Where the Magic Happens (Outside That Comfort Zone)

“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one. ”
― Goldie Hawn

We are creatures of comfort. We don’t like pain and uncertain circumstances. But unfortunately, that is what life is all about- uncertainty. We cannot control all of what we experience while we live. And that’s troubling.

Comfort zone is an oft used term in our culture. Let’s face it, we all want to be in that zone.

Yet, true growth, change and meaning are not found in that comfort but rather outside of it.

I heard about how the majestic eagle deals with its offspring. When helpless eaglets are just hatched, the parents create a cushy nest, safe and warm. There’s no need for the young to get their own food; it is brought to them. They have a luxurious life.

However, as they grow, edging ever closer to adulthood, that cushy nest starts to change. It is no longer the warm and comforting bed it used to be. Gradually, the parents start adding sharp pieces of bone, twigs or even thorns, all for the purpose of encouraging the eaglets out of it. Uncomfortable, the offspring learn it’s best to get out of this prickly nest, fly and soar into their lives.

Discomfort- it can move us into all we are supposed to be in life. However, it’s up to us if we go kicking and screaming or if we embrace the awkward pain of uncertainty. It’s okay to have questions, to feel out of sorts, to stumble. That is human.

“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

 

And that is where the magic does happen.

Copyright © 2020 by Sheryle Cruse