Today we’re going to talk about comfort zones. I belong to a Toastmasters group in Ann Arbor, and most of the members are professionals, some of whom are “go-getters.” These people give speeches on goal-setting, and moving up, and getting ahead in the world, whatever that means.  One of the favorite sayings of these people is that you have to “move out of your comfort zone” if you want to get ahead. Well, I don’t think this is such a great idea, and I’ll tell you why.

 

First I want to introduce a concept that my friend Dave got from a yoga book he was studying. In the book the author showed a graph, which showed two horizontal lines with a space between them. The top line was labeled “maximum edge,” and the lower line was labeled “minimum edge.” The graph showed the amount of effort you should put into doing your yoga exercises. The author noticed that a lot of beginners were trying to do too much at the beginning, and getting very tired and not getting the expected results from their yoga exercises. The idea is that there is a minimum effort required to achieve the result, and also a maximum effort. Below the lower line or above  the top line you aren’t doing enough, or you’re doing too much. In other words, giving “110%” is foolish, because you are no longer within the area where you’re doing anything profitable. That extra effort is wasted, and actually is detrimental to your project. Not doing enough is just laziness.

 

This area of optimum effort is where you feel the most comfortable. Of course you can stretch the limits of your concentration and your effort, but if you try to do more than you are capable of, you will fail. The author makes the point that most people try too hard and then they get depressed and either abandon the activity, or, if they are the type that loves to get out of their comfort zone, they will try again, perhaps even harder this time. That again will lead to a plunging of the graph and more frustration. The point is that you have to STAY within your comfort zone if you want to make the most rapid progress.

 

Sure, if you are always complacent and never try anything, you won’t advance. But that is just an argument against laziness – operating below your minimum edge. What the go-getters like to tell you is that you have to force yourself to be uncomfortable, to go beyond what you are capable of doing. Some people ENJOY that kind of lifestyle – severe risk taking. But then, if they enjoy it, they are within their comfort zone.

 

Let’s look at what happens when you are in your comfort zone, as opposed to outside it. When you are in your comfort zone you feel better, you are in the positive zone of the emotional and vibrational scale. Therefore you are more intelligent and your vibe is likely to attract positive situations to you, rather than negative ones. If you are outside of your comfort zone, trying to force yourself to do things that you aren’t comfortable with, you are going to descend the vibrational scale and become worried. You will therefore attract non-optimum situations into your life, which will cause you to have to work harder – which is precisely the vibe you are putting out because you are out of your comfort zone.

 

When I am in my comfort zone I feel oriented in my dan tien – that place of power in the solar plexus. When I am out of my comfort zone I am in my head, working too hard, worrying, trying to force results to deadlines. It always takes me longer even though I am working harder! And when I review my results I realize that I have made more mistakes than normal.

 

Now, I’m not arguing against taking risks. I agree with the go getters that you have to reach out beyond the current reality if you want to change that reality, but I do argue with the idea that you should feel slightly (or majorly) uncomfortable when you want to push the boundaries. Believe me, if you take risks that you don’t feel comfortable with, you are engaging in the “hope is a strategy” approach. This feeling of hoping that things will come out all right occurs when you have gone beyond your maximum edge, you have overreached your boundaries, and you are just hoping that “the universe” will bring you what you want. Well, sometimes it does happen, if your vibe is oriented normally toward well being. But when you go beyond your comfort zone you are also going beyond the vibration of well being that will attract to you the things you want.

 

This feeling of hoping can also occur if you are not up to your minimum edge – what I call the space cadet syndrome, where you do affirmations and sit around without a plan, asking "the universe" to bring you stuff. It's actually better to be in this position because if your vibe is positive it will lead to some kind of "coincidence," some nudge from the universe. Often this nudge is very subtle, however, because your vibe is probably not very strong. You have to look out for it. But if you can recognize it and grab it, it's like pulling on a string that will lead to better things. 

