Being grounded, not in the teenage-uh-oh-mom-caught-me-doing-something sense of the word, but standing in the delicious centeredness of the here and now, is an enviable place to be.

My husband is the most centered person I know. Little sways his oak tree solidness to the left or right. He skates through life with an equinimity I’ve never seen in another human being. He is Mr. Placid to the nth degree.

So when I find myself in the fretting hour, typically a pre-dawn angst that sometimes grabs my attention at 4 a.m. (did you remember the kids’ lunch money? Don’t forget today’s conference call!), I reach for his feet and stack them against mine.

Last night I nuzzled close because I couldn’t find his feet. At that point, after several moments of wakefulness, I reasoned that any part of his warmth would do. But as it goes, when you’ve been married for as long as we have, he instinctively offered up his flippers in mid-snooze. I immediately felt the groundedness and goodness he embodies and fell fast asleep.

Getting grounded is an important activity. It can aid in your productivity like nothing else. So the next time your world goes topsy-turvey, what grounding strategies will you employ?