Making the Uncomfortable, Comfortable
One of the things I am learning as I age is that many of my fears from the past are no longer. Either I have lived through experiences that once terrified me and survived, often realizing it wasn’t as daunting as expected, or I learned to let go of the idea or desire that I kept close to me, as it no longer served a function. This has allowed me to move into uncertainty with a calmer mindset, and to embrace being uncomfortable.
How would it feel to turn everything you dislike into something you love? Imagine if all your pains or irritants in life became enjoyable and even desirable. Suddenly the things you push away you now embrace and want more of. What would your life feel like if this were possible?
Everything we experience is a mindset. A fear that someone may have could be a passion for another which means that a fear is created in the mind of the individual. Imagine how life would be if we could learn to embrace the uncomfortable, the painful, the scary with love and acceptance.
Most people are conditioned to fear, dislike or avoid pain. This only makes sense because pain isn’t a sensation that is pleasurable, and we are a society that embraces the comforts of life. The challenge with this is that life throws you curveballs and we often don’t have control of what will happen. This can create anxiety and cause you to become inflexible and to lose curiosity, resulting in a life contained in a state of minimal exploration. Many have said at the end of life -- it’s not the things they did that they regret, but the things they didn’t do.
This isn’t to suggest that everyone becomes an adrenaline junkie, but to challenge yourself to fail and experience rejection. If we all lived in a bubble where everything we do is a guaranteed success, we probably won’t be living the life we were born to live. We can only realize our potential and greatness through pushing the boundaries and accepting failure and loss. If this can become the norm, then suddenly you get used to being uncomfortable making it no longer an experience you pull away from.
I remember when I was terrified of speaking in front of people. My heart would race, I would lose my breath and I would feel almost paralyzed. This was at a time when I knew I had something important to say but had no idea of how I would ever move past this terrifying sensation. This is when I began the teacher training program for Iyengar Yoga. I decided that I needed an outlet to persuade myself to be in front of a group.
One of the things that the practice of yoga taught me was to be in positions of discomfort with my breath. Postures are all about this -- moving beyond the comfortable edges in your body and staying with them. I also learned that we all naturally do what feels easy, and to always move into discomfort on purpose. For example, if you are sitting cross legged, likely you always cross the same leg over the other. I learned to do the opposite until that becomes as easy as the other. This has so many positive implications that it has become a staple of what I teach in Block Therapy.
If you can become comfortable with being in discomfort, suddenly perception of life changes as you open doors to opportunities and people that may become the best choices for joy and abundance, health and love. I can’t imagine what my life would be if I was too afraid to share my beliefs. All the incredible people I have met along the way and the chance to improve life’s quality for others has opened me to a life I don’t regret. There have been monumental failures, embarrassment and mistakes along the way, but when I look at each of them, I see the gifts they brought, the strength that resulted and the wisdom that became a foundational piece for a future event or opportunity.
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We can only realize our potential and greatness through pushing the boundaries and accepting failure and loss. If this can become the norm, then suddenly you get used to being uncomfortable making it no longer an experience you pull away from.
Deanna Hansen - Founder
I recently bought a shirt that says -- “She believed she could, so she did”. I truly feel that we can conquer anything we can imagine if we persevere and accept the failures and challenges as nothing more than part of the journey. When you experience them enough, they no longer carry the negative charge to pull you down. You view them with a different lens and strangely enough, often those experiences bring me the most excitement.
We are here to experience life -- the good, the bad and the ugly. If you only try to live a life of comfort, you may be missing the most exquisite opportunities.
If you would like to learn to love pain and discomfort in your body, Block Therapy will teach you. This in turn changes how you relate to life in general, giving you the courage to move into discomfort on purpose.
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Breathe and Believe
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