Explore the wilderness of your discomfort
Inspiration Shot June 2019
Even if your comfort zone extends a lot further than many other people’s – as is the case for me – it is still a bit scary to get out of it. Somehow I have been extra triggered lately to step out of my comfort zone. I would like to take you on this adventure with me and offer some tools to extend your comfort zone. Because the magic always happens outside your comfort zone…
Reframing
Why not turn something scary or exciting into an adventure? I highly recommend the meditation ‘explore the wilderness of your discomfort‘. It gives me the perfect mindset shift to consider things that I actually find pretty scary as an adventure, a journey, or a transformation. An example of this is the ‘journey of discovery’ into my emotions that I experienced with a coach… I discovered crazy mini-humans in bubbles and a private cinema … Read my blog ‘Reconnecting to emotions: scary or an adventure?‘ to be amazed by what your subconscious mind wants to tell you:
(Re)connecting to emotions – scary or adventurous?
I always thought emotions were annoying and non-productive. I was so focused on achieving results that I became a master of ignoring and suppressing my disappointments, pain, sadness and other negative experiences. However, suppressing emotions not only costs a lot of energy, it also prevents you from feeling positive emotions.
Urgent versus Important
You may feel that you don’t have time to step out of your comfort zone, experiment with your feelings or gain new inspiration. Busy, busy, busy, right? We often focus on the wrong priorities. Most attention usually goes to urgent matters, leaving little room for important (strategic) things. Being aware of the difference between urgent and important, plus planning your actions accordingly can give a lot of peace and lead to better results. Do – Decide – Delegate – Delete. Better to take control of your agenda than to let external factors guide you, right?
Masculine – Feminine
We all respond differently to pressure and stress. A new situation often creates tension. This picture nicely lists the essence of masculine and feminine energy – and the response when threatened, ‘injured’ or under pressure. Do you recognize these characteristics with yourself or others?
Write it down!
You can only really understand your own process when you take a step back to reach a different perspective, like a ‘helicopter view’. A way of changing your perspective is to talk or write about it. Writing a book is the epitome of this process for me, but I also use journaling, blogs and social media posts help me to process things and to make the lessons and insights accessible to myself and others. Have you ever thought about processing your experiences in a book or blog series? If you are interested, I would like to support you to do this during one of my writing weeks (coming up in Thailand, Curacao or Mallorca). The retreat allows you to step out of your comfort zone, but in a safe environment with supportive guidance and a proven writing process.
A gift for you…
During my recent writing week in Mallorca, I put the principle of ‘write your book in 1 week’ into practice by creating a beautiful cookbook. The delicious lunch recipes were created by my yoga teacher Susana, pictures by photographer Eef Ouwehand. The delicious vegetarian lunches prevented an ‘after lunch dip’, allowing us to continue to be productive and creative after lunch. Download the book for free: Writer’s recipes
Where is Esther?
It was wonderful to be on Mallorca again. It remains one of the places where I feel most at home: the connection with the earth, the peace, nature, the pure life in the sleepy interior of the island. Currently I am in Amsterdam for three entire weeks (that’s a long time for me …) – one of my other favorite places. Time to recharge and try to get some work done. Because of all the emotions and the turmoil of the last 7 weeks, I haven’t really got much productivity happening. Sorry if your email remains unanswered in my inbox with 300 others! ????
At the end of June I will celebrate my birthday at the most exclusive ‘unconference’ I know (I even have to pay to be there, even though I am a speaker!). Baby Bathwater takes place on a private island in Croatia, with a group of very special people and successful entrepreneurs. I am very curious and will of course share my experiences in the next inspiration shot.
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