What to do when things don’t go exactly as you planned?

I have recently completed a 6-month process of moving from one home into another home. The journey appears to have been one of four distinct phases.

Phase 1 began in June with the decision to actually sell the house we had been living in for four years. This decision kicked off a flurry of activity to get the house ready for sale. This meant undertaking a few, minor repairs around the house, giving the house a good and thorough cleaning, and eliminating the clutter that had built up over the years.

Phase 2 began in July when the ‘For Sale’ sign went up in front of the house. This Phase was marked by keeping the house extraordinarily clean at all times and having to vacate the house whenever a potential buyer wanted to come and view the house.

Once the house sold at the beginning of September, Phase 3 began. Phase 3 was all about finding a new home to move to. We found a new home in mid-October.

Phase 4, the final stage that we just completed, included packing up the house we had been living in and moving to our new home. This Phase had the very interesting element of beginning renovations of our new home before we moved in.

In each of the four Phases mentioned above, there were times when things did not go exactly as planned (said with a smile on my face…). My approach to each of these little (some were big) hiccups was to reset the ‘plan’ and carry on. Until, of course, the next hiccup came along and then another adjustment was made.

Each time I made an adjustment, however, I could feel the tension building. I was losing control. The situation had created its own energy and I was caught up in that energy of change. As the tension built, I felt more and more like I was trying to swim upstream, against the current.

It was only when I was able to ‘let go’ and ‘go with the flow’ of the current that the tension was released. And that moment of release was always met with laughter. When things became too intense, too insane, too crazy, I would just laugh.

So…what to do when things don’t go exactly as planned? Just laugh. In that laughter is the divine wisdom that life is not happening to you, but life is happening for you. In that laughter is the surrender to the events around you. In that laughter is your freedom and peace.

There is a saying, ‘we plan and God laughs.’ I invite you to laugh along with him/her. J

In laughter…