Exploring the Truth About Discomfort for Personal Growth and Transformation
Jun 28, 2023I’ve been navigating some physical healing over these past few weeks––months. And in addition to doing all the things my physical therapist, doctor, etc recommends, as well as some alternative therapies, I’ve been working on my injury energetically.
A few powerful messages have come through that may resonate with you too…
When we are in pain, overwhelmed, or uncomfortable, we often experience the phenomenon of tunnel vision––we focus on how sick, stressed, or tired we are.
And while to some extent that hyperfocus supports our recovery––we prioritize getting well or getting out of a bad situation––it can also put us into a reactionary state and even feeling like a victim.
Our physiology supports this too––when we encounter a stressor, our vision literally narrows, creating that tunnel vision effect, so that we can focus on survival. But when we’re focused on survival, we feed our power to the situation.
For example, when I first tore a tendon in my ankle 3 months ago, I went right into story (before I caught myself). I started worrying about how long it would take to heal, how I’d been doing well in my workouts and now this disrupted that…and even how frustrating my healing journey was the last time I was injured. It felt like I needed to stop everything and heal and yet I all I wanted to do was to keep participating in my normal rituals despite needing to rest. Relatable?
All I could focus on was the pain and stuckness of my situation. And the same is true of most of us humans––whether we’re experiencing physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual pain.
Discomfort has the tendency to consume us. We lose our sense of perspective, and we lose our sense of power.
We forget that we are sovereign beings and have the capacity to affect our experience of this life––even when and especially when it’s uncomfortable.
Rather than making the pain, stress, discomfort, exhaustion, overwhelm, or sickness our focus, we need to get bigger than it. We need to expand our capacity so that it no longer overtakes us.
When we’re energetically “big,” we can navigate and hold it all––the daily frustrations, the to-do lists, the physical pain, the work drama, the past traumas, the relationship challenges, the current events––without them overtaking us.
Everything becomes so much smaller in proportion to our bigness––our power as sovereign beings.
It’s as if we bought a couch that’s too big for our living space. Our natural reaction is to return the couch and get a smaller one. Why? Because we live in a reality where expanding our living space is much more of a hassle than returning a couch.
But, what if it wasn’t?
What if you could expand your internal living space––your own energy––instantly? Then suddenly the metaphorical couch (pain, discomfort, stress, whatever) would get smaller by comparison. Problem solved without even having to call customer service. :)
Kind of profound, right?
So how would we go about implementing this?
Ask yourself: where can you get energetically bigger in your life?
Here are some ideas as a place to start:
- Do you need stronger boundaries with someone in a relationship so you can take up more space?
- What if you centered your life around your life versus work? (Does your employer really own all of your time and energy?)
- What if you expanded your capacity to feel all of your sensations, so the pain wouldn’t be so overwhelming anymore?
And if you’re looking to learn the energetic practices to expand your capacity… I’m here for you :)
There are a few ways you can dip your toes in:
