Living in the Challenge: Beyond the Comfort Zone

We all want to want to feel safe, comfortable, and free of stress. That’s universal. However, without venturing out of our so-called “comfort zone”, we grow stagnant and soft, and unable to handle setbacks and adversity.  What’s more, as we know from personal experience, we need a certain amount of manageable stress to grow and learn and prosper. 

In this episode, a talk I originally gave to the Healing Circle early in 2021, I discuss moving beyond our comfort zone using a model first developed by a Russian child development psychologist almost one hundred years ago.  

With that model as the basis, I discuss: 

How we, as adults, can apply it when learning new skills and become aware of when we are indulging in comfort to the extremeHow we instinctively seek our comfort zone in the way we dress, eat, and entertain ourselvesWhy seeking help from others, whether it’s with a teacher, a therapist, or a Healing Circle is often essential for moving into the learning zoneHow the right amount of manageable stress and fear always accompanies the acquisition of new skills 

I give examples from my own life, and how my spiritual teacher knew instinctively when his students were making a nest out of his teachings to reinforce their ego,  and that it was time to shake things up.