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TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

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Finding Peace In The Midst Of Chaos

And then one day I decided that hurry and stress were no longer going to be part of my life.  Stress is self-created; I decided to stop manufacturing it.  We can choose an internal calm and joy even amid the chaos.

–Brendon Burchard

In times of uncertainty, you tend to fill in the blanks in your life, so that you give yourself a feeling of some sort of control.  I can’t control COVID-19; I can’t control political upheaval; I can’t control rioting in the streets.

But I can control what?  Most people tend to talk to themselves in a negative way.  Most people tend to answer chaos and uncertainty with more inner chaos.  Instead, try something different.

“Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos, where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.” – John O’Donohue

The question to ask yourself is – does this feed the chaos, or my inner peace?  What you need is a change of consciousness.  A decision to stop producing stress and instead choose inner calm and peace.

  • You can control what you watch, read, or listen to – Does it build you up?  Does it make you laugh?  Does it energize you?  Does it bring you joy?
  • You can control the discussions you participate in with others.  If they are not upbuilding conversations, walk away.
  • You can control the music you listen to, helping you to release emotions that need releasing.
  • You can do things that bring feelings of joy back into your life.
  • You can control what you are feeding your heart, mind, soul, and body.

If everyone were to exercise these kinds of controls, it would end all wars, eliminate conflicts, and prevent injustice.

“Staying positive doesn’t mean you have to be happy all the time. It means that even on hard days you know that there are better ones coming.” – QuotesCollective.com

“Peace.  It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.  It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”  – Simple Reminders

Pinchmeliving.com has a great meme with 10 Truths You Need to Know for Inner-Peace & Happiness.

  • It’s impossible for anyone else to define you, you’re the only one who gets to say who you are.
  • You were born with everything you need, you’re not missing anything.
  • Perfection is a man-made illusion, we’re all beautifully imperfect.
  • You are NOT your thoughts, you are the calm awareness behind the noise in your mind.
  • Your beliefs can be modified to lift you up, you are fully in control of your happiness.
  • The past and future don’t exist anywhere except in your mind.  Now is the only real moment.
  • Your calling in life is to fully express who you already are, unapologetically shine your light.
  • Challenges are gifts for your growth and can unlock your full potential.
  • Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself, to be free.
  • Surrender is the gateway to sustainable inner peace.  Let go.
  • credit to Pinchmeliving.com

In finding your inner peace, the path leads through resilience.  It’s about focusing on this present moment.  You are trying to have an important phone call.  One child is hugging you and the other wants you to pay attention to the cat.  You have a choice in this moment.  You can go into chaos and frustration, or you can practice resilience by hugging your daughter at the same time you are talking on the phone.  You can practice resilience by telling your children to wait a few minutes, and they can have your complete attention.  Then once their needs are filled, you can give them something to do, and go back to the work that you are doing.

When life throws lemons into your well-planned schedule, you have a choice to practice resilience.

Resilience has the component of compromise within it.  When life throws lemons into your well-planned schedule, you have a choice to practice resilience.  You can focus on the negative things that just happened, with pain, anger, grief, and fear and let the bitterness eat at your soul.  Or, you reach back into your resilience pool and focus on the present moment.  Focus on what is still good in your situation.  Focus on gratitude.  Focus on peace.  Focus on all of the magic that is still in your life.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

In a storm like a tornado or a hurricane, there is a calm center, in life, you have to find this calm center deep within yourself.  When everyone else is running around crazy, you do not have to buy into the chaos.  It’s a matter of practice, but once you’ve been in this calm centeredness a few times, it becomes easy to immediately place that peace like a protective bubble around you.  It really is a simple decision that anyone can make, to stand in the center of their own peace.

“We can weather anything if we stay calm in the eye of the storm” – Lolly Daskal

Ask yourself:

  • What am I grateful for today?
  • Who am I connecting with “my heart to their heart” today?
  • What expectations of “normal” in my life am I letting go of today?
  • What beauty in the world am I creating today?
  • How am I walking in beauty today?
  • Which difference can I make today?

The answers to these questions will help you evaluate your mental health and progress during the journey. It is also essential that you get a professional to help you through the journey. Professional counselors and psychologists will also help you let out your frustrations while offering sound advice in your healing journey.

Telehealth for anxiety provides a comfortable option where you can get professional help at the comfort of your home. They offer high-quality services while bridging the difference in time and distance. It assures you of confidentiality and privacy.

It is also easy to involve your family in this journey without disrupting their regular schedule. You will only need to book an appointment and prepare your devices for the meeting. You will need to use the necessary software that will assist you to connect with them.

On the first Saturday of every month, we get together on Zoom to talk about our challenges, to encourage each other, and inspire to continue on our individual journeys. Telehealth also has options for group or individual sessions that can help in your journey. You can organize joint meetings with the professionals. As we share the lessons of each one’s individual journey, resilience is grown for everyone. Join us for the next conversation and become even more inspired to reach out and pull your dreams into reality.

Sheryl Silbaugh
Sheryl Silbaughhttp://lemonademakers.org/
SHERYL Silbaugh is a writer, speaker, and transformational coach. She is a Director at Bank of America. She is the founder of LemonadeMakers.org created to inspire people to transform grief into gold. In April 2010, Sheryl suffered the loss of her nephew, who was randomly killed by a gang member. The idea of LemonadeMakers came from her grief. She experienced firsthand the creative power of transformation. She started a small Facebook presence that has grown from 500 followers in July 2015 to over 47,300 in March 2017. She demonstrates how to take life’s lemons and make lemonade. She is a skilled guide for those experiencing transition or loss. When we let go of what no longer serves us, and open ourselves to our soul’s calling, we uncover the treasures of our experience and can let the rest blow away on the winds of healing. She aims to support people to create transformation in every area of their lives. She provides insights on how to collaborate together to manifest their dreams in The LemonadeMakers Club. She teaches how to explore our inner and outer world to see what needs to be transformed. She is gifted in her ability to see patterns in human behavior and asks just the right questions to start unlocking the doors to your life purpose and the unique personal genius that we all have. Her book, “Timeless Treasures” will be published the summer of 2017, a collection of over 90 essays on transformation.

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CONVERSATIONS

  1. Interesting issue.
    Living in the midst of chaos is never easy and the situation becomes complicated when the disorder belongs to our unconscious.
    The only thing left for us to do is find calm, only this feeling will dominate the fear, fear and panic that rampant in the inner and outer chaos. In life sooner or later comes that moment when we feel overwhelmed by what we live, by what we feel and when the feeling of helplessness takes over takes over. And that’s what scares most of all: the awareness that there is nothing we can do to change things.
    The habit then to always keep everything under control that belongs to contemporary society, makes us find bewildered when an unexpected event occurs at our door and opens it, without knocking. It is in these moments that calm is the only attitude we can take so that everything will be fine.
    In contexts of uncertainty, anxiety increases enormously and only by acquiring the awareness that we cannot control everything will we find peace. Because the key to everything is not to solve a situation at any cost but to choose how to react. When all this becomes clear to us, we would have found the calm we need to continue to stay in balance, even in the most deafening chaos.

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