Pushing Out the Envelope- Comfort Zones

Definitely time for a post on this topic and it couldn't be a more pertinent period to do it!

  Ramadan. I am on day 6 of my fast. Have to say, way easier this year for some unknown reason. Perhaps it is because I have embraced it as my choice instead of an obligation. This year it is like an old friend come to visit me that I share my table and sup with. The quiet of the dawn when I slip downstairs in the dark and sit at my table breaking my fast. All the animals in my house know the routine, and from Bob the rabbit, to the two cats and Kody, we share an easy comfort and fellowship in those wee hours. My energy levels have been steady and my mind feels sharp and clear, as opposed to the lethargy I have experienced before.

  I even decided somewhat against my better judgement to attend yoga classes during this month. A friend asked me if that made it harder. During the yoga I would add, certainly yes. But interestingly, I am not hungrier or more tired the rest of the day. It is the same. I shake and sweat a bit more than usual during the class but I think that is simply the lack of accessible sugars and my body having to access it's ample stores.

  Meditation has become like slipping between silk sheets. I drop like a stone into the well. It is easy and effortless to keep my mind still. I understand now why fasting and meditation are linked. One facilitates the other.

  I am terribly afraid of heights for those of you who don't know me, and yet six days after my fast ends I will rappell 27 stories off of a building in Edmonton to raise money for disabled children. I figure it has been a while since I stretched beyond the limits of my comfort zone. And I have a dear friend who needs some help reclaiming her life after cancer. I hope to remind both of us and all of those who have chosen to join us that "each day's a gift and not a given right" as Nickelback sings. That none of us can count our tomorrows and that all that matters is the air in our lungs and the song on our lips and the love that we carry deep inside us that lights the way for others in this world.

   It is a Nickelback kind of day. "that first step you take, is the longest ride" will be the line running through my head as I lift my leg over that ledge and begin my descent. But know this, I will feel a thousand feet tall when I reach the bottom and that will be worth every drop of adrenaline.

  What small thing could you do today that would stretch the box that surrounds you. Your comfort zone. Say hello to a stranger? Offer some help? Laugh loud in a public place? Speak words that need to be said to someone you love? Will you do it?

   Excitement and fear are physiologically identical. Did you know that? Indistinguishable, one from the other. We choose. In every moment, we choose.

I choose life!

In love and light,
Kathryn