Choosing Expansion over Comfort
Comfort is overrated.
When I say this I am not referring to the verb “to comfort” directed toward oneself and another; the kindness between people showing understanding and compassion. I mean the “stay in your comfort zone” '“don’t go outside of the known” kind of comfort. When we aim for the “comforts” we can be eliminating life’s challenges. Let me give an example. On a physical level, most likely you and I have enough. In fact we most likely have excess. We have extra of a lot of things. Let me list just some of my “extras”:
clothes. I have enough outfits to wear a different one every day for at least several months.
Teabags. Oh friend, I have hundreds of tea bags: herbal, medicine, caffeinated, decaffeinated … because, who knows when I or a guest will need a teabag? I have books galore. Book cases full of books plus stacks of books on the floor.
I have the comfort of choosing the food I’m going to eat. Each one of us in America can go to a store and purchase food products from around the world. This means we can buy food that isn’t native to our region and isn’t ripe our time of year.
My home thermostat is set at 68. Year round I walk inside and viola! I am at 68 degrees. I have a car to go to the store. I don’t need to walk there nor do I need to carry food on my back. I put it in an air conditioned or heated car to drive it home. Comfort. Comfort. Comfort.
I just finished reading a book entitled Good Stress. The author healed himself from diabetes by changing the way he eats, exercises, and allows his physical body to be stressed intentionally placing himself out of the comfort zone. This means fasting at times. It also means putting his body in excessive heat conditions like a sauna or hot tub and placing himself in cold situations like cold plunges. It means strenuous movement of the body. When our body is “challenged” it is made stronger.
So too it is with our emotional self. When we go outside of our comfort zone and experience something unknown we are given the opportunity to lean into Spirit for our support. This kind of stress is different than remaining in a toxic relationship or doing a job that isn’t ours to do. Wrong job or relationship stress can wear on the entire being and create illness. Shamans have a name for this “Soul Sickness” — cores stresses when we are out of alignment with our Soul harm our body. The only form of healing is to return to alignment. Isn’t that interesting? I’m speaking not speaking to this, but instead of the courage to stretch toward challenges which shift our ideas of limitation. I’m talking about facing our fears, befriending them, and going beyond them…outside the comfort zone.
As I’m honest with myself I have become physically and emotionally lazy and ran into the comfort zone often. As of late I am challenging myself to expand. To be present to what is, to listen to my self talk in the moment and to go higher when needed.
The wisdom in all of this is to know when to place myself in the comfort zone for needed care and when to push myself outside of it for expansion. To know when an emotional expansion is toxic or a useful stress. And to take all of my actions out of a place of Guidance.
Sending you Oodles of Love,
