Breaking out of Comfort Zones

[Lynn]

Hello

Lets explore that omfort zone that all too often we find ourself in and we get stuck on what I call the "Hamster Wheel" of life. Where the hamster will get on his wheel and go round and round for a bit, tire and get off we go round and round. Why ?

What keeps us in those patterns of comforts....habits at times I guess but on the deeper spiritual level what keeps us there?

What I am looking to share is those inspirational stories where we did step way out of that comfort zone and got off that hamster wheel and it moved us forwards in life.

For me that was the Summer of 2012.....I traveled to England.....to meet "Heart" a member here on SF, not for LOVe but to travel and see some of England. For everyone that knows me they were "Stunned" that is not me, I had never traveled, never been away from home alone....more than that we camped the whole time, I am a 5 Star Girl in lifestyle. Again out of that comfort zone....I wanted to see England from his eyes. From ground level no tours just freedom.

I had the time if me life....and he moved here to live with me and me family....we met on SF in 2009 and became good friends.

So what have I learned about me since then....that I am a lot stronger person that I ever thought of....that I can step into new situations, and new experiences and be OK. That when ye trust that ye are going to be OK ye will be OK.

Lynn

[silent whisper]

I suppose I do it every day...not one thing so much.....being open to all life's discomfort/uncomfortable moments, in all forms can open your comfort zone levels, if you allow yourself to step outside your own ideas, emotions, stories, heart space..etc..

[Mr Interesting]

What comes to me is my comfort zone comes with me and I noticed it agin today... it's especially prevalent, or noticable, when I'm driving. Cars get out of my way and lights are more often with me, it's almost like there aren't any other cars on the road.

But, and I think this is it, I'm so much more meditative when I drive now and I don't mind stopping and starting or other drivers being inconsiderate or pushy... it doesn't matter. I can even kind of sense that stuff and just go with it and draw back.

It's like Silent says about just going into whatever and letting whatever be what it may and it then becomes a new type of comfort zone. Instead of you or me trying to make the world suit us and what we define as comfort the world suits itself to us and defines it's comfort... which is our, the world and ours, new comfort.

But yes, it does start with being where you might be uncomfortable and realising the deepest parts of us don't really need as much as we thought we did. That we really can embrace so much more than we might define for ourselves. And eventually bring and spread that comfort out into the world.

[Clover]

That's a nice story,Lynn. I can imagine traveling across another continent is pretty extreme as is,glad it worked out for you. I've been friends with a group of people I met on a message board 9-10 years ago. BUT I have never met them in person,they all live in California.:icon_frown:


As for my personal experience.I would say the first time I left my husband and lived without him for a period of time was definitely out of my comfort zone. I think breaking any long term relationship is very uncomfortable as is, imagine breaking up a marriage.:sad3: However,me leaving was a very good learning experience for both the husband and I. It was devastating, crushing and uncomfortable at first, but separating actually made us stronger as individuals.It really awakened us both and forced us to see our faults and weaknesses.If anything,the separation taught us that couples really need time apart. A good fresh breath apart,time away is good. Now,I leave for a good week to my mother's house for vacation and it's OK for the both of us. We miss each other more and we learn to build a trust.
Also,I am not afraid of being alone anymore. Although,my husband and I are now in good terms,if anything where to happen between us I know I will be OK,and I know I can make it without him. None of this growth would have happened had I not got out of the norm we call comfort zone and left.

[TruthSatnaam]

In attachment to a comfort zone, we miss out on experiencing life in this test world. If u are detached, when u move out of the comfort zone, u are able to shut out and recognise the bull**** u were attached to in the comfort zone easily.

I have an insecure, slanderous and abusive family as part of my karma in what should be my comfort zone. On getting out and spending very little time with them, ive realised that their dark energies are not there to think about n get angry with or dwell over. They are simply there to detach from as are all energies.

When the game stops Playing You and u start Playing It- u Use the illusion, the maya to your advantage. The more darkness I.e pain, the more light in detaching from it- the more pain the greater the detachment.

That's why they say the greatest slanderers are the ones at home. U stop seeing the characters I.e image and use it to ur advantage as God wants us to.

At the same time, once youve learned the lesson, u dont become attached to it, u move to the next one- dont get too attached to a karma.

[A human Being]

I suppose I do it every day...not one thing so much.....being open to all life's discomfort/uncomfortable moments, in all forms can open your comfort zone levels, if you allow yourself to step outside your own ideas, emotions, stories, heart space..etc..

What comes to me is my comfort zone comes with me and I noticed it agin today... it's especially prevalent, or noticable, when I'm driving. Cars get out of my way and lights are more often with me, it's almost like there aren't any other cars on the road.

