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When was the last time you stepped out of a comfort zone? What did you do? How did it feel? How did the experience enrich your life? 

We create and inhabit comfort zones to protect ourselves from facing our fears. We erect boundaries beyond which we prefer not to step. Often, though, the greatest danger lies inside the comfort zone, as this dream (posted to our old dream forums), portrays so vividly: 

“I was nursing a baby and the baby was me. She was tired so I put her on my shoulder and she started to drop off. Then I got the idea of putting her into a 2 litre milk bottle, a nice cosy place I thought! The milk came up to her chest. She obviously found it comfortable and dropped off to sleep. 

But then I kept having problems. I realised I had to take the lid off or she would suffocate. The milk was slopping into her mouth and making her cough, and I thought she might get chilled too. 

I was walking round a tourist area and wanted to sit down for a coffee but I was too preoccupied with the baby. 

Then I wondered how I was going to get her out of the bottle again. I would have to cut the top off. But she looked fairly comfortable and was soon asleep so I left her there.” 

Did you notice all the references in this dream to comfort zones? There’s the ‘nice cosy place’ which she found ‘comfortable’ and where, despite the obvious dangers, she remained comfortable. 

The things we do! This dreamer really wanted to explore unknown territory (the tourist area) and was on the verge of realising that her familiar comfort zone was so restrictive it was potentially suffocating. Even though she could see solutions, she ultimately settled for what seemed ‘fairly comfortable’. She  was limiting her potential, and probably not achieving her desires, by suffocating in a comfort zone instead of stepping out into new territory to grow. 

If you ever need encouragement to step beyond a comfort zone so you can grow, personally and spiritually, remember the baby in the milk bottle. 

Better still, read the full interpretation of this dream and the dream alchemy practice I created for the dreamer to help her breakthrough into a more enriching life experience.