? Family is important, It is where we came from and how we were shaped in to this world from a young age. I know a few people who don’t get along with their parents or siblings but the point of staying in touch with them is not to agree on everything but to remember where you came from and to know what is going on in their lives. Regret is one thing we all don’t want and staying in touch with your Parents will help your conscious in the long run.

5. Visualisation

This might sound a bit odd but this is something I have started doing recently that really helps me when I get home from a hard day at work and am ready to complain about my life. I have always been moved by sad pictures of starving children in Africa, beggars in India, families with very little but a big smile on their faces in Indonesia and I started to save these images and have them rotating on my wallpaper on my laptop. I save these along with positive, affirming pictures and it helps to put life into perspective for me.

I have a friend who has a visualisation board hanging on her living room wall and it includes pictures such as the ones I have explained as well as goals and things she is working towards. We all know the saying “out of sight, out of mind” and we all know that there is poverty and people out there much less fortunate than we are however we seldom think of them as they are mostly out of sight.  This small activity that we can all do will remind us to be thankful of our lives and for people we care about and not to take things for granted.

With the above in mind, there will be days when you don’t feel so grounded or thankful but I believe in a balance in all things. You must know sadness to recognise love, anger to rejoice in happiness, experience death to appreciate life and so on. Staying surrounded with daily reminders to help stay grounded and focused is the same. We must know what it is to be selfish in order to be selfless.