 

Staying in your comfort zone is somewhat like the “culture” an organization creates within itself. This predominant vibration will determine in large part the overall success of the organization. If it is one that stays within the comfort zone it will probably treat its customers and its workers right, and will, overall, be successful. When you change the culture in an organization – with new policies or new management – you have to be very careful. It’s the same with your personal life. Going beyond your minimum or maximum edge is asking for trouble.

 

I want to talk about this in terms of intuition, spirit, and trusting that all will go well. In the new energy we are going to see more and more of this – people who take the leap and trust that all will be well. This will work IF the overall vibe is one of well being. We are going to see a more non-linear approach work better and better as the years go by. But again, we’re not talking about going beyond the comfort zone here. This non-linear trusting, or “hope is a strategy” approach is actually based in well being. It is based firmly on a spiritual understanding that all is well and a vibration that is oriented strongly to well-being. The “hope is a strategy” approach is foolish if you are operating in the linear, logical, old paradigm framework. But it will make sense in the new energy IF you have that deep spiritual understanding and are standing in your power. In this case your comfort zone – your minimum and maximum edge – expands to encompass what in a linear approach would seem unjustified risk taking or even foolish behavior.

 

The “fools tread where angels refuse to go” idea  is the viewpoint that the linear, logical, materialist thinker --  observing only the physical actions in the physical universe – has to the one who is thinking and acting non-linearly. That fool you see might actually be someone who is operating not only in the physical universe, but who is also grounded firmly in the mental or virtual plane, and who has a much greater understanding, an understanding that goes well beyond materialism and materialist thinking. 

 

The concept of the minimum and maximum edge also applies to current events. Right now we're seeing, an explosion of regional conflicts in Gaza and in the Ukraine, and sanctions against Russia by the EU and the US. These are desperate actions by the cabal, the power structure that is desperately trying to hold on to their banking and fossil fuel empire. Hey, these guys had it pretty good for a long time. When you have the ability to control the world's central banks, you have the ability to influence the bond and stock markets and to a large extent can influence the economies of the world. But these guys are now being forced by the energy shift (the change in consciousness) to beyond their maximum edge.  As the energy shift continues slowly but inexorably, the cabal is being forced further and further out of its comfort zone. This is leading to some temporary but serious regional conflicts and planetary imbalance in some areas. We'll see more of this for a time, but after 2016, perhaps even sooner, the tide is going to turn. All of this is going to happen very quietly though – for a while the positive signs will simply be a lack of conflict, while the negative signs will be splashed all over the papers. But don't worry folks, those who go beyond their maximum edge will implode – the old system is imploding as I speak. And the energy shift guarantees that regional conflicts cannot explode into world-wide ones – these conflicts will stay regional.

 

If you apply the concept of the minimum and maximum edge to your own lives and to the world scene, you can make more sense out of current events.

 

 

Wake Up Call (continuing series) Cut and Paste these links into your browser.

 

1. Project Camelot Interview with SImon Parkes, about ET alliances with various groups and governments on earth. The true purpose for ET visitation is revealed in this interview, it may surprise you! This is the best and most coherent and clear interview about the ET issue I've ever heard.

   http://projectcamelotportal.com/blog/31-kerrys-blog/2231-new-interview-with-simon-parkes-british-councillor

2. Dr. Steven Greer – The Lost Century The current state of technology and disclosure

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh0arjj5VX0&list=TLf2jSiBMwSo0dugZlMRketX1m-Qce4U0J&index=1

3. A Logical Deconstruction of the Fallacy of Materialism, by Bernardo Kastrup

   http://realitysandwich.com/222015/the-greatest-contradiction-of-common-sense/

4. Is the Universe a Hologram? Scientific Experiment Begins to Determine whether we live in a Hologram

   http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/august-2013/holographic-universe-experiment-begins

5. "The Most Wanted Man in the World" – An interview with Edward Snowden in Russia

   http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/#ch-1

 

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Ken is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Since childhood, Ken has been thinking about the Big Picture and how to increase spiritual understanding in the world. 

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