Are You Uncomfortable Enough?
AUTHENTICITY VERSUS COMFORT
Q:Are You Uncomfortable Enough?
A: Comfort is a curious thing. I’ve noticed just how eager I am to feel it, especially in times of distress or when I feel deeply uncomfortable due to whatever the circumstance, illness, challenge, etc happens to be. There is a register, almost an internal yearning for homeostasis, that seeks comfort as one would a soft blanket to melt into. However, when is it that true change of mind, thought, action, attitude, and beliefs, occur? Certainly not in a state of comfort.
Similarly, there is an ingrained societal idea that in order to be winning, one always needs to be “feeling good” while there is an entire scope of human experiences and emotions that make up this wondrous life worth living. Good is just one, very generalized term that is associated with comfort plus fill-in-the-blank. I’m also thinking back on moments where I’ve felt good on one level and maybe bad on another. For example, the last time I spent $200 on a handful of items at Erewhon, I reassured myself, drank that $20 smoothie in the name of “feeling good” and enjoyed it lol. Such an LA example of pleasure-seeking through the senses but one many can nod to in this tik tok age. Otherwise, most people can agree that much of our consumer culture flows toward the ideal of comfort and feeling good. Just think about how much of your budget goes toward beauty products/enhancers, organic or delicious foods and drinks, therapies, vacations, streaming services, entertainment, fashion, yoga/gym memberships, and so on.
From another perspective, feeling good also leads to extremes and addictions of seeking that feel-good hit, where the above list is taken to an extreme of plastic surgeries, gluttony, alcoholism, drug abuse, co-dependence, escapism, gaming addictions, social media comparison hell, vanity…when the need to feel good becomes an addiction itself, any other state of being is looked upon as bad, scary, unwanted, depressive, and maybe even frowned upon and “unacceptable”.
CHANGE ISN’T COMFORTABLE
Don’t get me wrong, I love to feel good, and…I also have found the importance of letting myself feel authentic. Of not hiding, hiding from, or masking the very difficult emotions or thoughts that run through me but instead observing myself, learning, and doing the inner work to understand a process that is much bigger than my current state of consciousness. In order to grow and change, I adventure to the origin of these unsettling elements of my mind.
If I don’t allow myself to feel something other than good, I miss the boat entirely and get caught up in a feeding frenzy of desiring comfort, whatever it takes. For those of you who have had strong addictions in your life, I would be interested in hearing your perspective on this.
THE WINDOW IN BETWEEN
(Luckily) We are now in between the eclipse window of a fresh Solar Eclipse in Aries, one that is starting an entirely new cycle of thematic cosmic conversation upon the axis of self and relationship, and a very strong and daunting Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio, one that is ending a long cycle of transformation and regeneration of our body, mind, and nature. This is the last hurrah for some time as the South node will bring the scorpionic skeletons of our past out for a last dance, and most likely, the sensations will be other than “good”. Perhaps take this opportunity to embrace other states of being, work through them with curiosity and courage, and see if the sun naturally rises on the other side of this eclipse portal bringing a renewed sense of aliveness that maybe even supersedes your previous notion of how “good” you can feel.
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We cannot change the world until we accept we are the world. This is the new conversation.