Sometimes natural chaos comes with a voicemail message. The utility company called to say that the power in our neighbourhood would be off for several hours today while they replaced an electrical pole. So for me who runs a home based business I had to reschedule some things and then headed out to run a few errands.

I was in one of my favorite stores in downtown St. Albert, Crimson Quill, setting up a couple of workshops I’ll be doing for them in the fall and I explained why I unexpectedly had some free time on my hands.

“I have no power.”

Hearing those words come out of my mouth was a LOL moment. What made me giggle was not that I didn’t any electrical current. It was the statement of the profoundly obvious. 

Most of the time we really have no power over all kinds of situations:

repair work

weather

other people’s behaviour & choices

traffic

contaminated tomatoes

and 101 other things.

Now don’t get me wrong.

I know I have all the power when it comes to certain things like my attitude or my choices - truly the most important things. It was just such a delightful reminder that there are so many things that are outside of my control. Not getting crazy about it and just letting them go is a way to keep things in balance.

Who’d have imagined?

A light bulb moment from the power company.

What’s your latest light bulb moment?

I’m not sure how or when, but somewhere along the line I must have angered the luggage gods. Or at least those ones assigned to Rome. A couple of years ago, I and my five traveling companions arrived in Rome and none of our bags did. Not one. Imagine 3 days, sweltering heat and no change of clothes. Okay maybe you don’t want to imagine that.

Fast forward…

to a couple of weeks ago, when once again I arrived in Rome for a hiking retreat in Tuscany. I have to admit the thought of lost luggage did cross my mind once or twice but I shrugged it off thinking I had paid my dues on the last trip.

There’s nothing more discouraging than watching suitcases come along the carousel and yours is not there. I tend to play a little game with myself that I just have to be patient - first bag on - last bag off.  But you know that you are kidding yourself when the only unclaimed bag is a rather sorry looking blue backpack that just keeps going around and around.

Déjà vu

So with a sense of déjà vu and a deep breath, I went through the process of reporting my “delayed” not “lost” suitcase.  I wonder if there is a place where blue backpacks go to report a lost traveler?

There’s some comfort in knowing I’m not alone in luggage limbo. When Heathrow Airport opened a new terminal in April, 15,000 pieces of luggage were stranded.  Apparently the worst European airline for losing bags is TAP Air Portugal, followed closely by British Airways.  The best at not losing bags? Air Malta and Turkish Airlines. Go figure.

This time my suitcase didn’t reappear for four days. In the meantime, I was in the Tuscan countryside with one change of underwear, a borrowed rain jacket, my husband’s t-shirt - his luggage of course appeared on cue - could that be because he’s Italian? - and the same pair of grungy pants.

Going with the flow

During those four days I surprised myself at how un-fixated I was on not having my luggage. It seemed to me that this was the perfect opportunity to go with the flow of natural chaos. My suitcase would turn up in its own time. So I decided to not only make the best of it, but have a great time in spite of it.

And yes I did do a little dance of joy when my suitcase was finally delivered to me.  I wish I had attached a nanny cam to find out where suitcases go when they travel without you.

The best part was when one of my retreat companions said, “I’m glad you have your bag…and thank you for not whining while you didn’t.” Seems like going with the flow makes everyone’s experience better.

What your best going with the flow story?

Apparently people waste a lot of time in traffic.

In fact at the Going Green conference held recently in California, it was estimated that Americans lose 3.7 billion hours a year in traffic jams.

3.7 BILLION HOURS!

So there has to be a way to make your time stuck in a traffic jam work for you.

First pay attention to your own and others’ safety.

Then give these 5 ways a try:

• Sit back and observe what’s happening in the cars around you. Notice how they’re handling the chaos. Now here’s the trick. What’s there for you to learn about yourself as you watch them.

• Popular wisdom would say, hey you’ve got a little time on your hands. Catch up on phone calls or blackberry emails. No - the better use of your time is to power off all your electronic devices and take advantage of this little temporary escape from the demands of the world.

• If you’ve flown recently, you’ll know that it is now recommended to do periodic exercises to reduce jetlag and deep vein thrombosis. No reason you can’t do some simple stretches in your car while you are waiting for traffic to get moving. Many airplanes offer sample exercises on their websites.

• Here’s a radical idea. Have a conversation with your travel companion. Not what reality TV show did you watch last night, but a meaningful conversation. Maybe something you’ve been wanting to talk about but haven’t found the time. Here’s my favourite meaningful conversation starter: What currently seems impossible, that if it were possible, would change everything?

• Do nothing. Many people tell me that they don’t have a moment to themselves. Well here’s your chance to take some time. Apparently 3.7 billion hours.

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.