Comfort Zone

Hello and Happy Monday, 

Today, Joe and I are returning home from our European vacation. We spent 4 days in Paris, a day in Brussels, and three days in Amsterdam. Technically, this is our honeymoon but we have chosen to not call it that. Joe has his reasons and I have mine. mine are related to the hype around the word and its meaning. For me, it’s related to the hype around the word and it’s meaning along with a certain expectation that is involved with a honeymoon. Honeymoons are described as being romantic, the kind of romance that fairytales are made of and I know it would leave me feeling disappointed if I allow what society deems as a “perfect honeymoon” to take over what Joe and I have. I’m not saying what we have isn’t romantic. I’m saying it’s me. It’s what I have conjured up in my mind since I was a kid. All the tv shows and movies portraying this perfectness. So, this European vacation without expectation of a perfect honeymoon was absolutely perfectly romantic. Joe and I experienced great weather and got to walk the cities and see the sites we wanted to see. We ate delicious food and laughed really hard at silly things and both missed Michael and Melissa. 

We even meditated together. Meditation, the 7th limb that we are focusing this month. During my meditation I had a thought about growth. 

We all know that growth occurs outside our comfort zone. I even posted a quote about it this week on social media. But can we also grow when we are comfortable? About a month ago I was complaining to Joe about some hump I had just hurdled and how going forward I wanted everything to be easy. No more difficulties, no more hiccups, annoyances, I wanted things to be smooth for me. He replied with, “so you’re done growing?”, and I groaned. The truth is I never want to stop growing.  

I find joy in creating and sharing. Each lunch note I draw for my children’s lunch box isn’t difficult or out of my comfort zone and my drawing gets better each year. Teaching yoga, used to be really out of my comfort zone, brings me so much happiness, I have a comfort that runs through me when I teach a class and still, I am learning and I am growing. 

I don’t think we always have to be uncomfortable to grow. I think that when we are uncomfortable we have a clear choice, stay uncomfortable or not. And when we are comfortable the choices are still there but they don’t appear the same. The reality is there are plenty of people who are happy and comfortable and still growing and also plenty of people who are unhappy and uncomfortable and not growing. (Among with many other variations of that) The choice is always ours. 

This is one of the many things that can happen when you meditate. I’d love to hear what you have been meditating about. 

With Love, 
Jess

P.S. I’m back on the mat this week. See below for my schedule. ​