I do.
Fear of discomfort is one of our greatest enemies in our quest to give our gift more fully.
It unhinges us, unstrings us, prevents us from rising to our challenges. It prevents us from reaching our true greatness.
Fear of discomfort is at the root of our mediocrity.
Fear of discomfort is also how others who are themselves afraid seek to influence your decision-making. They project their own fear of discomfort onto you, saying things that are well-intentioned but also dream-killing like, “But how will you make ends meet?” and “You have to be practical” and “You wouldn’t want to give up your lifestyle, would you?”
To really give your gift, you have to develop a thick skin for these types of messages.
As a young man, I learned about all the challenges to health and happy functioning that faced the human race: resource constraints, wars, bigotry, divisiveness, mendacity. At first, I was afraid for my own safety in the world of the future, but at age 25 I had a compelling realization: the greatest threat I faced was not being personally inconvenienced by the challenges of the future. The greatest threat I faced was being so afraid to lose my own material comforts that I failed to courageously do all I could to advantage those around me.
My trips to survival camp and attempts at attaining a rugged self-sufficiency all fell short of the moral responsibility that actually fell upon me.
The ego wants to guarantee our forward comfort, in a style of living greater than or equal to that which we have become accustomed to living in. It uses our level of material comfort as its barometer by which to judge its safety, because the ego knows it is fundamentally perishable and is therefore totally threatened by any and everything that threatens to damage or destroy or physical body.
Our metaphysical Mind, on the other hand, is not dependent on the body and is therefore completely unconcerned with physical threats, knowing as it does that it is eternally safe in a Universal home of patterned integrity that cannot be touched by anything on the physical plane.
It is this metaphysical Mind that can discover the generalize-able principles that guide the Universe and apply them to the well-being of everyone now living and soon to be alive on Planet Earth. The metaphysical Mind is endlessly creative, because unencumbered by the fear and anxiety that plagues the ego. Discovering your gift is fundamentally about reconnecting with the metaphysical mind and listening closely to its guidance.
By connecting with that which is great than you, within you, you shuck off the ego-bound, body-trapped, self-interested fear of personal discomfort. When this is done, you may experience a massive rush of energy that makes subsequent actions seem almost effortless.
Being uncomfortable is unpleasant, but not as unpleasant as a life spent hiding your magnificence from a world crying out for your gift.
We’ll send you the latest article every Sunday. Click here to get Fierce Gentleman in your inbox.
Also published on Medium.