Overwhelmed?

Shortly after I learned about the principle of focusing on what we want, I found an unexpected way to apply what I had learned. It had been one of those frantic days-I was rushing from picking kids up from school, to the store, to ballet, and back home again. Then I was hollering at my son to change into soccer clothes while throwing something together to feed them so we could rush off late to soccer games. (I won't even get into the drama of mismatched soccer socks!)

I arrived at the game late, running with a baby on one hip and an overflowing bag and soccer chair on the other. I sat down with a whoosh and started giving my baby her dinner while making phone calls on my cell phone, trying to take care of some unfinished tasks. Sound familiar?

When I walked back into my house that night, I was tempted to collapse on the couch and do a major overwhelm. The counter was covered in groceries, homework still needed to be done, and it all seemed impossible. Granted, it had been a busy day, and I had every right to give up and call it a day. Turn the TV on, check out, whatever. But really, that wasn't what I wanted.

So, instead of collapsing on the couch, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and started to picture what I really wanted. I visualized clear counters, homework done, putting my kids to bed in a house of order, taking a few calm minutes with each child before they went to sleep, and finally turning lights off and getting to bed early myself.

The first thing that happened was that I felt energized. It was like the feelings of being overwhelmed, hopeless, and frustrated slipped out of my body and slinked away. I had hope again. It's amazing where you can go when you have hope!

Then next thing that happened was that solutions began to occur to me that had been invisible just moments before. I got to work on those solutions.

The last thing that happened was that I was able to enlist the help and cooperation of my family with my positive, solution oriented energy and things came together quickly after that. Had I attempted the same with my family before my energy changed, I would have encountered more resistance.

That night I went to bed on time with a clean house and a peaceful feeling in my heart and in my home. I had spent quality time with my kids and had received what I had hoped for: peace and order.

When we give in to the overwhelm, things tend to spiral out of control, farther and farther from what we really want. Our frustration and feelings of helplessness increase.

Now when I start to feel tempted to 'do an overwhelm', I stop, close my eyes, and change my focus from what's wrong to what I want. Everything doesn't always match my vision exactly, but I consistently feel hopeful and energized instead of overwhelmed.

Solutions I might be blocking with the negative feelings, are free to present themselves, and in the end I feel peaceful regardless of how the circumstances turn out.