Stories

How to Grow Outside Your Comfort Zone

Growth doesn’t tend to happen when we’re feeling comfortable. In order to really change, we need to grow outside our comfort zone.

But when we’ve found something which is easy and which works, we want to carry on doing more of the same … it’s difficult to take a step into the unknown, or the uncomfortable. We convince ourselves we’re making progress (perhaps working slowly up the ladder at work, passing the next test in school, writing another blog article) – but we secretly know we’re not growing.

I’m going to think about three questions below:

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How to Realize Your Dreams

By Stephen Cox / 22 Comments

We all have hopes and aspirations for our lives. Fulfilling or walking the path to fulfillment of just one of our dreams can infuse our lives with deep meaning and happiness.

The subject of this article is a strategy that is as powerful as it is simple. I call this strategy “compartmentalization” and it is something you can use daily for the achievement of your wildest dreams no matter their size or scope.

It was Thomas Carlyle who expressed the following wisdom:

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Kitchen Success: How to Plan for Body Transformation

By Scott Bird / 17 Comments

If you’ve ever tried a bit of body transformation (losing weight, gaining weight, redistributing it), you know what it’s like. It can be a frustrating, disheartening process. Still, it doesn’t have to be that way. As with anything, a bit of preparation makes all the difference. No matter what your body transformation goals are, here are the components of kitchen success.

Clean out the cupboard

You know what it’s like. You’ve been sticking to the plan for a while now, eating healthy meals and steering clear of the bad stuff. One day you notice a lonely packet of potato chips in the back of the cupboard, and it’s game on. Before you know it you’re scouring the room for the simplest, tastiest ready-made snack you can find. Solution : clean out the cupboards before you start, and remove anything which doesn’t fit in with your intended eating plan. No need to go overboard here, just get rid of the obvious ‘shouldn’t have’ items. NB : if you’re sharing the kitchen with others, just put your food – as much as possible – in a separate place.

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Will St. Peter Call Your Name?

By Alex Blackwell / 17 Comments

“For some reason I can’t explain, I know St. Peter won’t call my name. Never an honest word but that was when I ruled the world.” – Chris Martin (Coldplay), from Viva La Vida

Christians believe St. Peter, who was one of the twelve original Disciples of Christ, stands in front of the gates to heaven and is charged with the responsibility of announcing, upon our deaths, who is entering heaven and who is not.

The belief is we are not guaranteed a spot in heaven – we have to earn it. Only upon hearing our names called, are our souls allowed to enter into a blissful eternity.

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Infinite Possibility, Infinite Flow

By Mark David Gerson / 20 Comments

In recent weeks, several friends who are experiencing financial challenges have posed this question to me:

Why is that so many aspects of my life seem to be flowing, but when it comes to money, I feel so stuck?

Or,

Why is it that when I’m meditating, creating, writing or “in the zone,” I feel alive and vibrant, as though I’m living at the highest of frequencies, but when it comes to finances, I come crashing back to earth?

These are important questions and the answers are both simple and complex.

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Getting Back on the Right Life Path

By Ali Luke / 46 Comments

Do you sometimes wonder if you’re on the wrong path through life – but can’t see any way to rework your footsteps and join a different one?

After I graduated from University, I wrote in my journal:

“It is exciting to have my whole life ahead of me and know that I could do pretty much anything I put my mind to. It’s daunting but exhilarating to stand at the summit of 16 years’ full-time education and gaze out at the land around me. I could go anywhere from here.”

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How to Find True Happiness

By Marelisa Fabrega / 43 Comments

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Openheim

Advice on how to be happy used to be the purview of self-help gurus. However, over the past few years scientists and psychologists have begun to give serious study to the subject of happiness. Although they’ve discovered that about 50% of happiness is determined by a person’s genes, and another 8 to 10% by life’s circumstances–such as income, health, and marital status–, the remaining 40% is up for grabs. In addition, scientists have found several ways to create true happiness, six of which are explained below.

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Eckhart Tolle’s Guide to Writing

By Peter Clemens / 23 Comments

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

Recently I was listening to an episode of the Oprah / Eckhart Tolle podcasts. Tolle described how he writes, and I was struck by the simplicity and peacefulness of the process. If you ever experience writer’s block, or if the words you do write feel forced, this guide may prove to be the solution for your troubles.

The following is a summary of how Eckhart Tolle writes:

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The Art of Working Out Alone

By Scott Bird / 26 Comments

After a nine year break, I began lifting weights again about four years ago. This absence had not done me any favors; and I was slow, weak and a little on the heavy side. Having eventually made the decision to begin doing something (and believe me – after 9 years, this didn’t exactly come easily), I was faced with an all-too-common dilemma. Where?

Gyms can be intimidating places at the best of times. As an outsider, it seemed as though all the members were in pretty good shape to start with. I’d stick out like a sore thumb. Instead, I decided to set up a home gym. Get myself into a reasonable condition before I went anywhere near the commercial options. And then I discovered it – the art of working out alone.

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Keeping a Journal Can Change Your Life

By Ali Luke / 50 Comments

Have you ever started keeping a journal – perhaps starting on a particular milestone like your birthday, or January 1st – only to give up after a few days or weeks? Like many projects which we’re initially enthusiastic about, writing daily or even weekly in a journal can all too quickly become a chore. After all, what difference can it make to write down words that no-one but you will see?

There are several ways for keeping a journal to change your life, and I’ll show you how to achieve each in just ten minutes a day. Still think it’s not worth it?

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The Power Of Admitting Where You’re At

By Christopher R. Edgar / 12 Comments

One of the most significant breakthroughs in my personal growth happened when I admitted to myself that I felt like an impostor.

I’d been practicing law for around two years. My colleagues and clients consistently told me how much they appreciated my work. However, I was constantly plagued by a nagging suspicion that all the praise wouldn’t last. Eventually, I’d make a major mistake, or people would learn something embarrassing about me, and the image they’d formed of me as smart and competent would fall apart. It was as if I was an impostor—a fraud posing as a good lawyer—and sooner or later I’d be found out.

When this anxiety arose, my usual approach would be to deny it and insist to myself that I was the real deal. “No, that’s not true,” I’d tell myself. “I’m brilliant, hardworking, and all-around awesome.” Sometimes, this would temporarily pick up my mood. But invariably, the sinking sense that I wasn’t actually good at what I did, and that eventually my “deception” would be discovered, would return.

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