“Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” This quote is by author Steven Pressfield and appears in his book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.
In his book, Pressfield writes about the nature of resistance, including the many forms it takes. He capitalizes the word “Resistance” throughout the book, signifying the considerable influence it has on each of us. Although, as the subtitle indicates, Pressfield emphasizes how resistance makes it difficult for us to access and express our creativity, he also points out how it makes it more difficult for us to work toward any types of goals. It gets in the way of our resolution to spend more time with our children, to eat more nutritiously, to start or continue an exercise program, and so on. Its goal is to keep us from succeeding in endeavors that make our lives more purposeful. It is often successful in doing this because, as Pressfield says, in order to overcome resistance, we must be willing to do the work. And too often we don’t want to do that.
One of the ways resistance affects me is in writing posts for this blog. It’s that voice in my head that says I cannot come up with an idea to write about and/or many people have already written about so and so and/or I’ll probably have an idea tomorrow so I won’t write today and/or who am I to think I have anything to contribute by writing a blog? That’s how resistance works; it gives us all kinds of reasons not to do what it would be best for us to do. When I say “best for us to do” I’m referring to doing those things that we were created to do, those things that we have discerned by trying to listen to our inner voice. That’s the voice in our heart rather than the voice in our head.
No one said following our inner guidance is easy, although there are times when it’s as if the universe does give us unexpected help to do that. Following our inner direction requires that we do the work, make the effort. It means we set aside our ego desires to do the things that have value. That we recognize the many forms resistance takes, acknowledge its presence, make the choice to ignore it, and then do what we know is best for us to do.
I encourage you to read The War of Art. As a friend of mine said, it’s a jewel of a book. I agree.