Relaxing with Chaos - zen habits

There’s a big part of us that doesn’t like chaos: we want order and simplicity.

• When we feel overwhelmed, we might beat ourselves up and try to look for a system to get things under control.
• When plans don’t go how we hoped they would, we feel like we’re on unsteady ground, and we start criticizing ourselves or feeling like we’re doing things wrong.

If we could do that:

• We would be Ok with the feeling of overwhelm, and not need to panic or feel bad.
• We would simply take the next step and focus on one thing at a time.
• We could put our work out into the world and accept the fact that we will be judged.
• We could be with someone’s upsetness, giving them compassion rather than worrying about whether we’ll be Ok.
• We could meditate, go for a walk, exercise, eat healthy food, deal with our finances, and do all kinds of other simple, helpful actions that we put off when we feel stressed about chaos.