Episode 30: The Comfort Trap

Hello, Dear One, and best wishes for some healthy discomfort this season!

Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be

Despite the advertising industry’s best efforts,

“She stayed comfortable”

is probably not the phrase you want on your tombstone. Yet every day we’re tempted to keep to the path we’ve been taught was the safe one: Don’t ruffle anyone’s feathers. Stick with the devil you know. Change is hard. This path may slowly kill your soul, but it’s more predictable than that other road. Who knows where that might lead?

In today’s podcast I propose that comfort isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and ponder what possibilities await us when we step outside of our comfort zone. Enjoy the 30-minute listen, and then I’d love to know: How do you make yourself courageously uncomfortable? 😉💞

Episode Notes

✨ Surprise! I invoke another Michael Meade quote: “Adversity creates opportunity for genius; comfort removes it.”

✨ Near the end of the podcast I mention that the right to comfort is also a feature of white supremacy culture. My interpretation is mostly a material one: our perceived right to convenience and physical comfort, the downstream effects of which are intentionally hidden from our view. To explore the problematic expectation that we white people have the right to emotional and social comfort at others’ expense, this article is instructive.

A Healthier Kind of Comfort

With institutions breaking down in our increasingly unpredictable world, it’s the perfect time to expand our own capacities.

Here’s a daily mantra I use to help ground me in my agency. It’s the well-known Lakota Prayer with some lines I added so that it feels more balanced and personalized to me:

Teach my how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
my voice,
the work of my hands,
the blessings of my spirit and my spirit guides.

Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my sacred space,
love beyond my fears,
and thus walk in balance with the passing of each glorious sun
and through every phase of the luminous moon.

So be it, so it is.

Your Turn

I share some of my adventures-beyond-comfort in the podcast. What have you learned by stepping boldly (or even tiptoeing timidly) beyond what is familiar? How are you learning to trust your instincts and step into the unknown?

In curiosity and courage,
Pam

P.S. Reach out if you’re interested in one-on-one coaching with me. More info can be found here.