Building science-backed habits is important for our mental health. Download our mental wellness app WHOLE and develop good habits like counting colors when you feel anxious. Get it free at getwhole.co/ .

Grounding techniques are strategies that help connect or “ground” you in the present moment. They’re essentially a form of mindfulness, which has been shown to help many different mental health conditions.

Grounding encourages you to take a break from your negative thoughts that may be causing anxiety until you’ve calmed down.

A great technique is to count the different shades of the same color around you. Take blue for instance. Can you see all the different blues around you counting the sky, cars, clothes, etc? If you loose count, choose a different color or start again with the same one.

An added benefit of grounding techniques is that they can be done at any time, without anyone else knowing that you’re using them.

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