I once read something really interesting about our brain. It is said that there is a powerful part of the brain, the Amygdala, that wants the world to run on routine, not change. Located within an ancient area of the mind that deals with the way you perceive and respond to the world, the Amygdala urges us to favor the familiar and routine. It craves control and safety, which at times can be vital. It dissuades you from embracing anything that involves risk, change, or growth.

Your Amygdala wants you to be what you have been and stay just the way you are. To me that looks like a very core reason why we humans tend to stay within our comfort zones. Actually we all know that we need to ‘break out of our comfort zones’, if we want to grow and prosper. Yet we find it so difficult to actually do so, either in our day to day actions or in the pursuit of our larger goals.

We tend to stick to jobs which make us feel comfortable. “Why change?”, we say, “everything’s going fine.. boss’s happy with my work, the timings suit me, I’m getting a decent salary…, the company’s doing okay..” We accept colleagues, friends, spouses who make us feel comfortable. Worse, we tend to shun away people who give us any advice that might mean moving out of our comfort zones. Many of us even go to the same restaurants every time and order the same items from the menu. Hell, we even tend to take the same route to our offices every day.

Ever noticed how uncomfortable you feel when suddenly a traffic jam forces you to take an alternative route – even if that route is much less crowded! I’ve seen people getting comfortable with pain and misery too! I’m sure you too have come across people who complain about their jobs.. they tell you how their company is such a miserable place to work.. they threaten to leave their jobs.. yet, a few years later you meet them and they’re in the same job and they have the same story to tell!

They will suffer that misery, but somewhere they’re so comfortable with that whole environment, they find it easier to stick on, than venture out and explore new options!

Years ago, there was a debate in the real-estate company I was working in, over the choice of an Architect for a new residential project. The project was huge and the choice of Architect was critical. We debated for hours.. There was one set of people who felt that we should go with a ‘safe’ choice – an Architect who was local, who we had worked with before and was used to ‘our’ way of working. And there were others who felt we should explore someone completely different, who could bring in a fresh style and has a different way of working, even if it meant taking a ‘risk’.

That day I realized that breaking out of one’s comfort zone can get really difficult. And that in any such tug of war, most organizations will tend to tread the safe path. But whatever the world around you does, YOU can make a beginning. If you believe it helps.

A friend once told me not WHY, but HOW it helps when you move out of your comfort zone. He used the concept of a comfort zone circle. Imagine the circle represents your comfort zone and you are faced with the option of doing something that’s just outside the boundaries of the circle.

When you take that courageous step and take up such a task, you realize that it’s not as difficult or risky as you’d imagined it to be. Over time, you even become good at that task – that’s when you can say, the size of your comfort zone circle has increased. You keep doing things that are outside your comfort zone circle and the Universe will respond by increasing the size of that circle. And I really believe this works.

More often than not, I have always seen the Universe supporting me when I try something different. It doesn’t necessarily make my life easier, but it certainly makes it more purposeful and fulfilling. And there’s no reason why the Universe won’t support YOU. Tell yourself that the Universe wants you to experience the abundance it has to offer. It is craving to show you that there’s so much more to Life than that tiny little circle of yours.

So do it today. Don’t wait for ‘someday’ to happen. Sure, take baby steps if that suits you. Crawl out of your comfort zone, if that makes you more comfortable! Believe that you can override that powerful force called the Amygdala. Just being aware of it will help!

Go to the extent of making CHANGE, your most important habit! And pretty soon you’ll find that expanding that circle is on Autopilot. It’s worth it! Because, as they say, when you look back on Life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the one’s you did! Walk out of that circle. There’s no better time than NOW!

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