Image by Manuel Alvarez
InnerSelf's Daily Inspiration
July 11, 2024
The focus for today is:
Learning to be comfortably uncomfortable
is a vital element of my transformative journey.
Today's inspiration was written by Carla Marie Manly, PhD:
It’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. “What?” you might exclaim. “I don’t want to be uncomfortable. Isn’t the whole point of this journey to find a way to be peaceful and stress-free all the time? Isn’t being comfortable the whole point?” Yes and no.
As humans, we generally want to be comfortable all of the time. Couple this with our culture’s “quick fix” mentality and the idea of learning how to be comfortably uncomfortable goes by the wayside. When we have a headache, we reach for a pill. When we are lonely or sad, we reach for a pint of ice cream. When work is stressful, we reach for a box of cookies or a bag of potato chips. If we are unhappy, we reach for an antidepressant. If we are anxious, we reach for an anti-anxiety pill. And so it goes. We down pills, drink booze, have hookup sex, overeat, and overshop to avoid discomfort.
None of these tactics work to tackle the underlying issues. By refusing to get to the bottom of what’s causing the issue, we do not address the discomfort. We get caught in the vicious cycle of running from discomfort and running into it again. Learning to be comfortably uncomfortable is a vital element of your transformative journey.
CONTINUE READING:
Today's inspiration was adapted from the InnerSelf.com article:
Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Written by Carla Marie Manly, PhD.
Read the complete article here.
This is Marie T. Russell, co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, wishing you a day of addressing the cause of your discomfort (today and every day)
Comment from Marie: It's much easier to take the easy way out... to pop a pill rather than try to figure out why we have a headachel; to stuff our emotions with food rather than examine what we are feeling and why and what we can do about it. But if we are to attain inner peace and true joy, we must examine our thoughts, our feelings, our hurts and pains. We can live in a light-hearted comedic play with our senses dulled by pills and drugs of all kinds (entertainment and alcohol included), or we can examine our "little self" in order to discover our "Higher Self" and our true path and live a life filled with fulfillment and purpose.
Our focus for today: Learning to be comfortably uncomfortable is a vital element of my transformative journey.
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RELATED BOOK: Joy from Fear
Joy from Fear: Create the Life of Your Dreams by Making Fear Your Friend
by Carla Marie Manly PhD.
If you find yourself running away from fear, you're running in the wrong direction. Fear demands that we move toward it, face it, and hear its messages. When we fail to do this, the price is high-chronic anxiety, sleeplessness, damaged relationships, skyrocketing pharmaceutical use, and more. In her enlightening book Joy from Fear, clinical psychologist Dr. Carla Marie Manly explains that fear, when faced with awareness, is the powerful ally and best friend we all need.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as an Audiobook and as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Dr. Carla Marie Manly has become recognized as an authority on fear and fear-based disorders such as trauma, anxiety, and depression. With a doctorate in clinical psychology and a master's degree in counseling, Dr. Manly merges her psychotherapy skills with her writing expertise to offer sound, digestible guidance. Recognizing a need for greater somatic awareness in society, Dr. Manly has integrated yoga and meditation practices into her private psychotherapy work and public course offerings.
Visit her website at DrCarlaManly.com/