For many years I have provided workshops on managing change. 

While I am good at planning & thinking ahead, I had no idea how important that info would be in my life as I MOVED & MOVED is the important word in that sentence.

I moved from Maine to Florida to Washington state in a 6 month time span. 

One doesn’t have to be “Maxwell Smart” to find themselves in a battle with “Chaos”.

So…how many ways can I track the change, challenge & chaos that has occurred in my life? Lots!

As I read over the previous list I find lots of challenge & change but not much chaos.

Perhaps the chaos was avoided by these TOOLS:

1.  PLANNING - what to keep & what to get rid of, storage space limitations, packing supplies & shipping costs,

    how the packing & actual move would take place, notification to my friends & reminding myself &

    everyone around me to practice patience & to BREATH.

2. EXCITEMENT & CREATIVITY - every move provides the exciting opportunity to make changes & to be creative. I       chose the colors of the walls in my new location. I created individual personal & work areas that reflect my    

    uniqueness. The areas join together to make an inviting space that is cohesive while both stimulating & calming.

3. CLEANSING - why keep what can be tossed? As I packed, I sorted & threw. I also threw away as I unpacked.  

    Either way, I took stock of what had great value, marginal value & none. I kept the important & necessary.

    I jettisoned the rest.

FINALLY -

• I said goodbye – to the house I had lived in for so long, my friends, my job, my church.

      Even the familiarity of the roads I so often traveled.

• & hello to the new spaces – office, bedroom, yard, neighborhood, stores, church & other facilities.

• hello to new relationships – people at church, people I work with, customers, my new relationship manager & so many more.

In my adult life I have always held a special event, a Ritual, to mark my new space. 

I talked about Ritual on the Joy video and will do an Elevator segment soon. 

It is a part of who we are as living creatures.

We hold open houses & mortgage burnings. Animals do it & so do humans. 

I decided that once is not enough to celebrate my new start in Washington so I held an Annual Open House

Kwanzaa Celebration the Sunday between Christmas & New Years every December that I lived in Washington.

Now that I live in Florida, at some point, I plan to resume my annual Ritual. 

Plan your own & celebrate the accomplishment of Challenge over chaos.

Stepping off to prepare next weeks' Elevator - Problem Solving via Puzzle Pieces" Bye, bye -

Marta