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You must have come across the images of Venn diagrams depicting the intersection of comfort / discomfort as Magic Zone. I don’t quite agree and that’s where the problem begins. This is the area where the specter of Inner Critic lurks around with self-doubt ready to make you question your efforts and belittle everything you have achieved so far. Frankly, the idea of growth visualisation through Venn diagrams is as ridiculous as sci-fi movies portraying how aliens look. Yet every so often, we encounter blogs, self help websites and almost everyone else pointing towards the zone with euphoria — “This is where the magic happens.” A simple Google search will provide countless articles urging to step outside the safe zone, saying that it is time to take the plunge and grab the great rewards that are awaiting the braves outside the comfort zone. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all about pushing yourself, trying new things and all of that. However, I don’t believe in the idea of comfort zone necessarily being a bad thing and the notion that we must do everything in our capacity to make our lives as uncomfortable as possible for growth! Does this not sound absurd? Have you seen anyone happy without being comfortable? I have not. But I have seen many who aren’t comfortable, aren’t happy but are successful. They tried to achieve success by taking the route of discomfort and lost their family and friends in the process and invited depression in their lives. Ask yourself, is this the kind of success you want for yourself? Being Comfortable is the Magic Call me a pessimist. Call me a stoic. But more than anything, I am a Realist. And realistically speaking, I’ve found that most people do their best work when they are in the comfort zone without having to worry about much else. You must have seen this interesting pyramid by a gentleman called Abraham Maslow — You see, Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first thing that motivates our behaviour. Once that level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us, and so on. Going by the same logic, in our haste to reach the so called Magic Zone, we tend to jeopardise the lower layers of the pyramid and it is not a pretty picture. This comfort zone baloney might motivate some people but I don’t think that’s the way to visualise your growth. Getting outside your comfort zone is like running towards the enemy with your shield down and it’s not fancy at all. There is no magic involved. Just blood, sweat and tears. Expand The Goddamn Comfort Zone It’s fair to say that if you are reading this, you are a go-getter who wants to achieve great things in life. Maybe you want to quit your job to start a business, become an artist, publish a book, whatever. And you probably know that it is extremely hard so why make it even harder by going out in search of the magic zone? Instead, start from the very bottom and build a strong foundation and get comfortable with what you are about to do by preparing yourself. Remember what AB once said— Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe — Abraham Lincoln How to expand the comfort zone? When Abraham Maslow came along, he was one of the first psychologists to focus primarily on happiness. He studied the greatest minds of our generations, like Roosevelt, Einstein and was also the one to coin the phrase “Self-actualizing individual” And he wasn’t just talking about lofty desires like jumping into the abyss and looking for the magic. According to him, you need to self-actualize to live upto your full potential. Musicians must make music, artists must paint, poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What human beings can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. — Abraham Maslow Ask yourself what makes you feel truly at peace with yourself, what gets you into the flow mode and where do you feel the most comfortable and then take consistent action towards realizing those things. But don’t fall for the BS that you need to make a huge change overnight. Start small and take regular steps in the right direction to slowly expand your comfort zone and build the momentum to carry you towards your goals. Stay close to yourself — there’s no point in pushing yourself so badly that your life becomes miserable. In the end, we all need comfort: It’s one of our basic needs as human beings. Try to keep moving forward every day: Even if it’s just a tiny step. No magic. Just effort. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Comfort Zone: There is No Magic Outside It

Bitcoin — The Unseizable Asset

Scientific American, Volume XXXVI., No. 8, February 24, 1877 by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . The Lost Arts in New York here THE LOST ARTS IN NEW YORK. While the objects of ancient art contained in the Castellani collection, recently placed on exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in this city, are individually of great rarity and archæological value, they derive additional importance from the fact that, viewed conjunctively as a collection, they represent connected histories of two great industrial arts extending over many centuries. Both in the work of the goldsmith and of the potter, we are enabled to trace progress from the earliest stages up to a period when the greatest skill was attained, and even subsequently into the era of decadence. In both industries, we find that ancient and mediæval workmen possessed knowledge which we do not possess; and among Signor Castellani's treasures may be seen handiwork which is the embodiment of two lost arts, the secrets of which the modern world, with all its infinitely superior wisdom, has not yet rediscovered. The productions, in the Castellani collection, of precious metal workers dating from prehistoric epochs, the exact dates of which are wholly unknown, and covering the long period ending in the thirteenth century, are represented by the contents of some twenty cases. The first three of these receptacles bear no dates. The ornaments which they contain are of bronze, amber, silver, and glass (the latter having become converted into opalescent silicic acid), and were found in Præneste (modern Palestrina, Italy), and in the territory which was ancient Etruria. Case No. 4 bears date 700 B.C., and here is a rich treasure of primitive Etruscan and Phœnician ornaments of gold, adorned with granulated work. Signor Castellani considers that the workmanship