10 Strategies to Transform your Relationship with Overwhelm

If you are someone with goals and dreams it’s not likely you are ever sitting wondering how to fill your time. Overwhelm brings up issues of integrity, authenticity and passion. It will affect your prosperity, your relationships and make you not nice to be around.

Overwhelm is the opposite of peace. Use these strategies to transform your relationship to overwhelm and you will be more effective and will project a more peaceful energy out into the world.

1. Declutter your environment.
Clutter will stop energy moving freely and stop your own creativity and decision-making. Clutter is anything unfinished, unused, unresolved, tolerated or disorganized. If you keep adding more you will overflow. Declutter your physical environment, your address book, and your to-do lists. Be with those things, people and actions that support you in being the best you can be.

2. Balance the elements in your environment.
If you have too much of the wood element you could feel overwhelmed. Wood is represented by the blue and green spectrum of colors, column shapes, wooden objects or plants. You can either reduce the amount of wood in your environment or you could add the metal element, which has the effect of reducing the wood. Metal is represented by the color white or pastels, oval or circular shapes and metal objects.

3. Look for the gift in overwhelm.
Let yourself feel it. Overwhelm is a bit like an addiction – it hides what’s really going on. When you allow it to shut you down you become a victim. Let yourself feel it and discover what it’s hiding. Could be your authenticity, your power, your fear of success or another truth.

4. Where are you out of integrity?
Overwhelm is a sign that something is off. What needs adjusting? Are you being true to yourself? Are you doing what you love? Where do you need to ask for support? Is there something about your life you do not want to see? Where do you need to say “no”?

5. Know your values and goals and be selective about the projects you initiate.
A creative person will come up with many more ideas than they can implement. Make sure the ideas you pursue are in alignment with your values and goals.

6. Know your strengths.
Be ready to delegate and to create alliances with others who have complimentary strengths. When you struggle to improve your weaknesses all you get is strengthened weaknesses and this is a sure recipe for overwhelm.

7. Align your energies by having big goals and going for it.
When you play small to protect yourself from overwhelm you set up conflicting intentions with your goals and dreams. You are pulling in opposite directions. This is one reason why you don’t create the success you could have.

8. Expand your container and create space within it. Overwhelm can be a sign you have outgrown your limitations. You can expand your container by thinking bigger, setting up systems to cope with more clients or business, get help from a virtual assistant. Create more space with journaling, meditation, walking and many of the strategies in this list.

9. Be selective about information that comes your way.
Whether it is television, newspapers or information via the Internet – the world is speeding up. It is said that by the year 2010 the cumulative amount of written information since the beginning of time will double every 11 hours. Trust you will attract what you need when you need it. Most of the paper you keep you never look at again. Most of the information you save on your computer you will never look at again.

10. Practice extreme self-care.
When you are under pressure your self-care is often the first thing to go. You will be more effective and clear headed in challenging times when you are strong.

© 2003, Vicky White. All rights reserved. May be duplicated with attribution and copyright notice intact. www.LifeDesignStrategies.com.