When I returned home to Maryland, all mail, all errands, all my clients, and all my self-imposed deadlines and other's deadlines were waiting for me.

I unpacked (although I still have a couple of files in my computer case I need to get out and put away) and started making a pile here and a pile there. Some in kitchen, some in living room, some in bedroom, and some really big piles in my office!

I didn't even touch mail for first three days. I didn't want to look at or deal with mail or bills. I wanted to start spring-cleaning. All my clothes needed washed, dried, and put away.

As I looked around, all I could think was, "I'm becoming my clients. No time to think about this now. I have to finish my book, create CD labels, burn 100 CD's and put labels on them. Oh MY GOD! I forgot to order blank CD's and labels before I left for Florida. I need them today. Okay, I'll just call and order today and get them shipped overnight. I still have to write newsletter, return phone calls, reply to emails, and oh, I just want some really good sleep!"

The shipment came, as promised, next day. I ripped open boxes, got everything out and started working, leaving packing material and boxes lie, wherever… See Janet's Messy Office

I'm writing, researching, and tossing books here and there. I didn't care at that point. I thought, "I have great systems in place so when all this is over I can easily get everything back into shape, put stuff where it belongs, and get my world back into balance.

And so I have. After finishing book, labels, CD's, returning calls and emails, and still working with clients I tackled my office. It took me just two hours to get everything in place and put away because I have a sorting and de-cluttering system, "The 5 W's of Organizing, a TEASER, and a TICKLE". And it works! See Janet's Clean Office.

We all have our own ups and downs in life; life happens. We each ride waves from same Universe.

When everything is going 'just right,' we are riding our up waves; sometimes not even paying attention to our good 'fortune.'

When things are going wrong we feel we are being slapped silly by waves; causing us to tumble, crash, and sink to bottom and depths of darkness, and asking ourselves, "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

But what goes down MUST come back up!

So what can you do to help get your world back into balance, and make your down waves less powerful?

Start by getting organized. >>Create or find a common 'home' or zone for your things to live. >>KNOW what to do with your stuff (do you really need or when will you use?) >>Have systems and procedures in place.

Knowing where things "live" and how things are handled can sure make life a little easier for those 'off balance' days that we all experience.

Now I really must go. I still have to get out newsletter, send out products, send out speaking materials, get ready for two presentations, do my taxes, take a test, read ten new books, and, oh yeah, plant some pansies in garden and pick some asparagus.

Aha! Life is finally back to normal.

Smiles, not Piles,

Copyright (c) 2002 by OverHall Consulting P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy, or distribute this article so long as article is kept intact, this copyright notice, and full information about author is attached.

“Now, everybody was happy and satisfied. Neither my wife nor I wanted more children, but suddenly 18 months later third son was born. Actually, we didn’t plan to have him but this smart guy appeared notwithstanding! Well, there’s a fallacy that a nursing woman can’t get pregnant. I think many couples make same mistake. At least whenever I see children of whom one is a year older than other (like our second and third sons) I think their parents thought that way.

“We did a lot of thinking to name third son and then suddenly I said he would be called Fyodor. Neither my wife nor I had relatives or ancestors with this name and everybody was surprised and unhappy with my idea. But I insisted because I was absolutely sure that it was right name for boy. Later on I found in book describing baby names meanings that Fyodor means "given by God". Indeed boy was given by God. All our relatives later on agreed I had made right choice.

Q – Pavel, you say this son was given by God. But don’t you think any baby is given by God?

A – Oh, yes, of course. But people believe they can plan their family: how many children to have, when to get them born, even to choose if it will be a boy or a girl. Fyodor was absolutely out of planning. God decided for us that we would have him. And something interesting that I didn’t know meaning of name when I thought he would be called Fyodor. But meaning of name proved to be just to point.