You're uncomfortable? Great!

You are sunk in the couch. You know what you should get up, but you are too comfortable. Too tired to get up. The comfort has taken control. We love to be comfortable. We are constantly sold things in the world to make our lives easier and more comfortable. Comfortable boxes, chairs, food and music to get us through the days of routine and modernized mundane mechanization.

When comfort becomes the main motivator, anything that goes against the grain and feels like "work" makes us more resistant. Comfort can be a killer to personal growth and discovery especially when we have ubiquitous access to convenience and gratification. No one wants to wear those uncomfortable shoes and jeans. It can ruin one's day for Pete's sake! We are conditioned to seek comfort as an escape from the work and tasks that we must do in order to survive and make it in this constantly shifting economy.

We have been taught that if it makes us feel "good" then we should go with it. What happens when we get use to that ? We end up craving more! Oh the pain of pleasure! 

Well, you could say that comfort is just a word. Sure. We tend to justify why we want comfort so much by touting how long and arduous our days have been. We have so meany avenues of escape that take the form of entertainment, food and leisure. We rationalize all of this by saying that we earned it. As if life is a game and we are animals hopping from obligation to pleasure in the skip of a beat or tap of a button. Think of how we organize the way we live. We buy couches and devices to make things easier and more convenient. We stuff our fridges with things that we could most likely live without. The colorful packaging and tantalizing textures seduce us into buying them. Our tongues become like little couches in our mouths with decadent salivary pillows. Any sweet treat trains our taste buds into wanting more. We get comfortable with the idea of spending our hard earned money on instant gratification of the mouth and mind.

We go from one air (conditioned) box form to another and complain of the small things in between. We take for granted the conveniences that may shed minutes off our daily lives and months or more off of our entire lives. Comfort tends to magnify the small self imposed inconveniences. 

If it's hot or cold outside, we can always go back to a shelter that conditions the air around us to they way we WANT it to be. 

We are no longer hunters on the savanna looking for food or trying protect ourselves from the threats around us. With this age of comfort, we are forced to focus on the small things that give us discomfort. We take it for granted that we have such easy access to food, shelter and family. It's amazing to think that we are the result of billions of years of survival and evolution. What would your ancestors think when you are screaming at your television because the batteries in your remote died?

When we exist in a realm of plenty, we tend to look for problems and magnify them in order to keep that ancient mind of survival alive! 

Since when have we embraced discomfort? Plenty of great things sprout from the soul of discomfort. We learn to face our conditioning and new challenging. The more we are drawn into the comfort, the more we become slaves to dullness and mundane conditioning. Discomfort shows us the parts of ourselves that need to be brought to light. The parts of ourselves that may need fine tuning or conscious attention. Discomfort is an invitation to the unknown that is desperately calling out to us. Calling out to us to wake up and move! Move with what is given to us and use it! Will you willingly answer that call?

Comfort relies on us giving us a longer leash to the things we unconsciously depend upon. 

If we immediately start to squirm or escape our discomfort, we only build up more walls around ourselves. We don't see it as an opportunity when we shut ourselves off. Comfort can be an escape from ignorance and anxiety. We know that the first parts of discomfort really jiggles the path we were talking. Maybe it is more of a wake up call then we realize. Comfort and convenience can dull us into a repetitious pattern of unconsciousness and little to no sense of fulfillment.

When we see that our life is not taking shape, 
We tend to look for various forms of escape. 
With a heave and a haw, we tighten our grip, 
And think that our self worth is a sinking ship. 

It's hard to schedule in or plan for Opportunistic Discomfort. 

It's all how we see it. Most of discomfort comes when we least expect it. It juts into our plans sometimes like a hot metallic blade. Searing the vibe that we were going along with. It is true that there will always be things outside of our control. It is how we deal and react to what happens that matters. Discomfort offers obstacles for growth and immediately trying to get comfortable starts to wither the way we see the world and most importantly how we view ourselves.

It's that impulse to jump, run and act with haste that leads to more confusion. If we can just stay with that impulse without letting us stress us out, we can make leaps and bounds towards awareness. It merely takes observation without an effort to force us into feeling something that we think we should be feeling.

Discomfort is the trigger for spontaneity and creativity of reaction. Move with that discomfort as if it is a fleeting wave. Ride it till it subsides without trying to control when it ends. How silly would it be for a surfer to try to push back on a wave. There would be more problems created from the act of resistance than the act of submitting to the uncomfortable moment at hand.

So, Good! You're uncomfortable. You may call it many things. These are harsh truths that need to be faced. Some may have results you weren't even thinking about it. It is sticking with discomfort that can allow for new awakenings. When have you realized that you could do more than you thought you could when the rug was yanked from underneath your feet? Discomfort can be a tool to get creative and go with what is given to you. What is given for you.

Discomfort is a portal for potential.


DG