Photo: D. Paul Graham, “Where’s Batman When You Need Him?”, Artist Unknown, Venice Beach, CA circa 2014

“Monday 5 Things”™  ….. Clarity from Chaos …..

Messy. Confused. Cluttered. Sloppy. Disordered. Unruly. Hectic. Frenzied. If a word can sum up what is going on in the world right now, it’s chaotic. For those moments when I become agitated at chaotic events that are affecting all of our lives, whether the chaos is personal, political, local or global, I try to take a moment to sit back, take a breath, and appreciate that chaos, when acted on, can produce stability. Anais Nin, summed up the correlation beautifully when she said that “in chaos there is fertility”. Today M5T looks at the reciprocal bonds of chaos, change, and constancy.

1. Organize

Chaos can be an occasion to organize, to bring order into seemingly hopeless situations. It creates opportunities to reverse a decline or fill a void.

2. Catalyst

Chaos can be a catalyst for change. It can be a call to action. It challenges us to travel in a different direction. It can shake up our neutrality. It moves us to decide if we are going to continue to straddle the proverbial fence.

3. Transform

Chaos engenders energy. It can transform. It can challenge us to do something, anything. It can force a call to act, empowering us to exploit entropy.

4. Sever

Chaos can amputate ambiguity. Our reaction to chaos can be to cut out the negative, clarify uncertainty, and allow for recovery from insecurities.

5. Genesis

Chaos can be the genesis of growth. It moves us out of our far too comfortable zones of complacency. It can motivate for the positive, make us more compassionate, less selfish, and can renew or realign focus on finding and living the truth.

Here’s to a week of creating clarity from the chaos that surrounds and invades your life.

© 2023 D. Paul Graham, all rights reserved.

For over 11 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as M5T. You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com