Falling in love with chaos
Everybody seems to be in search of that elusive life balance.While everyone keeps looking, few of them seem to be finding it. That’s because one of biggest mistakes that people make is to create a faulty picture in their mind of a life in balance. They think life balance means quiet, calm and peaceful.
Not a chance.
Everybody can have a quiet, calm and peaceful life when things are relatively quiet, calm and peaceful. True life balance happens when you are able to weather the times of what I call natural chaos.
You know those times. Things are going along pretty well and BOOM - something happens that disrupts the flow of life.
A traffic jam is a perfect example of natural chaos.
They happen all the time and are pretty much out of your control. And many times you are actually experiencing the ghost of a traffic jam - there doesn’t seem to be any real reason why the cars are crawling along.
What do people typically do when natural chaos descends? They fight against it and that causes a huge sense of imbalance. They direct a lot of energy into the chaos rather than having some strategies for going with the new flow.
Natural chaos swirls around us all the time.
It’s supposed to - that’s the natural part. John Lennon said it best, “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” It’s knowing how to fall in love with chaos that puts you in the driver’s seat to life balance.
Centering oneself takes mindful work and it is a constant in life. Once we recognize this and accept that there will be times of chaos as well as calm, it becomes less stressful. It’s just a natural rythm of life. I have been working on this for the past 2.5 years (with help) and I’m learning to recognize the triggers and the importance of breathing and recentering. It is empowering and peaceful at the same time.
Comment by Sandi — October 27, 2007 @ 5:34 pm