If you’ve ever felt yourself on the “edge” of something and taken a leap into the unknown, you know what it’s like to stretch out of your comfort zone.
In order to continue your powerful path of growth, transformation, expression, liberation and impact it’s essential to continue to stretch… over and over again.
I know how difficult this can be sometime. I’m had many days where I’ve begged “Can’t I just rest and coast for a while? Do I really need to stretch again?” And, the answer is always “yes” it’s time to stretch.
Sometimes it’s a quick “yes” that I welcome with great excitement and anticipation, and sometimes it’s a “yes” that is a slow, somewhat resistant yes… but a YES nonetheless.
As you may have seen or read in my recent emails this is a YES times for me – one of those times where my comfort zone is growing in a BIG way. So I wanted to share the 3 most important things I’ve learned by going through this most recent strrrrretch in hopes they help you with your next stretch!
1) Get Support
Support is one of the most critical factors to having a successful and enjoyable stretch. You should not try to walk this journey alone because it’s more difficult on your own – and certainly not as much fun as being supported. I am blessed to be supported by my family, friends, coaches, and my phenomenal team. And I’m grateful to offer support for aspiring authors around the world to help them write their books. Being their “rock” on that profound journey is one of my greatest joys. So, whatever your next big stretch is – writing your book or something else – seek support any place you can by people who believe in you. And also look at how you can be a source of support for another. The gifts of this alone are countless.
2) Trust
This one was (and still is sometimes) a biggie for me! One of my core “wounded” beliefs is that nobody is there for me, I can’t trust anyone and I’m better off doing it on my own. (Which makes sense of why support is so critical to me… I’m breaking lifelong patterns.) Anyway, trust for me happens on three levels. There’s the “on the ground” level of placing my trust in the right people, which I am getting much better at doing. Then, there’s surrendering and fully trusting those I’ve empowered to support me, which is a whole different level of trust that making the decision to trust in the first place. Then, on the third level which is on the invisible realm… is to trust that the Universe is, always has been and always will be working in my FAVOR. I know this level of trust takes a ton of faith and spiritual discipline, but it can truly be the thing that changes everything. I bet if you asked some of my author clients, they’ll tell you the first level of trust – to say “yes” to working with me – was somewhat easy, then they took another deep dive into trusting me as we got into truly doing the work of their book.
3) Keep Looking Forward
Once you’ve made the commitment to stretch out of your comfort zone (as you saw me do in my videos earlier this week, and will see me doing during the January 17th Unite 2014 Livestream), you’ve got to keep your eyes focused forward! Sometimes after committing to the “stretch” – there’s a Rubber Band Effect! That is, you feel the stretch and then immediately remember the safety of the comfort zone and fantasize about going back. Please do NOT do that. Keep your eyes looking forward and resist the temptation to go back again. Heck, I was in tears as I drove to my December video shoot, on one level wishing I could turn the car around. But I didn’t. I said a prayer to gain strength and kept looking (and driving) forward! You can do this too. I know it can be challenging, but I can assure you from my own experience and that of the tons of people I’ve helped look forward in relation to their books… you really can do it! You can get there! Just keep looking forward, get support and trust along the way.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. And, let me know where your big stretch is in 2014 so I can support you! Let’s keep stretching together…
