INNER (SUBCONSCIOUS) RESISTANCE TO CHANGE, SUCCESS AND GROWTH

WHAT IS RESISTANSE

Resistance is whatever restricts you from accomplishing the tasks that you have set out to do. Itblocks people from starting doing what they love and achieving what they desire. It manifests inmany forms so as to stop them from doing anything to achieve their goals and keep them wherethey are. Whenever you decide to do something new, you will encounter unconscious resistanceand that resistance is subtle and clever.

WHAT I DOI get up, take a shower, have breakfast. I read the paper, brush my teeth. If I have phone calls to

make, I make them. I've got my coffee now. I head back to my office, crank up the computer. It's about ten-thirty now. I sit down and plunge in. When I start making typos, I know I'm getting tired. That's four hours or so. I've hit the point of diminishing returns. I wrap for the day. Copy whatever I've done to disk and stash the disk in the glove compartment of my truck in case there's a fire and I have to run for it. I power down. It's three, three-thirty. The office is closed. How many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.

WHAT I KNOWThere's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't and the secret is this: it's not

the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.

What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.

THE UNLIVED LIFEMost of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two

stands Resistance.

Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever resolved on a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever felt a call to embark upon a spiritual practice. Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Then you know what Resistance is.

To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. It prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling.. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul's seat.

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius' shadow is Resistance. And here's the biggest bitch: we don't evenknow what hit us. I never did. From age twenty-four to thirty-two, Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again thirteen times and I never even knew it existed. I looked everywhere for the enemy and failed to see it right in front of my face.

Have you heard this story: woman learns she has cancer, six months to live. Within days she quits her job, resumes the dream of writing Tex-Mex songs she gave up to raise a family (or starts studying

Classical Greek, or moves to the inner city and devotes herself to tending babies with AIDS.) Woman's friends think she's crazy; she herself has never been happier. There's a postscript. Woman's cancer goes into remission.

Is that what it takes? Do we have to stare death in the face to make us stand up and confront Resistance? Does Resistance have to cripple and disfigure our lives before we awake to its existence? How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumors and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don't do that thing that our hearts, our inner genius, is telling us to? If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, overnight every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage and dandruff.

Look in your own heart. Unless I'm crazy, right now a still small voice is piping up, telling you as it hasten thousand times, the calling that is yours and yours alone. You know it. No one has to tell you. And unless I'm crazy, you're no closer to taking action on it than you were yesterday or will be tomorrow.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RESISTANCE

RESISTANCE IS INVISIBLEResistance cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled. But it can be felt. It is experienced as a

force field emanating from a work-in-potential. It's a repelling force. It's negative. Its intention is to shove the creator away, distract him, sap his energy, incapacitate him.

RESISTANCE IS INTERNALResistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, bosses, kids,

distractions. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.

RESISTANCE IS INSIDIOUSResistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate,

falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. It will assume any form, if that's what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stick-up man. Resistance has no conscience. It understands nothing but power. Resistance cannot be negotiated with. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.

RESISTANCE IS IMPLACABLEResistance is like the Alien or the Terminator or the shark in "Jaws." It cannot be reasoned with.

It is an engine of destruction, programmed from the factory with one object only: to prevent us from doing our work. Resistance is implacable, intractable, indefatigable. Reduce it to a single cell and that

cell will continue to attack. This is Resistance's nature. It's all it knows.

RESISTANCE IS IMPERSONAL Resistance is not out to get you personally. It doesn't know who you are and doesn't care.

Resistance is a force of nature. It acts objectively.

Though it feels malevolent, Resistance in fact operates with the indifference of rain and transits the heavens by the same laws as the stars. When we marshal our forces to combat Resistance, we must remember this.

SELF-LOATHINGWhat exactly is self-loathing? It appears almost always as that nasty, brutal voice in our heads.

Youre a loser, youre a bum, a worthless waste of oxygen. Look at you. Do you imagine that someonelike you could produce something original, something of quality, something that anyone else would care about? What ideas do you have that havent been done a thousand times beforeand better than you could every dream of doing them?

Does this sound familiar? It is, of course, the voice of Resistance.

