Do Things That DON’T comfort.
Definition
Comfort: “a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint”.
How great is it to:
- go back to the same restaurant and order the same food because you know how good it is?
- watch a film that you have watched ten times because you know that it makes you laugh or cry every time?
- visit the same resort every year for your vacation because you love their beach and eighteen-hole golf course.
- wake up every morning and take a warm shower before work or school?
- sit at home and have a quiet night in watching TV and browsing the Web?
- order the same cocktail in every bar you go to?
A thought popped into my head while taking a shower one morning. What if we did the opposite of everything our mind was telling us? What if we woke up every morning and jumped into a cold shower? What if we walked past that person, and instead of thinking how beautiful he/she was, we just told them? What if we saw someone dropping some litter, and we picked it up, instead of ignoring it? What if we turned off that little voice in the back of our head, instructing us what to do; and did the complete opposite?
So, in an attempt to practice what I preach, here is a rundown of my last seven days.
- two improv classes — leela-sf.com
- took three homeless people out for dinner.
- orgasmic meditation class — onetaste.us
- picked up every bit of rubbish on the way back from work one night.
- one-woman show — a 90-minute solo acting performance -
- meditated for twenty minutes every day.
- no coffee.
- Opaque Dining — a five-course meal in complete darkness served by bind people — darkdining.com
- cold showers.
- Japanese Tea Garden, the oldest public garden in the United States located inside Golden Gate Park — japaneseteagardensf.com
- 176 speaker theatre that plays “sound sculptures” which are performed in darkness in a 49-seat theatre- audium.org
What I started to realize after doing a week of ignoring that little voice in the back of my head, was that our lives fall into habits of comfort. We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. We wash our body in the same direction every time we put soap on it. We do the same thing every time we walk into a hotel room. Implementing change will turn your life, and the places you go and the things you do, from being stagnant water into a refreshing wave of experience and growth in knowledge in what you see in life.
Three rules to get you going:
1. When an opportunity arises take action and be “Dr Yes,” just do something.
2. Explore! Be your own Christopher Columbus. Research and follow your feet and seek for new things to do. When coming across places to do and see, choose the one that does not initially interest you.
3. “My two.” Pick your favorite two places which you classify as your regulars. This may be your favorite restaurant or bar. My San Fran choices would be Samovar Tea Lounge and Central Kitchen. Everywhere else carries the “one night stand rule.” Do not replicate past experiences or places you have been to or done.
If someone was going to make a movie of your life, what would it be like? Would it be worth watching?
We would all rather do the things in life that are comfortable. Doing things that don’t comfort is about looking for adventure in normal life and normal life within adventure. Seeking new adventure does not not require a bundle of cash, it only requires that you walk through this world in a more deliberate way. Increase your personal options instead of your personal possessions. Time is our only real commodity and how we choose to use it defines who we are. We often put off the things in life that matter the most. Success often lies just outside of your comfort zone: do things that don’t comfort.
