Towards discomfort

When stuff gets uncomfortable, we tend to turn away from it.

• your friend seems upset with you so you gravitate towards other people
• you feel tears welling so you laugh and change the subject
• your daughter asks tricky questions and you brush them off
• you and your partner are fighting all the time but you just avoid the issue
• your yoga practice starts getting challenging so you find excuses not to go
• you’ve realised that you’re incredibly unhappy but you refuse to think about it

Turning away works in the short term – you don’t have to feel difficult emotions! But the thing is, when you turn away from discomfort you avoid opportunities for growth. You don’t have a chance to become the person you could be, the person you would probably really like to be.

When you feel yourself shifting, to avoid feeling discomfort or pain, try instead to turn towards it. Do it in bite sized chunks – whatever you can manage in that moment.

And then, simply notice what happens.