A storm is a brewing, and it is not in the Caribbean. It is in your head. That storm causes our thoughts to blow wildly in every direction, and they become a vicious cycle that plays havoc with our head, homes and our families.

Have you ever lost your wallet and began searching for it in a frenzy? You know this feeling of not being in control and running around. The frenzy started before you lost your wallet. The frenzy is the reason you lost your wallet in the first place. That frenzy is the storm in your head. My goal is to teach you how to calm this storm.

I can give you all the tools to calm the storm on the outside, but if you have not controlled your thoughts, you are not going to feel the peace that comes with your routines. In fact you may even sabotage that peace because it feels so strange. After all, we have prided ourselves in being able to juggle many balls at one time. This is not virtue; it is a cover-up so that no one will really know what is going on inside your head. You think this makes you look organized.

That storm that is going on in our brains is fueled with self-doubt, perfectionism, guilt, martyrdom and shame. We are not prepared to deal with this storm, so we ignore it. In fact it feels normal to us. We have always been this way. We have pushed and pushed trying to do more and more, and all we ever do is get further behind and racing to catch up. We have to stop the race and off of the track to be able to see what we are doing to ourselves.

Back to that wallet being lost; the frenzy we are in causes us to make mistakes. It is only after we stop ourselves that we are able to find it right in front of our own eyes. We had been overlooking it, because when that frenzy takes over our heads we lose our senses. We can't think; we don't see; we are not listening.

When I start feeling this way, I recognize it pretty fast. I have my routines in place to prevent this. Occasionally this feeling will still come up, but now when I am feeling like I don't know what to do next, I stop all that I am doing and spend five minutes making a plan. It is when I am not prepared that this happens. I take those five short minutes and take my foot off my accelerator. I quit fueling the storm. When you remove the fuel the storm will go out. We can think straight.

I want you to begin to experience moments of calm so that when you are in a frenzy you will know how to get back to that moment and use it to quiet the raging winds and waves. Be still and the peace will come. Quiet your mind by sitting down. The more you get in a hurry, the worse the feeling is going to be. Slow down and set a priority to what has to be done. Do one thing at a time! Not 15 things.

We have to get back to why you are in this frenzy in the first place though. Establishing simple routines is going to help you be prepared for the storm when it does come. Find your QUIET place! Take a time-out to calm yourself and focus on what needs to be done next. This is what you do with your quiet time: Prioritize those 15 things on a piece of paper and then you have a plan. Start with first things first. Move down your list. The five minutes you spend in your quiet place will calm this storm and give you the tools to stop the wind from blowing to the land of chaos and frenzy. Are you ready to FLY with a plan for preparedness in any storm of life?

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For more help getting rid of your chaos, check out: www.flylady.net. Also see Cilley's book, "Sink Reflections" and her new book, "Body Clutter." Copyright 2006 Marla Cilley, used by permission in this publication.