How to Stay Calm in the Chaos When Things Don’t Go as Planned

Last week I told you about manifesting a miraculous new home. And I promised to share about the adventure of moving (which we’re still doing). I’ve had people tell me that my life looks so perfect, so this message is to pull back the curtain and show you how there is often chaos and what helps me stay calm and centred. 

I have clients who talk about wanting to be in the flow and express concern about not being in the flow. Personally, I feel like I’m always in the flow and just like in a river, that doesn’t mean that it’s just water, river banks and sun. Rivers have rocks, rapids, eddies, fallen branches, and even the occasional shopping cart. Here’s how to navigate those obstacles. 

Moving Challenge #1

We have A LOT of art; 6-foot original paintings, carvings my husband has created, family photos and pieces from our travels. As I was removing a wood and glass frame from the wall, the surprisingly thick glass slipped out and landed on my fourth toe. I don’t know how it managed to single that toe out, but it did and man, did it hurt! Several layers of skin left the premises and I was rendered immobile. 

My son rushed downstairs because I must have emitted some sort of primal sound, along with some tears. He said, “Just breathe, Mommy. Do some Central Channel Breathing!” (Hooray - evidence that my teenage son is hearing what I’ve been saying to him for years!)

I focused all my attention on the very centre of the pain and breathe I did. I was shocked at how quickly the pain subsided. It looked worse than it felt and it really gave me no other issue. 

Solution: Breathe through discomfort (it works in every situation)

Moving Challenge #2

My dad used to travel a lot for work and one of his trips took him to China. I was always excited when he would come home because he brought gifts for me and my sister. I’ve always cherished the gift he brought from China. It was a very delicate hand-painted glass bowl, about as thin as a piece of paper. 

We’ve moved many times, and I’ve always transported this particular piece by hand, holding it on my lap as we drove. When we got to our new home, I carefully placed it out of the way. (Any guesses where this is going?)

A few days into the move, to make a longer story short-ish, my husband inadvertently broke the bowl. 

Here’s what I didn’t do: get mad and say blamey-type things to Paul. Here’s another thing I didn’t do: pretend I didn’t care and suppress the emotion. These approaches would have been my old go-to’s, but in this case, I chose something different. 

I allowed myself to feel sad and cry. I stayed quiet in terms of words. I let Paul hug me and I let the bowl go. Another thing that helps me when something breaks is to just understand that objects have a lifespan and when they’re done, it’s best to let go. What’s really important to remember is the truth that my dad loves me and I don’t need a bowl to prove it. 

Solution: Honour and embrace the emotions that come up, practice detachment and focus on the truth

Moving Challenge #3

Although we’ve moved a number of times (this would be our fourth move in less than 10 years), we somehow didn’t make arrangements for our wifi to move along with us until the week of the move. Ultimately, that meant that we were TEN DAYS WITHOUT WIFI!

I don’t know if you’ve had the same experience, but life can get really challenging without Wifi, especially when that’s where all your work happens. 

Paul tried multiple times to get the date moved up, but I guess a lot of other people moved too and the technicians are a hot commodity. 

For this challenge, we got to exercise our creativity muscles and flex our solution-oriented approach. It meant an inconvenience, for sure, travelling back and forth between our old place and the new one most days, but I chose to see the situation as an opportunity to feel wealthy. 

I mean, I had an entire residence just for my work, plus we had our new home! That’s wealthy!

We watched some movies at the grandparents’ places on their giant screens. (We only have a laptop.) That’s wealthy!

And we spent time connecting with each other offline doing things like playing cards, reading together, and going on picnics. That’s wealthy!

Solution: When something doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, release the preference of your plan and look for creative solutions instead

There you have it; this week’s life lessons packaged up in the circumstance of moving challenges. Hopefully, you got some good tips on how to stay calm in the chaos using self-care strategies like breathing purposefully, being masterful with your thoughts, embracing what is and looking for creative solutions. 

Now I’m going to go tackle the giant pile of belongings in the basement that don’t have a home. (Wouldn’t that be funny if I literally tackled the pile? I have a feeling that I would need to do a lot more breathing for pain if I did that, seeing as how the pile includes objects like wire baskets, tools and skates…)

Wishing you a week filled with all sorts of solutions and precious moments. 

With mobile love and creative courage, 

Christina

>Descended from gypsies, so of course I like moving

>So, so happy in our much quieter new location

>Almost finished the final stages of getting my children’s book published! I’m so excited! It looks gorgeous. I’ll keep you posted. 

PS - Hawaiian Healing Ritual is happening this Thursday. It will also help you feel calm in the chaos. Click here for details and to register.

PPS - Free Body Awake Yoga class is happening this Friday. If you’re not already part of the community, click here to register.