June 28, 2007
The Boundaries Of Experience
Expanding Your Comfort Zone
None of us are born with a guidebook that provides explicit rules for thought and behavior that will enable us to navigate life successfully. To cope with the myriad of complexities to which all of humanity is subject, we each develop a set of habits and routines that ground us, their continuity assuring us that life is progressing normally. Most of us know, whether instinctively or by experience, that transformations can be uncomfortable, but we always learn and gain so much. Any initial discomfort we experience when expanding our comfort zones diminishes gradually as we both become accustomed to change and begin to understand that temporary discomfort is a small price to pay for the evolution of our soul.
Your current comfort zone did, at one time, serve a purpose in your life. But it is representative of behaviors and patterns of thought that empowered you to cope with challenges of days past. Now, this comfort zone does little to facilitate the growth you wish to achieve in the present. Leaving your comfort zone behind through personal expansion of any kind can prepare you to take the larger leaps of faith that will, in time, help you refine your purpose. Work your way outward at your own pace, and try not to let your discomfort interfere with your resolve. With the passage of each well-earned triumph, you will have grown and your comfort zone will have expanded to accommodate this evolution.
Whether your comfort zone is living with your parents, or perhaps being too shy to socialize, or maybe it’s not realizing your spirit self—whatever it is, start small, and you will discover that venturing beyond the limited comfort zone you now cling to is not as stressful an experience as you imagined it might be. And the joy you feel upon challenging yourself in this way will nearly always outweigh your discomfort. As you continue to expand your comfort zone to include new ideas, activities, goals, and experiences, you will see that you are capable of stimulating change and coping with the fresh challenges that accompany it.
i work for a bank and im on the phone all the time. its mad monotonous and it got on my nerve like yesterday. i tell myself that with the job comes a reliable health insurance plan. i don’t need a medic to tell me how good aetna is. i am the happy recipient. each infusion that i go for is $16,000. i only pay for the drs visit. i begin my new schedule this sunday. its an earlier shift. my doggs, my sanity and body will be forever grateful for the change. with it, comes a decrease pay rise which when talled at the end of the year its about $1,200. i am very, very nervous. each penny, cent, dollar goes a long way especially since the last one year or so, i’ve been working less than 40 hrs. i don’t want to dwell on the decrease of my pay. yet. its right there. on the tilting scale comes the exhaustion that constantly wears my body down. since the surgery last year, i haven’t fully regained my strength. & i’m thinking with an earlier shift coupled with the medication and infusion, plus the change of diet.. hardly eating meat.. i may get back into yoga.. yea!! & then, i read daily om. faith. faith. faith…