But self-loathing adds a tweak to Resistance. It brings in a personal dimension. It informs us that we as individuals, specifically our external physical characteristicsour weight, our looks, our color, our ethnic background? blah blah etc. are bad news, repulsive, corrupt, despised, worthless. Self-loathing attacks our character. You have no self-discipline, no self-respect. Self-loathing is so smart it even indicts us for our own self-loathing. The fact youre thinking this at all is proof of what a loser you are!

Heres the mistake we make when we listen to the voice of self-loathing:

We misperceive a force that is universal and impersonal and instead see it as individual and personal.That voice in our heads is not us. It is Resistance.

Those thoughts are not our thoughts. They are Resistance.

Resistance is an impartial force of nature, like gravity and the laws of thermodynamics. Resistance is clever. It knows if it personalizes its manifestations, it can deceive us and slip past our defenses. Its like the software that enables direct-mail marketers to send us letter and e-mails addressed, Dear Susie. Its bullshit. Resistance doesnt know who we are and it doesnt care.

I get hundreds of e-mails from people who have read The War of Art and Turning Pro and who tell me, often in heartbreaking detail, of their own sometimes-decades-long struggles with Resistance. Trust me,the voice is their heads is the same one I have in mine and you have in yours. Everyone has that same voiceand it is laying the exact same bad trip on all of us.

Though it seems ultra-personal, the voice of self-loathing is in fact universal. It is impersonal.

Now to the good news about self-loathing.

Self-loathing, we have said, is a form of Resistance. The apparition of Resistance is by definition a good sign, because Resistance never appears except when preceded by a Dream. By dream I mean a creative vision of something original and worthy that you or I might do or producea movie, a painting, a new business, a charitable venture, an act of personal or political integrity and generosity.

The dream arises in our psyche like a tree ascending into the sunshine. Simultaneously the dreams shadow appearsi.e., Resistancejust as a physical tree casts a physical shadow.

Thats a law of nature.

Where there is a Dream, there is Resistance.

Thus: where we encounter Resistance, somewhere nearby is a Dream.

But lets get back to self-loathing for a moment. What are the origins of this phenomenon? Psychologists sometimes locate them in early abuse, verbal and otherwise, from parents, teachers, oldersiblings, rivals on the playground. These individuals often tell us were ugly, stupid, etc. Other sources of self-loathing are engines of socialization like school and the church. Sit in the corner, shut up, dontlisten to your heart, listen to what we tell you.

Theres probably some validity to these ideas. No doubt you and I have internalized negative tapes that people in our past have thrown at usand no doubt our inner recorders play them back and we identifyit as self-loathing.

Its not. Its Resistance. Its Resistance recruiting those inhering voices to keep us from doing our work.

So the next time you hear that self-loathing voice in your head, remember two things:

One, that voice is not you. Its not your thoughts. Its Resistance.

And two, its a good sign because it tells you there is a powerful, original Dream close by.

The answer? Identify that dream and act to bring it into realization.

Heres the final tricky part. Even when we recognize the voice of self-loathing as false, our challenge-to-work doesnt get any easier. Resistance doesnt go away. Self-sabotage does not disappear. We still have to face them and we still have to overcome them.

What we have done, however, is to strip off their masks and to see the positive beneath them.

All we have to do now is sit down and do the thing.

RESISTANCE'S GREATEST HITS

The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities, which most commonly elicit Resistance:

1) The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.

2) The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.3) Any diet or health regimen.4) Any program of spiritual advancement.5) Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals.6) Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.7) Education of every kind.8) Any act of political, moral or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.

9) The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.10) Any act which entails commitment of the heart. The decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.

11) The taking of any principled stand in the face of potential reprisal.In other words, any act which disdains short-term gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any act of these types will elicit Resistance.

RESISTANCE STRATEGIES1. Procrastination: as a strategy to avoid/resist change and progress.

2. Addiction : as a strategy to avoid/resist change and progress. Drinking, drug addiction developed tumors and neuroses, addiction to painkillers, gossip and compulsive cell-phone use

3. Self-created problems: You create them unconsciously to stop yourself from achieving yourgoals and doing what matters. as a strategy to avoid/resist change and progress.

