The Art of Chaos
All great changes are preceded by chaos. – Deepak Chopra.
I woke up late. Now I’m late for work. It’s rush hour. There’s a wreck, so much chaos. I didn’t eat breakfast so I took a granola bar and a yogurt cup. I spilled yogurt on my new blouse. I can’t find any good music on the radio station to entertain me while I’m in this traffic jam. I can’t find any parking. I was supposed to have a conference call forty minutes ago. I just locked my keys in the car. What else could go wrong?
According to Murphy’s Law: everything. It states that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” It seems a bit unfair considering that the above scenario is pretty chaotic as it is.
Everywhere we go and everything we do will always be accompanied by one constant factor, whether we notice it or not: disorder.
There will forever be a relative amount of disorder in our lives we cannot control. Some of us see it, some of us stress out about it, and some of us are completely oblivious. To keep this disorder in check, we must spend time and energy on the issues that really take a toll on our lives.
So life will pretty much be chaotic every now and then and it cannot be avoided. I can even back this up scientifically with the Second Law of Thermodynamics and Entropy which is the increasing randomization of energy, or in another light, the increasing amount of disorder in a closed system. Now it’s all obviously at particle scale but in the book “How Life Really Works”, it explains the close relationship between these two concepts and ultimately how it manifests in every aspect of human existence.
Our existence will be randomized. Things will forever hold a tendency to fall apart, unless we put work and effort into it. Chaos will always exist in our lives and the real challenge is how to handle it. What many people fail to see is that there is immense beauty in chaos, mostly from the end result. Being able to pull through a confusing/tough/messy situation with intelligence, craft and poise really is an art. An acquired skill if you must.
Being present upon the worst and most stressful circumstances in life, one has the opportunity to find out what one is really made out of. Chaos will work on your patience, your ability to stay calm, your capacity for problem solving and will help you learn how to think on your feet. Chaos ultimately is an art, an opportunity. The common phrase “nothing good ever comes from something easy” can’t be any truer than true and every pickle you’re in really turns out to be an opportunity to learn and grow.
So the next time you are confronted with a chaotic mess, take a deep breath, trust your instincts, think rationally and take that bull by the horns. Chaos will always have a silver lining, so stay positive!
Share with us your chaotic life experiences and how they have helped you for good!
