Leave your comfort zone to experience reality!

French Toast layered with Nutella (TM) and moscarpone cheese and sliced strawberries inside, then topped with powdered sugar, strawberries and a strawberry syrup

Let me explain. What is the comfort zone? That’s where you are used to something, to the point where you no longer experience the aliveness, the freshness of it. It should be called the dead zone.

A good example is food. We all have our comfort foods. Well, those are great, for healing and restoring us at the moment. We’re feeling down, so we make some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. That’s okay.

But do you order soup and grilled cheese every time you go out to lunch? The reason you don’t is because in the context of going out to lunch or dinner, you want to fully experience the joy of the flavors, the scents, the ambiance. And most importantly, you want the pleasure of the company of those with whom you are dining.

When you get out of your comfort zone the world is new, and you are more in “the now,” the present moment.

Did you ever wonder why vacations to strange places are so enjoyable? What is it that makes it so wonderful to simply walk down the street in a foreign city? Certainly the people who live and work there don’t feel the same excitement that you as a tourist feel. And those from across the globe who come to visit your town feel the thrill of seeing even the simplest things.

Skip the chili dog, Dawg !

The answer does not lie in the content, in the things. The answer is within. Your mind has become dull with the familiar because you no longer see the things around you with fresh eyes. What is much worse is that you may no longer experience the people around you with an open heart and mind. We take people for granted, relationships become old, we cloud the mind with judgements and build a false image of the person nearest to us.

Here is my recommended training. To un-condition your mind from becoming dull and unable to enjoy life, you need a vacation. Not just any vacation, but a vacation where for the first time you can observe the openness and beauty of your own mind. Without taking notes or being too intellectual, just watch how relaxed you are; observe how little stress you feel when you allow yourself to see everything around you with a mind that is open to all that is new.

Try and be conscious of and remember the simplest moments during your vacation: A lady wearing a hat, the gesture of a taxi driver, a child at play, the sound of a baby crying, or a dog barking. In another country, somehow the sound of a car horn is okay, even musical. At home, it would annoy you, stress you out.

An ordinary moment... in Rome

Your vacation becomes a spiritual exercise, a living meditation, and practice in being present. It will be effortless, with few challenges. The take away lesson, however, will be your determination to keep that openness as you return to the challenges facing you when you at home. Can you do it?

Here are some options:

Really Out of the Box Experience

Another one

Caribbean View

Cruise assortment (in US $) Cruise.com

European Cruises (In British Pounds Sterling) Thomson Cruises

NYC skyline from the deck

Boat Tour New York Boat Tours

Please be sure to post your comments below.

Want a traditional romantic or family getaway?

Bon voyage.