Do you want to overcome resistance? Something in me is resisting to write down this post. It was supposed to be done and ready by Sunday morning for my sunday blog post but here I am writing this down Sunday morning itself.
I had been a little off balanced this week, perhaps because it was my birthday week and I allowed myself to give in to distractions and guilty pleasures. I enjoy such times too as long as I am aware of it. Also the weather was too wintry and made me not even want to come out of bed.
And so I had been resisting. This happens so many times that I have now lost count. To some extent I have been able to reduce it to many of my habits, but nevertheless, it is there.
This resistance to doing the thing that you need to do, that is good for you, that is satisfying for you and that which is meaningful for you is always there and will always be there.
It is strongest in the beginning but it is also there in the middle and also there in the end. We all feel it. We all have felt it.
It is gravely contradicting that you want to be healthy and start exercising, but you resist exercising.
You want to start eating healthy but you can’t resist the urge for junk food.
You want to be sober but you can’t resist the urge to drink and smoke.
You want to write everyday but you resist writing.
What is this resistance that cannot be seen or touched but stands as if like a huge block in the way of all of our goals and dreams. We know how this resistance is the culprit to killing dreams before they even get started.
So if this resistance is always and will always be there, what do we do?
Do we give up?
Absolutely no.
If people gave up to every resistance then there would be no Gandhi, no Nelson Mandela, no Einstein, no Harry Potter or alchemist.
You might think that you’re no Hellen Keller or J.K Rowling, that you’re no good at self discipline or that it’s not worth your time.
But you should know that it’s not a reason for you to give up and give in to resistance.
You are you and it is for you that you have every reason to believe in yourself and to fight that resistance to let your brilliant self shine.
So what do you do?
Navigate through the resistance to overcome resistance
I won’t tell you here what to do in order to overcome resistance.
However I do want to share with you 2 essential mantras that will help you navigate through the resistance in order to overcome resistance.
1. Notice your resistance:
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What is it that you are resisting? Notice it. Notice it as soon as you find yourself resisting something. And notice what your urges are while you resist.
Maybe maybe you want to keep on scrolling your phone instead of studying or start finding trivial things to do instead of the one thing you should be doing.
Notice your resistance and notice your urges.
And tackle it as soon as you notice it. I repeat, tackle it as soon as you notice it.
Even if you do give in, see how long you resist but again come back to doing what you were resisting.
It might almost be like a cycle. But you may as well expect such a cycle as long as you don’t give up to it ultimately.
2. Every resistance is an opportunity to grow:
How you overcome your resistance is up to you. Often it only requires a single decision to just sit down and do your work, to just open that book and read, to just wear your exercise clothes and exercise.
And yet there is resistance.
I think it’s because we see little benefit in resistance. But in every resistance no matter how little, there lies an opportunity to grow.
Notice your resistance. Don’t feel like exercising? Notice it and exercise anyway.
Don’t feel like writing? Notice it and open your pen, paper or laptop and sit down to write anyway.
Don’t feel like studying? Notice it and open that book anyway.
Then see what happens.
With every resistance that you feel, it is actually an opportunity for you to grow your power, to grow your inner-determination, to strengthen your bullet self.
But well it is easier said than done. So,
How to start:
Start with tackling everything you are resisting that will take less than 2 minutes of your time.
Like your resistance to make your bed after waking up, like your resistance to put your clothes in the closet or in the laundry once you change, like your resistance to go and throw the garbage. It sure takes no more than 2 minutes.
This might seem little but it is resistance nevertheless.
You will be amazed by how many less than 2 minutes things we tend to resist.
As you start with it and tackle it, move slowly to other little bigger areas of your life.
As you do the things you resist, that’s when you start to feel invincible.
End note
It is not only you who is feeling fear, only you who is finding change uncomfortable, only you who is resisting.
We all resist. Resistance is only natural when you are trying to do something good.
We humans always want to stay in the certain, in the known so not knowing how things are going to turn out makes us resist hard.
Here is a post you might love: embracing the joy of not knowing
It is very natural to doubt yourself, to feel fear, to resist.
But don’t let it get to you.
Instead remember that your resistance is there for a reason. It is there for you to strengthen yourself.
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