Week 12: More thoughts from The war of Art
Below is a little riff on resistance from having recently read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
i think i am understanding resistance in a new way. The tension created from resistance is actually a gift. Resistance, that place that shows up as a kind of tension just before we leap into the future. Ha, ha as if that’s possible… Time travel anyone?
If we didn’t have the resistance, it wouldn’t be electrifying enough to get us off the fence, it wouldn’t be sparkly, the thing of possibility drawing us. So a bit of tension, rather than seeing it as something to fight with instead recognize that it’s just fear of the unknown. It doesn’t have to be an immobilizing fear, when we step into it, it has energy, built up for us, a kind of excitement. i don’t think resistance is your enemy to be fought with forever, it’s only your enemy if you let it chase you away from the thing you are resisting, instead consider that it’s a gathering, yes, a gathering point at which we derive, tap into coalesce the energy to sustain moving into the future, it’s like the electric impulses in our heart that keeps our heart beating and that rhythm is part of what brings it, like a heart beat of the universe creating through us. When we understand that then we understand that we have to use that bit of charge, the buildup that happens from the fear, the discomfort maybe felt as anxiety, think anticipation, to leap into that uncertain space where we can’t predict what’s going to happen, we have to let go, be present as much as possible, we have to go into the uncertainty of the between and that’s always going to have an edge of fear and resistance about it but if we make friends with understanding what that is, make friends with it, learn to trust ourselves, understand it’s a necessary, it’s like a synapse with a thought coming into your mind when you really understand this then it becomes exciting, draws you forward instead of chasing you away. Sometimes you need to prepare yourself a little, that’s ok but you understand that’s just a pause it’s just the it’s just the downbeat before the upbeat happens, it’s the quiet that the sound comes out of.
Where are you experiencing resistance?
What’s calling you on the other side of it?