Rather than short term comfort that creates eventual self destruction. Humans are hard wired to default into a “way of being” that is comfortable. That’s a natural tendency, right? So how do we combat that?
One way to put what I do is working towards the optimization and expanding the potential of an individual. I’ve had my own personal journey with these practices for a really long time now. There have been failures along the way.
First it started, like most, with what I could do in my physical quadrant. Seeing measurable results was trackable through all sorts of metrics. I could track and see my overall health improve or decline as a result of what I was doing or…not doing. It required work.
Then the mental quadrant. Again, I could fairly easily measure progress and the expansion of my cognitive abilities. I could do exercises and be able to recognize improvement. Interestingly enough it also required work and effort.
Emotional expansion became a wonderful and challenging task to seek and find better control, deeper sensations and use of the entire bandwidth of my emotions. It became more difficult to track and also to recognize improvement in this quadrant but over time I gained better and better fluidity and expansion into a broader bandwidth of human emotion. For me, this was one of the most painful and scary things I’ve ever ventured into.
Spiritually, I have found things to be extremely ambiguous and difficult to “accomplish”. I’ve also realized I had it all wrong. Currently I arrived at the fact the there is no science to finding the spiritual side of us as humans but rather it’s an art. A rare art, in fact. It’s about finding a certain “state of being”, for me. It’s about what I give rather than what I find for myself. And many, many other things.
So the title “short term destruction for the long term win” is about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Now, not later. Facing discomfort is about confronting ourselves and doing it in a planned, relatively safe, although uncomfortable practice. And choosing it rather than have things show up because of irresponsibility.
Applying myself to the end of my normal capacity brings out something better in me. Something more beautiful, gentle and compassionate. When I take myself to the end of myself I don’t have the same amount of energy to be hateful, destructive or disconnecting.
These things are transferable to other areas of our lives. I believe we must live more in that area of our ourselves in order to become better humans.
If you agree, share this with others in your sphere who you think would appreciate it.