Yes, I borrowed that title from a commercial slogan of a famous furniture designer…. 😁

Last week I was a guest on Kimberly Rinaldi’s live radio show Lessons in Joyful Living. It was a fantastic interview and I enjoyed it from the first until the last minute. It was my 3rd live radio interview. Was I still nervous? Yes, I was; throughout the day! But sometime before the show started this nervousness changed into excitement and anticipation.

During our conversation, Kimberly and I touched on the subject of “Comfort Zone” briefly.  I don’t know how many times I had to step out of my comfort zone in order to arrive at that place where I could give this totally relaxed interview. Most of all during the past 6 years I was pushed a lot toward the limit line of that zone. It was when I started facing particular fears which kept me from living my life! For almost 40 years I saw myself in the distance doing all those things I dreamed of and felt within myself as something meant for me. But the gap of fear between me and the realization was so wide. I was scared of failing, and of making decisions, and I doubted myself completely. When you start stepping over that limit line, you are entering a world you haven’t known yet and other unknown things are coming your way. It is like constantly standing at the end of your comfort zone. And you know what? That is great because after a while you see the sense behind it.

The comfort zone ends where fear, doubts, anxiety, and nervousness,  kick in. We often feel uncomfortable with our lives, not fulfilled, and frustrated with situations that don’t seem to suffice us anymore. Those feelings show that something within us is already in preparation to make us ready for the step. Or like out of the blue new options can show up. New possibilities also can be scary even when we worked towards them. All these signs show that we reached the edge of our comfort zone and that it is up to each one now, to step over it, take the chance and/or get rid of limiting feelings or go back again into the “safe” center where everything is as we are used to. There is a reason why we have reached the edge. Because life made us develop towards that border. If everything was fine we wouldn’t have arrived at that point.

Now we are standing in front of that gate with everything we need in our backpacks. We know that making that step means entering a new world. A world we actually wish for but which is so unknown. What will we find there, will it be better or even worse? Maybe we know that something in our life has to change but we don’t know what or how. Often the answer lies across that line. Again we need something called faith! Faith that we are only standing here now, right because we are ready! There are no accidents in this perfectly organized universe. We are constantly evolving. This is what we wished to do. This is why we came here. This is the reason we incarnate! We want to grow, discover, explore – progress! But without changes, there is no progress.

I was always very scared of changes. Because I was rather sitting in boring and frustrating valleys instead of making the effort to climb the hill. But life pushed me to deal with new situations, routines, people, challenges, tasks… I hated it! I was shy, anxious, scared of being questioned or criticized, and full of self-doubts. But on the other hand, I wanted to be free to just do new things, go with the flow, and explore life through eyes of wonder. I have a very challenging but also helpful tool as my permanent companion: my backbone! When I say something I stick to it. I would feel like a loser to only step back from something only because I was scared. When I started taking singing lessons 30 years ago I had a great teacher who supported me whenever he could and helped me get fantastic engagements. I was scared standing in front of the audience, but before my head could think of anything I quickly agreed to take that engagement! I tricked my ego with its own pride of retracting (which proves that you can use every characteristic for or against you).

I know my dreams and for too long I watched them from afar. At one point I was more scared of missing a chance to realize them than to take the step into the unknown. Whenever something opens up today which seems to fit into my concept I take the chance. It still gives me a nervous feeling in the beginning when I shall speak in front of audiences, give seminars, or of course live interviews. But it does not keep me from doing it anymore. If I learned one thing in my life then it is taking fear as a sign that I am finally ready for more. Taking that step means entering a world of new chances, of new things to discover, to grow, to unfold, to fulfill, and to get inspired for more. Taking that step means opening up to a new world within myself!

When you realize that you reached the limit of your comfort zone then do it as Martin Luther King said:

Don’t be scared of overstepping your comfort zone. You don’t know when and if you get another chance to do so. Realizing that you might have missed the important moment only because you were scared might follow you for the rest of your life. Don’t let fear limit you! Fear is just a thought. But what burns in your heart is what makes life worth living. That is what gives your life its meaning.

You are always at exactly the point in your life where you are supposed to be. When it is at the edge of your comfort zone then it is definitely worth thinking about overstepping the border.

But there is something else: Never take that step only because you are pushed to by others, or because you think you have to, and not because you feel it inside. If you don’t feel it take that step, then leave it. But!!!! Stand behind that decision, and don’t regret it. It is OK! You never know….. sometimes you even step over your comfort zone by simply changing your attitude toward the things within it…

In Love and Light