…of our comfort zone about comfort zones.
This past Friday, I posted this to IG…
I’ve written about self-actualization plenty in the past, citing the father of it – Abraham Maslow – and his work as a source of inspiration for my self-exploration and enlightenment.
Maslow provides a framework for realizing one’s ideal, and I’ve always admired how timeless his ideas are. Like the quote from the post above:
At any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth, or to step backward into safety.
This idea was really captivating to me recently, as I’ve been conscious of how incredible it is to strip away my ego and just act from my core, the place where the happy-go-lucky, super-loving, un-hurt Heather abides. And, like I talked about the other day, the ability to choose which energy or emotion dictates our actions is a powerful tool.
In the same way, we can choose to think differently about comfort zones.
The way it goes now is, basically, that people think of their comfort zone as something to step out of. They treat it like a fixed place to which they can return, like a retreat to “safety” from what’s new.
Even that sort of thinking about a supposedly-expansive act is minimizing, limiting, & not truly growth-oriented. Do you see that?
Our comfort zones can change. They can grow to include new places, ideas, & people as we encounter them. They aren’t something to be stepped-out-of. They’re things to be expanded.
I would even propose that the comfort zone is more than in our minds. They ARE our minds.
I notice that when I’m secure in myself, I don’t have to worry much about anything else. When I’m proactive in expressing my joy and peace, not being reactive, I’ve had such great experiences. That’s the thing: peace and joy don’t cause harm to others or to me. And to walk around with that feeling makes me feel capable and looked-after and assured – all the qualities of a comfort zone.
It reminds me of the trip my college team took to Hawaii. Our coach was kind enough to take us early so that we could sightsee and explore and get more experience than just the inside of a gym and hotel – nice move, Coach!
And there I was, half a continent and an entire ocean away from home. Yet, I felt at-peace.
Then, there was the time my mom took me to New York as a graduation gift & I was totally chaotic in my mind – unhappy with my present, unsure about my future, uncomfortable in my own mind… needless to say, I had a few lousy moments.
All of that is to say…
The choice about how to look at all of life is our own. And choice is a powerful thing to wield.
The choices we make that create our lives… those are all our own.
We can choose to think of ourselves (and, therefore, life) as small and limited. Or, we can choose to be courageous and unwilling, this making life bigger.
But I see this as one step above that – to go step deeper and remove even the limitations inherent in the ways we’re taught to think about “freeing” things, to fully own the concept that life is our own mind’s construct which we can, then, take into transcendent levels.
This has applications in all kinds of things, like why religion seems so dead and the methods by which people are brought into and held in the church, personal success from the jobscape to the relationship front, and I’ve even seen it in sports teams’ performances.
Limitations are worth breaking.
Choose big. Live big.
Expand your mind. Expand your life.
What will you choose to be?
Here’s this, too, for whomever wants to post it:
