Episode 191: 3 Tips for Expanding Your Capacity to Be With Discomfort

So much of the information we take in as humans is based on this idea that when we do or get x, y, or z, we’ll finally feel better and then we won’t have to feel discomfort anymore. We’ve been told that the whole point of being human is to find ways to either feel less or feel better. But what if that were not the point? What if trying to feel a different way than you feel and popping out when you feel a way you don’t like to feel is thwarting your efforts in business, marriage, parenting, and more? What if we’re making it harder than it needs to be? If there’s nothing else this pandemic has taught us, it’s that we don’t know what’s going on and that so much is out of our control. There’s a gift nestled in all of the confusion and angst, should we choose to open it. It’s an invitation to a deeper experience of being human, which offers a deeper experience of everything that being human includes. (Daunting? Yes. Awesome? For sure.) The most impactful thing that Mike and I have been practicing to allow us to unwrap this gift is expanding our capacity to be uncomfortable. The pandemic is uncomfortable (in a variety of ways, depending on who you are). Talking about race is uncomfortable for many. Not being able to plan past the next week, not knowing if kids are going back to school, or if you can go visit your grandmother, or if you can fly over a border to attend a gathering you’ve been looking forward to for more than 12 months is all uncomfortable. We’ve been sold the idea that the whole point is to learn how to avoid or get rid of discomfort as fast as possible (mainly by companies trying to profit off the promise of relief). But, at least in my life, the greater capacity I build for feeling what I’m feeling (whatever it is), the more meaningful everything becomes. This week on the podcast, we’re giving you 3 specific tips to expand your capacity to be with discomfort. If you find yourself crawling out of your skin from time to time or minute to minute, you’re going to want to listen in. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast .