In business and in life, playing it safe only takes us so far. The real rewards and return on our investment of time comes when we stretch our capacity and take a leap of faith. Real risk requires being okay with feeling uncomfortable. We’re deliberately stepping into the unknown and it is to be expected that we will react with fear. It’s the way we’re wired.

So many of our decisions are based on a myriad of mental filters that take the form of assumptions, expectations, conditions, etc. We box ourselves into what is familiar, put boundaries around it and operate within those walls because that’s where we feel safe. Outside of those walls feels foreign and threatening, however, it is precisely in the domain of the unknown where many of the things we desire to manifest reside.

Habitual thinking gets us in trouble. We stagnate and get stuck in our limited viewpoints and life feels stale and empty. What we need is someone to kick us off the cliff so that we can discover that we actually can fly and that our capacity is so much bigger than we imagined.

There is such a vastness of experience out there, and yet we deny ourselves all the riches life has to offer because we’re afraid – afraid to make mistakes, afraid we’ll fail, afraid we’ll get hurt, and so on. Instead, we complain and feel victimized when our lives don’t contain the experiences we claim we’re seeking, little realizing that it is we who are jamming up the works. These undercurrents of fear that course rapidly beneath our daily lives are shaping all of our experiences. Our fears reduce life down to what we consider a manageable affair until it becomes so small we can barely breathe.

I’ve seen the enemy and it is us. Deep within us. Breaking free requires seeing ourselves as accountable and responsible for the way things are. We have forgotten that we constructed the walls around us. They are made from the way we see the world and how we say it has to be in order for us to feel okay. This criteria of needing to feel okay blocks the flow of abundance that is all around us.

To begin taking down the walls ask yourself some direct questions: What do I need to feel safe? In control? Okay? What makes me feel unsafe? Out of control? Not okay? Then begin to examine the constructs or conditions you’ve imposed on life to fulfill those requirements. The process of transformation begins when you truly look at what is and recognize your role in making it that way. How you hold (view) something has everything to do with how you feel about it.

The beauty of life is that you can change how you hold something in an instant. That is one of the only things in life you can control.

Stepping out of your comfort zone can be as simple as doing something you’ve never done before. Make a pact with yourself to stir things up in your life by trying one or two new things every week. New food. New places. New people. New activities. To make a radical leap, do something you’ve said you would never do or that brings up some degree of discomfort or resistance.

Start there and pretty soon you’ll realize how much of life you’ve been missing and perhaps you’ll even decide to take a sledgehammer to some of those thicker walls. As you resuscitate yourself and your life, the magic and mystery will begin to return and the idea of taking risks will get easier.