Affirmative Knowing Newsletter Early Edition
Comfort Is the Enemy of Progress
The author Robert Tew wrote, “Comfort is the enemy of progress.” In that single sentence he dismantles one of the most subtle obstacles to growth. Comfort is not laziness, it is familiarity. It is staying with what is known, predictable, and emotionally safe even when the soul is asking for more. Progress, by contrast, requires movement, and movement almost always disrupts ease. When someone chooses comfort over expansion, they may feel secure, but they slowly trade aliveness for routine. Tew’s insight reminds us that growth does not negotiate with convenience, it demands participation.
This principle is powerfully promoted in our Religious Science teaching. Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote, “The universe must respond to the idea held in the mind.” When the mind holds comfort as its highest value, life faithfully mirrors sameness. When the mind entertains expansion, possibility, and spiritual audacity, life must respond in kind. Spiritual law does not argue with an individuals preferences, it simply produces results according to consciousness. Progress begins the moment thought is willing to move beyond maintenance and into inspired expectancy.
From a vibrational perspective, growth requires a shift not only in action but in attention. What we consistently give our awareness to becomes the pattern life organizes around. This is why stagnation can persist even when effort is present. As Esther Hicks reminds us, “You get what you think about, whether you want it or not.” Comfort keeps attention focused on what already exists, while progress invites attention toward what is emerging. When awareness is allowed to stretch beyond the familiar, new frequencies of experience naturally follow.
Personal transformation ultimately asks us to release the safety of old identities. Comfort often preserves who we have been, even when that version no longer fits the soul’s expansion. Progress, on the other hand, requires the courage to redefine oneself in motion. Lisa Nichols captures this beautifully when she says, “Your past does not equal your future.” Honoring Tew’s insight means choosing growth over repetition and evolution over ease. Progress is not the absence of discomfort, it is the willingness to outgrow what once felt safe.
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