Sure expansion is easy--hire more people, create more space, and build on what we have today--simply put, we do more of what we are doing today only bigger... or do we?

Shear Services' product demand grew exponentially over two years and so did the company's staff. In year 3 they nearly had to close their doors not due to product demand receding. It was just the opposite, they simply couldn't keep up with the business growth and customers were turning else where. On top of which, they -the people in organization--were simply burning out. Business as usual was killing them.  Stress and tension was high, the usual light atmosphere was replaced with harried conversations and "barking", customers were left hanging- orders not being filled and service was chaotic -and the open communication between departments was gone. Who had time to communicate anymore?

What could have gone wrong? All was fine during the first two years of adding staff and services, then suddenly in what seemed like all at once everything fell apart. Every system can handle growth to a point then needs to re-organize in order to stay healthy.  If you have ever taken up a new exercise program, you might have noticed that just as you become comfortable with the growth, the high of continuous muscular development, you may become ill, disengaged, tired, need a break or find it too much to continue. This is the critical juncture point where either you quit or commit to continuing. Quitting is easy, but continuing is not just the bullheaded staying the course. It often means allowing your body to rest, adjusting your diet and then making changes in your exercise regimen to accommodate your new developmental  needs... possibly changing the type of exercise, the amount, etc. What is a constant is that some point we reach a point that continuing to do the same thing does not meet our needs, may actually be physically detrimental to our bodies and we need to evaluate and assess where we are, take the time to incorporate changes in our physical system. Too much of the same--exercising the same muscles--can actually cause those muscles great damage.

Managing growth is no different. There comes a point the procedure and processes can no longer handle the growth and still support the system. They become unwieldy and burdensome and have a negative impact where they once were the lifeblood of the organization. 

Staying in touch with where you in the course of change can mean the difference between short term growth, followed by sudden death and sustainable, healthy growth. Is your organization growing or changing? How has the rhythm of the organization changed? ...the atmosphere? Where are their new needs? ...old systems that are overburdened? What warning signs do you see that might indicate it is time to take a break? re-evaluate where you are and celebrate where you have come from before taking the next steps?  Is the energy grounded, alive and creative or frenzied, stressful, harried? Is it time to take radical steps to support radical changes in the organization? 

Is there some changes in your own that you have committed to that may need re-assessing?

How many times do we reach our fill and scream at the smallest things? Marlene was brought up properly -- was taught to learn tolerate things she didn't like, things that irritated her. As time went on, tolerate became a word that made her cringe. She just reached the point that she had tolerated so much that all the toleration has built up inside of her and was ready explode! She was known to get upset about hair in the sink, end a relationship because of the way the toothpaste was squeezed, ground her son for saying "good morning" with a smile of his face...

She was so sensitive that it was hard to say what would set her off. The one thing that was for sure, was that it wasn't actually the hair in the sink! Knowing this frustrated her even more than the situation itself. She felt out of control. The more she tried to control her reactions, the worse it got. ...and she tried everything from deep breathing to talking things out with a friend to behavior modification techniques on herself! Nothing worked.

Finally, she tried one last resort... it was a stretch... every time something annoyed her, she took a moment to acknowledge that it annoyed her. Then, she accepted the feeling of annoyance or whatever the feeling was that came up. Then, as the feeling passed, she was able to make a decision what she wanted to do about it.  Through the simple act of accepting her feelings, she began to relax. She no loner had to tolerate her feelings.  She no longer tried to push these feelings aside, and in so doing, jamming tem inside of herself. By accepting them, she gave them the space they needed to be felt and released. In a few weeks, her life began to change. Marlene found herself laughing more (even at herself), she was getting in touch with parts of herself that she felt lost long ago, people were treating her better, and her professional as well as private life felt more satisfied. The simple act accepting her feelings, rippled positively throughout her life.

The End of Stress as We Know It , Bruce McEwen, Ph.D., head of the neuron-endocrinology laboratory at RockefellerUniversity and author of the National Academies Press, 2002

"Stress is a positive experience if there is a feeling of control and satisfaction. You need challenges," and challenges along with small stressors help us stay healthy. While the book is a bit technical, it will raise your awareness of the value of stress in your life the impact of too much.

Slowly, take 10 breaths. No mater what you are doing at the moment, you can take a few seconds and take 10 slow deep breaths, concentrating on your breathing as you do so.

... or look off at some far away point and allow your concentration to center on that point, slowly  taking in as much detail as you can. Notice whatever tension you may have in body and simply accept it.

How many times have I avoided issues around money - asking for a raise, setting fair prices, contract negotiations, even asking for the correct change at a check out counter has caused me stress in the past. Actually it is not dealing with money matters, I recently learned that causes me stress--it is the thought of having to deal with money matters. I worry about what other people think, what might happen, am I really worth it, even thoughts like... do I have a right to ask. Many times in my life I took what was offered and let go of what I wanted. Then, I resented the results--not myself for not negotiating, but my boss for not knowing what I needed or blamed the cashier for making a mistake and cheating me....

These past couples of weeks have been filled with contract negotiations for several purposes--all elated to change -- investment issues, billing issues, payment issues, personal finance issues, bank changes - an extensive array of finance issues. I started out thinking of all this with nothing less than a stress headache and tension the night before. Slowly, as the weeks progressed, I decided it was time to use this time as an opportunity--why not, what did I have to loose, if I continued the way I was I would probably give myself a nervous breakdown anyway. Under normal circumstances, I could have just lived with my normal stress of having financial conversations. However, this time there was so much going on the stress, not the issues, were getting the best of me!

For the first time in months, I started listening to my thoughts around these issues and started "tapping" (using The EFT process) on these issues. Admittedly, even after 5 years of using and teaching EFT, I felt awkward. Yet, as I allowed myself this extra space to explore my thoughts and except them something strange happened. I started to look forward to these conversations. I had the most delightful contract negotiation with a colleague, learned about some exciting places to explore from my banker... every contact has resulted in stronger and clearer relationships.