4. Drama: it's a form of resistance. It manifests in the form of exaggeration. Blowing things out of proportion. Making mountains out of molehills. as a strategy to avoid/resist change andprogress.

5. Playing sick: all the time. as a strategy to avoid/resist change and progress.

6. Playing a victim: it is a cover up yo attract attention.

7. Fake sadness: Fake escape strategy.

8. Sleepiness: Fake escape strategy.

9. Tiredness: fake escape strategy.10. Fake busyness : fake escape strategy.

11. Fanaticism: serving others' interests / following Pendulums. fake escape strategy.

12. Criticism: criticizing others to feel better bigger than them and even criticizing oneselfuselessly. fake escape strategy.

13. Setting huge goals that are too big. fake escape strategy.

14. Wanting to be with friends and others and hang out with them all the time. fake escape strategy.

15. Feeling not ready yet. And waiting to when one is ready It's a fake feeling of not beingready yet to escape from starting s/th. The waiting mode of i am not ready yet. fake escapestrategy.

16. Needing other people's support. Needing parent's support. Feeling weak without externalsupport. Feeling kind of others should support/understand/love me. fake escape strategy. Toescape from doing tasks, unconsciously blame others.

17. Justifications: the mind thrives to convince us that we cannot do it now or there are more important things to do to escape doing what matters.

HOW TO OVERCOME RESISTANCE

Face It /confront it /never back downStand up and confront Resistance

Take the first step Just start doing it no matter what. Just start anyway toward pursuing your dreams

Do the thingDo the thing no matter what. Just do it. Keep at it. Go on doing it.

Stay detached from the fruits of you actionsHow many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it.

All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome Resistance.

Don't take it personallyResistance is not personal. It's just there. Do the thing. Never mind the resistance. They are just

alien visitations. Let them pass and keep doing it. They are not yours they are just conditioned voices. That voice in our heads is not us. It is Resistance. Those thoughts are not our thoughts. They are Resistance. Resistance is an impartial force of nature. Its bullshit. Resistance doesnt know who we areand it doesnt care. So the next time you hear that self-loathing voice in your head, remember two things:

One, that voice is not you. Its not your thoughts. Its Resistance.

And two, its a good sign because it tells you there is a powerful, original Dream close by. The answer? Identify that dream and act to bring it into realization.

Turning Pro

Keep doing it no matter what. Keep at it. keep at it

Do it with love.

Do it everyday no matter what

stay on the thing no matter what

Stay detached from the thing. Neither failure no success defines you. Its not personal. It's just there. Keep at it.

Hit 'em everyday, go for it, attack more.

Get the thing DONE no matter what.

Be Stubborn

Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop. What will keep us from stopping? Plain old stubbornness. I like the idea of stubbornness because its less lofty than tenacity or perseverance. We dont have to be heroes to be stubborn. We can just be pains in the butt. When were stubborn, theres no quit in us. Were mean. Were mulish. Were ornery.

Were in till the finish.

We will sink our junkyard-dog teeth into Resistances ass and not let go, no matter how hard he kicks.

Blind FaithIs there a spiritual element to creativity? Hell, yes. Our mightiest ally (our indispensable ally) is

belief in something we cannot see, hear, touch, taste, or feel.

Resistance wants to rattle that faith. Resistance wants to destroy it. Theres an exercise that Patricia Ryan Madson describes in her wonderful book.

Heres the exercise: Imagine a box with a lid. Hold the box in your hand. Now open it. Whats inside?

It might be a frog, a silk scarf, a gold coin of Persia. But heres the trick: no matter how many times you open the box, there is always something in it.

Ask me my religion. Thats it. I believe with unshakeable faith that there will always be something in the box.

PassionPicasso painted with passion, Mozart composed with it. A child plays with it all day long. You

may think that youve lost your passion, or that you cant identify it, or that you have so much of it, it threatens to overwhelm you. None of these is true. Fear saps passion. When we conquer our fears, we discover a boundless, bottomless, inexhaustible well of passion.

Do the thingAll we have to do now is sit down and do the thing.

Face It /confront it /never back downDo the thingBe StubbornBlind FaithPassion