In the last post, we talked about how humans are born with many instincts, some of which are beneficial, some of which are harmful, and some of which may be beneficial or harmful. In this post, we’re going to talk about how to leave our comfort zone.
How are human comfort zones formed? In addition to being rational, humans are also emotional. More than anything else, human behaviour is controlled by emotions. One of the powerful forces in our emotions is our experiences, and our comfort zones are shaped by the experiences we are used to. For example, we enjoy good food, which gives us pleasurable experiences. These pleasurable experiences shape our comfort zone, and when we are asked to leave this comfort zone, we are very unhappy. It is these unhappiness that makes us reluctant to leave food. However, as our bodies become more and more obese, we are alerted to the need to have some control over our food, but we can’t get out of this comfort zone and we don’t really want to because we don’t want to lose the pleasure of enjoying our food.
Perhaps you may ask, is that doctor’s warning useful? According to a medical statistic, even if a doctor warns of a health crisis, only about one in seven patients will follow the doctor’s advice to control their diet. Why? This is because the experience (or benefit) of health is not timely, it is not an immediate benefit. The benefits of health are future, abstract, some events that are not actually experienced. Yet the joy of losing food is immediate, something that can be felt right away. This is why it is so hard for us to make changes, because the power of our emotions is greater than the power of reason. Our reason will tell us that we should control our diet, yet, emotionally, we can’t let go of the pleasure of food.
When reason meets emotion, emotion usually wins.
In the same way, when we are asked to join a discipleship class, our reason will tell us that discipleship is good for us. Yet this “good” is something we have yet to experience. We know it’s good, but we don’t feel the benefits. On the other hand, the cost of discipleship is something we can feel right away. We feel the pressure of discipleship, the time spent studying, the attendance at classes, the homework, and so on, and the “bad” of all this immediately overcomes the unattainable “good”. Therefore, no matter how much we rationally want to participate in discipleship, our emotional lack of experience prevents us from doing so.
Therefore, those who have gone through discipleship and experienced the benefits of discipleship need to share their experiences so that they can help those who have not yet gone through discipleship to experience the benefits.
Also we need to practice letting our reason speak to our emotion. This constant dialogue strengthens the power of our reason and prevents us from being led by our emotions.