The idea that “growth happens outside your comfort zone” has become one of those unquestioned personal development mantras. A rallying cry for pushing harder, doing more, and leaving safety behind.
But that’s an outdated idea that ignores how the nervous system actually works — and what real growth requires.
For years, I’ve been sharing a different perspective about how growth actually happens within our comfort zone. This isn’t just theory—it’s supported by what we know about nervous system regulation.
Astrology tells the same story, and it’s particularly relevant during Cancer season — and especially with Jupiter in Cancer for the next year.
The Shift From Gemini to Cancer
We are currently in Cancer season.
In the zodiacal wheel, Cancer season comes after Gemini.
Astrologer Chris Brennan, host of The Astrology Podcast, has shared that each sign has a “corrective quality” over the previous sign.
So let’s look at what that means in this context.
Gemini: Stimulation
Gemini, ruled by Mercury, is a place where we embrace curiosity and explore all the things. Conversation is fast. We buzz around with information and gossip.
But Gemini can also keep us “in the head:” all that buzz and chatter is overstimulating and dysregulating.
As an air sign, Gemini is everywhere, but intangible. We may have lots of inspiration — to inspire means to inhale the air — but our ideas in Gemini lack grounding, rootedness, and embodiment.
Cancer: Intuition
In Cancer, ruled by the moon, we come back to the body.
Cancer is the sign of family — what’s familiar.
We come back to the safety of our home base — a place where we feel nourished and nurtured.
Cancer is water: emotions and senses. We shift from the headiness of Gemini back to the felt sense.
Yang to yin. External to internal. Perceptive to receptive.
In Cancer we tap into the lunar quality of intuition. Intuition is really pattern recognition; it evolves from repeated experience.
Growth Requires Safety
In times of emotional or nervous system overwhelm, pushing beyond your comfort zone can backfire.
Dysregulation doesn’t create fertile ground for growth; it creates shutdown.
Like a planet in its own sign, when we are in familiar territory (that feels safe) we have access to the resources we need to do what we are here to do.
When we are dysregulated, we don’t.
One of the metaphors I love about comfort zone is the idea of expanding it, rather than pushing past it.
Like a rubber band that slowly stretches to accommodate more.
Pregnancy — a Cancer theme — is another example of this. A woman’s body expands to hold and nurture new life.
Jupiter in Cancer: Expanding the Zone
This is the role of Jupiter in Cancer.
Jupiter is the planet of expansion.
Jupiter in Cancer isn’t telling us to push outside of our comfort zone.
In fact, this would be antithetical to the environment of Cancer. Cancer is not about pushing anywhere. It’s about staying within the boundaries of what’s safe. Cancer’s job is to cultivate the safety required for growth.
Read: The Difference Between Comfort and Safety — and Why It Matters
Rather, Jupiter’s job is to help us expand the territory of our comfort zone: to increase our capacity for what we can hold, nurture, and grow.
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