Just a little question i will throw out into the digital ether for the sake of curiosity

I don't mean it in a purely physical and material way either although this of course contributes to the human experience.

What thoughts comfort you about this planet? And which thoughts cause discomfort?

Be as honest as you can possibly be. This is an 'exercise' in actively encouraging and revealing what our sub-conscious might have to say, but has always been too reserved to regualry bring up to our conscious attention ( for the purpose of comfort)

so...

What makes you feel comfortable?

What makes you feel uncomfortable and why so?

What makes me comfortable, is being aware of the infinite/beautiful possibilities that life has to offer. Rather, being aware that I most likely cannot even comprehend how incredible these possibilities may be.

What makes me uncomfortable, is that many of these possibilities are much more "colorful" than what many folks are used to. This may be involved with ignorance/misunderstanding/fear (for one who is unaware of what lies beyond the veil of common sight/understanding), and terrible political actions taken to alleviate the anxiety (in the name of safety or the common good (ha)) that often results from a negative or ignorant point of view.

I get so tired of listening to people talk about how drugs* are so bad for society. Personally, the psychoactive substances that interest me have gone hand in hand with inspiring/motivating me to learn more... to educate myself, to be aware, to do something positive and make the world a better place. I guess what I'm saying is that I am uncomfortable that the public @ large refers to drugs as drugs. I am of the opinion that this word should be banished from the lexicon. Each substance needs to be looked at individually, on a case by case basis, and NOT lumped into the category of "drugs". How often do politicians speaking down on "drugs" speak about sugar or television (2 extremely dangerous drugs)?

I find that my comfort zone has a lot to do with underlying themes and motifs in wherever I am or whatever I'm doing.

This has become a lot more acute, in both directions, since I've begun working seriously with psychedelics. Places and people, music and art, they all take on extra dimensions and levels of significance. Music in particular; that which I enjoy I *adore*, but if it feels wrong or 'off' somehow, it's intolerable. For instance, I absolutely love listening to Bowie's album Lodger during the latter half of an Aya trip. Why? No idea; it just feels right. On the other side of the coin, I've gone from being mildly annoyed by Top 40-style pop hits to actively despising that style and feel of music. It feels so much more plastic and lifeless than it used to, so deeply associated with vapid desperation.

So for me, my comfort zone is all about finding themes that resonate with me, and avoiding those that feel unhealthy or 'wrong' in some way. It's largely instinctual.

I'm an artist, been one my whole life. So I'm most comfortable when I'm sitting and making my art. Best zen space ever, great place to step back from myself. But for this to work, all the following conditions must apply:

1) wife, baby and cats all taken care of
2) No pressing home or business matters lingering
3) Proper THC buzz (before 6:00pm this must include caffeine)
4) nobody dropping by later, or any other potential distractions
5) music optional, but helpful.

The list of conditions complexities with time; therefore the moments in the zone become sweeter.

The opposite of my comfort zone: sitting there with a bowl full of spice, trying to get the nerve...

I think this is the trait we all share and the one i'd like to welcome more exploration of .

If our comfort zone is a type of 'personal' resonance , does our comfort zone without fail, act as a catalyst of 'improvement' on ourselves, or does our comfort zone limit us to potentially perceived 'false threats' outside of our comfort zone?

I think it's a combination of both, and regualr voyages Out of our comfort zone , will actually in time, act as a bridge in helping us bring more things back in to our comfort zone.

The fact of us stating by and large within our comfort zones is probably just a part of our default survival mechanism- less deadly stuff is likely to happen there. At the same time, we are gifted with curiosity, which leads us to take deliberate excursions into the uncomfortable, in order to broaden our perspective (and therefore our success in the evolution game). Nature walks a razor's edge between the two.

For sure

It is indeed rooted in survival.

The follow up would then be;

At which point, do we consciously decide to abandon the outdated survival tactics that defined our own evolutionary path to this present day, and start to explore new methods of acquiring 'tactics' which help us become more active and less passive in the process of our own evolution?

In my opinion, this is the point when one/many can see our current survival tactics are just one set of tactics (as opposed to the only tactic) from an outside perspective. This makes it easier to accept this, and move on to a more meaningful/balanced (both within ourselves and the community of life at large) set of survival tactics.

...and as you all know, it can be very challenging to overcome our base wiring in order to take longer and longer residencies outside the comfortable. Even knowing full well how healthy this can be, how it can speed our own personal evolution- we still settle for our habitual ways of thinking.

If the psychedelic experience didn't offer such astonishing rewards, there's no way humans would go there.