Pushing the Envelop

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We can take anything we do ~ even those things that are beneficial to us ~ so far by pushing the envelop, that we get into its polarity.

For instance, being assertive and speaking up is a good thing; but being over-assertive to the point that we stop listening, or even cut others off mid-sentence ~ not so much. If you don’t ask for what you desire or wish in your life ~ be it in your meditations or prayers, or from those around you ~ there is a chance your needs go unanswered. On the other hand, when you push the envelop and ask for ever more, and more ~ you may get the things you wish, yet in the process you may push away the people around you.

In other words, who would want to be around someone who is always pushing the envelop; who never seems content; for whom things are never quite good enough, as things always could have been better.

It is a fine line between testing our limits and pushing the envelop.
Especially in the energy of this point in time, when it is so easy to move from one polarity into the other ~ while it seems so difficult to keep the balance in the mid-point between these two polarities.

However, there is a difference between testing our limits and pushing the envelop...
Testing our limits ~ while this may affect the people around us ~ it is essentially a personal, even inner process. Pushing the envelop more often has to do with the interaction between people. It is more competitive, and can have a sense of winning or losing that goes along with it. To put it bluntly: ‘If I get it my way, I win, you loose.’

So while on the surface it seems that ‘testing our limits’ and ‘pushing the envelop’ are just different words to describe the same process ~ in energy they are vastly different.

Now, I am not saying that ‘testing our limits’ is good and ‘pushing the envelop’ is bad ~ as it is not that black and white. It is a good thing to push the envelop a bit as we may not always be aware of the perimeter of the arena we are working in; and pushing the envelop will often bring clarity as to the margins.
And ‘testing our limits’ can also be something detrimental when it is done to such extend that we throw away everything we have held near and dear in order to reach an unrealistic ideal...

But as long as we keep an eye on the balance between the polarities, ‘testing our limits’ and ‘pushing the envelop’ can really helps us as we start exploring new avenues in our lives.
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