of these objects is so perfect that it is impossible at the present time to explain the process of execution, and very difficult to imitate it. The ornaments are of two kinds—those for ordinary use and those for funereal purposes. The first are massive, and might be worn for years without injury; the others are extremely delicate. All are made of the purest gold, and their decoration evinces the most consummate skill and taste on the part of the artist. There is, for example, a small flask, shaped something like an antique wine jar, and about five inches in height. It is of beaten gold, and is covered with a pattern intended to imitate the similarly shaped designs of variegated glass of the Græco-Phœnician period. This pattern is entirely produced by minute globules of metal soldered to the surface in tiers of zigzag or Vandyke patterns. Another specimen is a strip of gold covered with granulated lines and bearing a row of birds in relief. On other ornaments are exquisitely carved heads and flowers, produced apparently by hammering on the reverse of the object, but with a delicacy and precision of touch which is simply marvelous. The closest students of this ancient handiwork are entirely at a loss to understand how the processes of melting, soldering, and wire drawing, which were employed in the art, were performed. Modern workmen have failed in their attempts exactly to imitate the old ornaments; and it is certain that the secret of the mechanical agents, whereby it was possible to separate and join pieces of gold hardly perceptible to the naked eye, is lost. Signor Castellani has taken great pains to solve the problem, reading all the treatises of mediæval goldsmiths, inquiring of all classes of Italian jewelers, and experimenting with all kinds of chemicals, in the hope of finding the solder wherewith the minute grains were attached to the surface of the metal. At last he found some of the old processes still employed in a remote district, hidden in the recesses of the Apennines, far from the great towns. Bringing away a few workmen, he gave them much more instruction, and at last succeeded, not perhaps in equalling, but certainly in rivalling the ancient productions. We question whether the Etruscans used fire at all in their soldering, as it would be almost an impossibility to keep the excessively fine tools necessary for the work at a proper heat. Mr. Joshua Rose offers the plausible suggestion that a cold flux was employed, with which the workman followed the lines or dots of his pattern. Then the gold granules were possibly sprinkled over the surface, and adhered only to the solder, the superfluous grains being brushed off after the solder had set. There is also a fragment of a finely woven fabric, made of threads of pure gold, found on the body of a woman in a tomb at Metapontum. This is without doubt the material to which the Psalmist refers in speaking of "the King's daughter" having "clothing of wrought gold;" and in the Pentateuch there is reference to gold threads being used upon looms. As we follow the various objects in the twenty cases above mentioned, the decline of the goldworker's art when the use of enamels came into vogue is evidenced. Continuing on to later periods, the decadence is more marked under the successors of Alexander. In Rome, under the emperors, we find gold used as a mere setting for precious stones, and finally the collection terminates with examples of workmanship of the time of Charlemagne, when the workmen had lost their cunning, and the noble metal had been altogether debased to secondary uses. The second instance where a lost art is exemplified in Signor Castellani's collection is in the glazing of the Gubbio majolica. We have not space here to review the magnificent series of ancient specimens of pottery in detail; and thus it will suffice to say that, beginning with some of the earliest pieces made by the Arabs when they occupied Sicily, from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, the collection presents examples of all the finest types of later mediæval art. Gubbio, where the peculiar kind of majolica above noted was made, is a small town once in the territory of the dukes of Urbino; and in the sixteenth century it became famous for its pottery. This was attributable to the talent of one man, Giorgio Andreoli, who is reputed to have invented the wonderful luster characteristic of the Gubbio ware. The body of majolica is mere common clay; and after the piece is finished on the wheel, it is dried and burnt in a furnace. After the biscuit thus prepared has been dipped in the glaze, the colors are applied on the soft surface of the latter, and the vitrifying process fuses all into a glossy enamel of the color of the pigment. This is still the common practice; and we mention it merely to show that to his pigment and glaze Andreoli must have added some third substance, which rendered the enamel capable of reflecting white light as blue, red, green, or yellow light—in other words, of giving the object a luster of a color wholly different from the tints of the pigment. He evidently could produce any desired color at will, and the effects gained are indescribably beautiful. The Castellani collection contains 130 superb specimens, which glow like jewels. In one, the scene of the nativity of Christ is provided with the figures in low relief, and the exquisite cerulean lustre is imparted to give the effect of moonlight. The rarest pieces are those of which the luster is a delicate green. Some blaze with yellow, as if of gold; others exhibit the brilliancy of the ruby; while others resemble the interior of the pearl oyster shell. Whether this sheen is produced by polarization of the light in some manner, or whether it is at all analogous to fluorescence, is yet to be decided. The impression of the surface with fine microscopic lines might produce an iridescence, but not separate and clearly defined hues. The ware was intended for ornamental purposes, not for household use; and it was suspended against the rich, dark tapestries of the period with which walls were covered, thus aiding, as it were, in illuminating the apartment with its exquisite radiance. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various (2006). Scientific American, Volume XXXVI., No. 8, February 24, 1877. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19406/pg19406-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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