There is a particular type of discomfort which accompanies personal growth. I say “particular” because it is different than the discomfort that comes from failure, dishonesty or disobedience. It is more like the “good burn” you get from an intense workout than the aches and pains which follow periods of sustained idleness.
Your tolerance for this discomfort marks the limit of your growth potential. Most people leave this world having only actualized a small fraction of their true potential…not because someone else limited them but because at some point they put their personal comfort ahead of their concern to cultivate a wider sphere of service and personal influence.
Some might sell you the comforting notion that you should “do what you like” or “follow your heart,” but I say that you should do what you do because it is the right thing to do – whether or not it is pleasant or to your liking. The addiction to comfort is one of the great drains of human potential and I fear for our future as a race if we fail to get a handle on the widespread abuse of this stupefacient.
You, my friends, can make a difference. You can wean yourself from this narcotic by developing in yourself mens sibi conscia recti, that is, a mind conscious of right. To do this you must look beyond what you would like or what is comforting to you and seek first and foremost what is right and fitting.
Do that and you will live a life worth living. Do that and you’ll waltz proudly to your grave, rather than slumping toward it in shame and regret. It’s a simple choice, really!
Gregory Hake 
I certainly want to live a life worth living. Thank you for yet again, for the reminder of how simple again and it really does come down to the choices we make.
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Thank you for your clear words. They do bring the comfort of clarity.
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It seems the discomfort can come when try to keep measure with some idea of the status quo. This is usually a composite of our past, where we hail from, our socioeconomic background and choices that we’ve made. The discomfort can come from venturing outside of those parameters or from what our friends and family think is right. All of these strictures will usually have little or nothing to do with our inherent purpose. Having the courage to discover and fulfill that is the only real and lasting comfort. The discomfort can come from having to think for yourself too. It can be easier to live by consensus but as you say there is no victory in slinking to our end and I do believe we each will at some point account for how well we met the promise of this life. I think Dickens in his famous work “A Christmas Carol” was dropping hints!
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That is really good advice. It ties in a lot I think with what you wrote about balance. To go after your comforts, likes and preferences is doing what comes easy, and we all have certain areas where we naturally excel in something. An important part of rounding out one’s character is developing the areas which may not come so easy, areas where greater effort is demanded of us in order to accomplish any given task.
Putting others first (without self-martyrdom) is not so easy if you are constantly looking for your own fulfillment and comfort. Knowing what the right thing is to do is not so easy if your whole world revolves around the way you feel.
One thing I have learned is that you can’t trust your feelings until they have shown true trustworthiness, and until that point arrives, you need some kind of compass to give you orientation. Perhaps there is no better one than “mens sibi conscia recti”, for that’s not always the instinctual thing. Human beings have the capacity to distinguish the most fitting action, something so sorely needed in today’s world, and I agree we cannot afford to live life without it!
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