The E|B|Factor

In order to truly experience the richness of life - its vibrant highs and shocking lows that teach you gratitude and in all things a lesson on how to ride the ebbs and flows - you’ve got to emerge from the Comfort Zone. Whether a tentative tippytoe to test the water or a cannonball into the deep-end to learn how to swim, genuine living comes from stepping outside the safety net.

Freud would have some smug comment to say about the yearn to return to the womb, I’m sure. And on some level there is certainly an appeal to curling up in the fetal position with your thumb planted in your mouth. But that ain’t livin, man. The problem is many of us have replaced our cozy placental bachelor pad with some other crutch. A dead-end job. An unfulfilling relationship. The Internet. Whatever yours may be, if its holding you back from happiness then you’re trapped in an eggshell disguising itself as your old pal Blankie. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who had a gender-colour-specific blanket named Blankie as a toddler…)

When used with moderation and balance (those two keys to success), Comfort Zones are fine. The explorer bushwhacking the Amazon welcomes the security of his zipped-up tent every night - but he’s earned the respite by dodging jaguars and poison-tipped tribal darts all day. Cuddling up with your babe after a hard-fought hockey game is good. And there will always be a time and a place for watching silly cat videos. But even as I’ve learned from venturing into the relatively safe but unknown realm of Twitter, a multiverse of inspirational experiences awaits us. All we have to do is make ourselves move.

Movement is a relative term these days, isn’t it. We tap into the Virtual and our minds sail further than Magellan. Further than Buzz Freakin’ Aldrin! Meanwhile, in “reality” my leg hops the caffeine jig under the table and occasionally takes me down the hall to flush fluid.

But I digress.

The point is: the cure for the Comfort Zone Blues is positive movement (onwards/ upwards) in the direction of your well-defined goals. Which brings me to the story I want to share.

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It floated up through the busy coral reef kingdom of Twitter and resonated. The optimal mantra for my current life experiences, vibrating there on the surface like some magical shimmering reflection. Where if I reached out and touched it, I’d be a fraction more capable. And I wasn’t even looking for the answer. But like love and all those unexpectedly sweet bits of life, the universe gives us surprises that often turn out to be exactly what we need.

I’ve been striving for boldness lately, trying out some new habits and lifestyle adjustments. I quit my mind-numbing yet highly-paid job in the oil-fields of Northern Alberta to move to the megalopolis of Toronto to make a Communications career happen. You see, I’ve got a BA degree in Professional Communication and was only working up in the Patch with all the unbelievable part-time criminal/ full-time rednecks to pay off my student loan. (That’s a link to the blog I got out of the ordeal - some zany, sketchy characters, I tell ya). And my lady lives out here so may as well trust in my talents and trust that the universe responds favourably to boldness and go MAKE LIFE HAPPEN!! Right??

Well, it’s been two weeks and I’m still in the kitchen, working on my Life Recipe. And part of that recipe called for me to figure out how to use Twitter effectively.  So I stretched my memory for the lessons we learned in our Digital Communication class at Royal Roads last year and busted out a pretty good strategy. I’m not sure if this common knowledge or not, but these SIMPLE STEPS! got me 40 new followers in 3 days:

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The twisting and vibrant colours of multiculturalism shine like rainbows on our planet, but dark storm clouds gather above, rumbling and threatening to wash out the light. In a world teeming with diversity and the unique beauty of all Her cultures and creations, every facet of life is integral and connected. We are ultimately One Consciousness experiencing itself subjectively in myriad forms. Culture is the human operating system, the blueprint for constructing and living a life that is suitably coherent to its environment, and each cultural group represents a macrocosm of the individual. As such, they deserve respect and unconditional love, for they are us. Yet there is also a culture of hate in the world, promoted by a tyrannical group of powerful elites that view the masses with disdain. Elitist propaganda shouts slogans that perpetuate socioeconomic inequality and cause many people to live in fear of their neighbour, divided and thus conquered. Together we must stand against this threat, or divided we shall fall, like the fat raindrops from the storm clouds that carry both the potential to flood the Earth, or cleanse it of its suffering.

Before Jack can take on the Giant, before David can bring down Goliath - or whatever folk expression this human archetype of the everyman defeating the oppressive thug may take in your culture - the people need to first work out their differences. We need to unite. Yet there is a thin red line between unification towards a common progressive and positive goal and homogenous, self-destructive, global culture. So too the lines between globalization and globalism can blur when we lack a common goal. When the only goals we seem to care about sometimes are the ones scored in NHL playoffs, the multinational corporations (read: cartel, singular) plots for global domination can proceed unfettered.

We’ve experienced it in the pubs: it is a beautiful thing when people from diverse cultures and ethnic heritages cheer together in harmony. But lets not get lost in the novelty, viewing cultural harmony with the film noire lenses of pre-suffrage and pre-equality. While the world may now be post-everything, as many cultural scholars have posited, the only time that ever exists is this moment right here. Everything else occurs in our minds. In our mind is where the true battlefield lies, not in Libya or the streets of Babylondon. Change first begins internally then is expressed out into the world as our creation. Post-everything means the possibility to shift the way of the world for the common good and positive future of humankind. But within the subjective freedoms it allows, post-everything contains the recipe for our destruction, if we turn completely nihilistic. So lets believe in ourselves; lets believe in each other. For as the saying goes: if we stand for nothing, well fall for anything.

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