The tendency for most people is to get into a comfort zone and build a nice little nest there. The comfort zone is made up of all the thoughts we've had and all the things we've done often enough to feel comfortable thinking or doing them. Anything that threatens to push us out of our nest makes us feel uncomfortable.
"Uncomfortable" is a catchall term that encompasses many emotions; fear, unworthiness, doubt, anger, hurt and distrust, to name a few. Since we have labeled these emotions as "bad", we don't want to feel them and so we crawl back into our nests.
It can be argued that there are really only two human emotions, fear and love and that all other emotions are variations on these two themes. Any negative emotion is a spin-off of fear. Except for rare occasions, most of the fear that we experience is over imagined circumstances or consequences. But, since fear keeps us from doing things, we never really check out the validity of the fear itself. A feedback loop of fear ? not doing ? ignorance ? then back to fear develops.
When something pushes us out of our comfort zone we feel some variation of fear. The bodily sensations that go along with fear are something that we have come to label as "bad" and we want to avoid them at all costs. Let's look at what happens when the body feels fear; adrenaline, glucose and other energy producing chemicals are released into the bloodstream. Our senses actually sharpen when non-essential fears such as, "Did I remember to TiVo Lost?", pop up and we gain an instant ability to focus on the task at hand.
When we are outside of our comfort zone, most of the time, the only thing we are in danger of is learning something new. What is helpful in learning something new? Energy, clarity and the ability to focus - all available to you via your friend, fear.
Now, am I saying that fear is the best motivator? No, but I am saying that you can change the way you look at the sensations that fear produces. Do you realize that, at a somatic level, excitement feels pretty much the same as fear? So what I'm suggesting is that the next time you get pushed out of your comfort zone and you feel the adrenaline of fear, instead of crawling swiftly back into the safety of your nest, change the way you look at it. Choose to experience the sensations of excitement and use the clarity, energy and increased focus at your disposal to say "YES" to the experience and learn something new!
Truly Caring for Your Success!
Dr. Robert Anthony
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