But, and I think this is it, I'm so much more meditative when I drive now and I don't mind stopping and starting or other drivers being inconsiderate or pushy... it doesn't matter. I can even kind of sense that stuff and just go with it and draw back.

It's like Silent says about just going into whatever and letting whatever be what it may and it then becomes a new type of comfort zone. Instead of you or me trying to make the world suit us and what we define as comfort the world suits itself to us and defines it's comfort... which is our, the world and ours, new comfort.

But yes, it does start with being where you might be uncomfortable and realising the deepest parts of us don't really need as much as we thought we did. That we really can embrace so much more than we might define for ourselves. And eventually bring and spread that comfort out into the world.
I can't really add much to these posts, they sum up my feelings perfectly :color:

Mr I - I reached a point, about three years ago, where I felt frequently furious when things didn't go the way I wanted them to (and I'm talking really trivial things like people getting in my way as I was walking down the street, unconsciously it felt like they were doing it just to annoy me), but thankfully I had enough self-awareness to realise how ridiculous and selfish I was being, I had to tell myself 'you are not the centre of the universe.'

That's been a big part of this spiritual path, for me - realising that, yes, I'm everything, but at the same time I'm also a part of the whole, and what I do, how I behave, influences others (and vice versa).

[Mr Interesting]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=498859556893345

I saw this little vid on facebook and it's well funny but it struck me as applying just as well to the ego and then again in this context as our comfort zones.

Your little story A human Being had me seeing a little angry fellow with his own little rain cloud, over his head, and little cute bolts of lightning arcing from it and this may have been from some early cartoon... I can't quite grab it but the character was always grumbling, I thinks it's the gunfighter in Bugs Bunny.

Yosemite Sam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eo0OY8GOuc)

Nah, it was something else... Anyways, I came up with something yesterday and put it on facebook but nobody commented.

That which we protect the most is most in need of destruction.

[Hawk]

Hello

Lets explore that omfort zone that all too often we find ourself in and we get stuck on what I call the "Hamster Wheel" of life. Where the hamster will get on his wheel and go round and round for a bit, tire and get off we go round and round. Why ?

What keeps us in those patterns of comforts....habits at times I guess but on the deeper spiritual level what keeps us there?

What I am looking to share is those inspirational stories where we did step way out of that comfort zone and got off that hamster wheel and it moved us forwards in life.

For me that was the Summer of 2012.....I traveled to England.....to meet "Heart" a member here on SF, not for LOVe but to travel and see some of England. For everyone that knows me they were "Stunned" that is not me, I had never traveled, never been away from home alone....more than that we camped the whole time, I am a 5 Star Girl in lifestyle. Again out of that comfort zone....I wanted to see England from his eyes. From ground level no tours just freedom.

I had the time if me life....and he moved here to live with me and me family....we met on SF in 2009 and became good friends.

So what have I learned about me since then....that I am a lot stronger person that I ever thought of....that I can step into new situations, and new experiences and be OK. That when ye trust that ye are going to be OK ye will be OK.

Lynn

I don't remember who said this, but have you heard the quote that goes something like "find what you fear and go live there"? That popped into my head reading your post.

I do often believe that what we fear is an important indicator of exactly where we need to go in order to grow. I think this even comes down to emotional experiences we avoid because they are "uncomfortable" (e.g., not accepting love from another person because we fear we might get hurt).

For me, I know that pushing outside of my comfort zone has always resulted in the most growth.

[A human Being]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=498859556893345

I saw this little vid on facebook and it's well funny but it struck me as applying just as well to the ego and then again in this context as our comfort zones.

Your little story A human Being had me seeing a little angry fellow with his own little rain cloud, over his head, and little cute bolts of lightning arcing from it and this may have been from some early cartoon... I can't quite grab it but the character was always grumbling, I thinks it's the gunfighter in Bugs Bunny.

Yosemite Sam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eo0OY8GOuc)

Nah, it was something else... Anyways, I came up with something yesterday and put it on facebook but nobody commented.

That which we protect the most is most in need of destruction.
Yep, that sounds like me :D :redface: Just glad I didn't have a gun like ol' Yosemite, I dread to think... I'm still not completely over it, little discourteous acts (like littering or queue-jumping) can still send me into a rage, but I'm much more self-aware now, thank goodness.

[Heart]

I have had a few, the most obvious ones is when you loose your job or possessions or both through no fault of your own, that uncertainty is, Im sure well known by many,

then there are those life changing events, moving to Canada and to stay with Lynn's Family, was well out of my comfort zone, as I had never done that before and was unsure if it would even work out there,

there are more but will stop at thins one for now

thank you