Organizing the Chaos Before it Becomes Chaotic

SHOW NOTES:

On this show…we are cleaning out the junk draw of life and organizing the chaos before it becomes chaotic. What’s that? Too late you say? Never! Don’t throw in the towel and keep piling it up hoarder style take charge and admit to yourself, enough is enough. You deserve peace, joy, and happiness, and wading through emotional and psychological clutter is unnecessary and counterproductive. 

As you sit here today, let’s identify where the chaos is coming from. Everyone is different, in different situations, and at different stages of their life. Try to rise above gaining a new perspective of the bigger picture. I love to actually visualize this exercise. Feel yourself floating up over your life and looking down. Everything naturally gets smaller as the angle is wider and more of the pieces and parts come into one view. Nothing is as it has to be.

For many of us, we want our lives to settle down and for things to run smoothly. But week after week, month after month, year after year, while there may be different players and different facts, it’s always the same old story. Our lives are chaotic.

Here are seven reasons we might be creating chaos-filled lives from Boni for livealifeyoulove.com. See if one or more of them rings true for you. 

1.   It’s your story 
2.   It’s your identity
3.   You (secretly) like it
4.   You don’t really think you have a choice
5.   You believe you deserve it
6.   You have nothing to replace it with
7.   Success scares the heck out of you

I talk about my experience...For me, chaos can come in the way of spreading myself too thin. I’m not a hoarder but more of a minimalist so I don’t struggle with physical clutter. I don’t obsess over the times I’ve been wronged or feel the same pull I once did to fix others so I don’t struggle with emotional clutter. Where I can overextend myself and create a bit of chaos, is in my commitments.

Let’s face it, life is busy in general so to avoid chaos at certain times is unrealistic. But….maybe finding ways to embrace the chaos and reorganize is a positive coping strategy. 

Bob Miglani is the author of The Washington Post Bestseller, Embrace the Chaos, which is about learning to move forward in times of change and uncertainty. Here are some of his ideas: 

1. Accepting the Chaos of Life is Better Than Trying to Fight it
2. You Cannot Predict the Future
3. You, Will, Feel Better DOING Than NOT DOING
4. One Thing Always Leads to Another
5. You, Will, Become a Better Person…Faster, Stronger, Leaner and Sharper
6. You are Resilient and Know How to Adapt
7. You Are Meant for Bigger Things
8. Chaos Forces us to Clarify What’s Really Important…and What’s Not
9. It Will Make you GRATEFUL
10. Chaos Can Be Transformative
11. Things Have a Way of Working Out in the End

If you are drowning in chaos feeling overwhelmed and stuck - embracing more and leaning in may not be the right move at this time. For you, giving yourself time to identify and declutter your life might be the only place to start. Spend some time by yourself, unplugged, listening to your heart. So often we are looking for a quick way out so we grab a youtube video on how to organize or read a blog on letting go.

You have a responsibility to yourself to push-back. Just as you feed yourself when you are hungry, bath when you are dirty, and sleep when you are tired, consume info as needed. Want to know what the weather is - look it up. Need to know the weather patterns for the country….not sure you do. Have a lot invested in the market and need to check the pulse - fine, get alerts as things go up and down by the minute - not necessary. These are just two examples. Apply them to what you digest today and what you actually NEED to know. There might be some overconsumption issues. 

Joanna Kleinman gives us  4 STEPS TO CALM THE CHAOS IN YOUR MIND in an article she wrote for Virtu Health.

Every day, as soon as you wake up, ask yourself this question:  “What do I need to let go of right now to be calm?” In other words, what thoughts are causing chaos in your mind? 

Every thought you have creates a physical response in your nervous system, and an emotional feeling in your body. Yet, you often allow your mind to go wherever it wants to go, without taking control over the direction it goes. Pay attention to the emotional and physical responses in your body when your mind goes to that chaotic, negative place.

Ask yourself who or what are you trying to control that you really don’t have any control over? Focusing on producing specific outcomes in your life makes you fixate on controlling things that you really don’t have any control over. 

To create an immediate sense of inner calm and peace, start a daily practice of letting go of past regret and future worry, and consciously direct your mind to right here, right now.

 

CHALLENGE: Find the root of chaos in your life to treat the symptoms appropriately. Let go, lean in, or reroute to get time and space to include joy and peace. You have choices, choose wisely. 

 

I Know YOU Can Do It!