There are moments in life when it feels as though the universe is testing us, pushing us to the edge of our limits. But what if this perception is not the truth? What if the discomfort we feel is not a test at all, but a natural signal that we are brushing against the boundaries of our own expansion?
When your nervous system, your beliefs, and your self-perception collide with growth, friction arises. Anxiety surfaces as the echo of an old identity—one that fears it cannot survive the next level of the journey. Yet this discomfort is not punishment. It is a message from the parts of you that are afraid to let go, the parts that once chose safety over expansion. Every belief and behavior pattern was formed in a moment when your body needed protection, and so it repeats what it thought worked. But growth begins when you show your system something new.
The idea that the universe is testing you comes from the belief that life is happening outside of us, pressing down upon us. In truth, nothing is happening to us—it is all moving through us. We are not in the universe any more than we are in our dreams; rather, the universe is in us. Just as the wave is not separate from the ocean, weu are not separate from the source of life itself. What we experience as the crashing of the wave against the shore is simply the return journey to our true being.
Growth invites us to tune into the wisdom of our bodies—the nervous system, the organs, the bones and muscles—and to listen to the deep currents of the heart that carry our desires and feelings with devotion. Expansion begins from the inside out, long before the mind catches up with its doubts and fears. You evolve not by proving yourself to anyone, but by meeting yourself with compassion in each moment.
You don’t need permission to be happy, content, or ready. You don’t need someone else to tell you that you are strong enough or wise enough. The truth is already within you. Growth is not a test—it is the unfolding of your own ocean, the remembering of your wholeness, and the invitation to follow your heart wherever it leads.
Practice: Meeting Yourself in the Moment
Here’s a simple exercise you can try whenever discomfort arises:
- Pause and Notice
- Close your eyes and take three slow breaths.
- Notice where in your body you feel tension, anxiety, or resistance.
- Listen Without Judgment
- Place your hand gently over that area.
- Whisper to yourself: “I hear you. I know you are trying to protect me.”
- Invite Expansion
- Imagine that part of you softening, like a wave returning to the ocean.
- Visualize your heart expanding, sending warmth and light to the place of tension.
- Anchor the Message
- Say quietly: “This is not a test. This is growth moving through me.”
- Allow yourself to feel the truth that the universe is within you, not outside of you.
- Carry It Forward
- When you open your eyes, notice how your body feels.
- Commit to meeting yourself with compassion in the next challenge you face.
Practicing this regularly helps retrain your nervous system to interpret discomfort not as danger, but as a sign of expansion. Over time, you’ll find that what once felt like a test becomes a doorway into deeper connection with your true being.