Walt Hampton, J.D.

Creating the Work & Life You LOVE

I Give Up
December 2, 2010

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

Marianne Williamson

Resistance is the enemy.

It’s what keeps us in bed when we should be running.  It’s what keeps us in the office when we should be at the gym.  It’s what compels us to organize the Tupperware when we should be doing the project proposal.  It’s what drives us to catch up on the news when we should be shooting the video. It’s what keeps us on Facebook when we should be writing the next chapter.

It is the urgent and not the important.

It creates dozens of rationalizations and excuses and fantasies and stories and myths about what we need to do, have to do, ought to do, might do, might not do, rather than to face into what we know to be the work of our soul.

Resistance is inertia fueled, and supercharged, by fear.

We know inertia.  It’s part of the natural order of things: objects at rest remain at rest, and all of that. It’s tough to overcome inertia. It’s tough to get going.

But add fear to the mix and we are capable of all sorts of delusion.

Fear of failure. Fear of success. With fear, inertia becomes a laundry list of excuses, a litany of rationalizations, an epic drama of why we’re caught, of why we can’t.

Master fear and we conquer resistance, writes Steven Pressman in his masterpiece the War of Art.  “Resistance has no strength of it’s own.  Every ounce of juice is possesses comes from us.  We feed it with power by our fear of it.”

But here’s the rub:  fear can never be conquered, can never be overcome.   The belief that fear will disappear – that somehow, sometime, we will find comfort and ease – is the quintessential lie that resistance tells us.

Fear can only be faced into with the spirit of a warrior.

Opening the door, picking up the camera, beginning to type on the keyboard, putting paint on the canvas, gigabytes on the card, stepping onto the stage, overcoming inertia despite the fear, starting down the path even when we can’t see the way, calling the lie of comfort for what it is:  these are the ways of the warrior.

Resistance manifests itself in procrastination: it is its ugly Hydra’s head. It is easier, safer, more palatable to say, “I’ll do it later, tomorrow, when I have more time, when I’m better prepared, when there’s more money, when the stars are aligned, when the muse appears, when conditions are right,” than to admit to our frailty, our weakness, our own self-doubt, our own sense of inadequacy.  It is easier, safer, more palatable to believe in the deception than to capitulate to resistance – and fear.

But tomorrow never comes.

Action erodes resistance, even in the face of fear. The facade of resistance begins to crack with even the smallest step.

So we must act.  It is not an option. It is what we do if we are dreamers, seekers, creatives, poets, authors, artists, mavericks. Warriors. However tentative, however furtive. Action creates momentum.  Even tiny, timid sustained action will slay the Hydra.

But as in all Journeys, there is an Edge.  Don’t think for a moment that we can resist resistance.  It is the great paradox: what we resist persists.  Our action must be directed. And yet, as challenging as this is, unattached to outcome.  For as Joseph Campbell wrote, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

So I give up.  I quit.  I’m throwing in the towel. No more resistance for me.  What about you?

Resistance is futile.

The smallest of actions is always better than the boldest of intentions.

Robin Sharma

Stop by for a visit at Hampton Photography.

2 Comments

  1. Mike Budny

    powerful.
    this has MIGHT written all over it….

    Reply
  2. Ginger

    Great message… so true! Thanks for sharing your insight!

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

DOWNLOAD your FREE BOOK!

The-3-steps-to-living-an-inspired-life

DOWNLOAD Your Free E-Book NOW! Click Below And Get Going!

Click on the button for your copy of journeys!

Journeys-On-The-Edge

You’ll Get A Signed Copy!

Click on the button for your copy of my brand new book “The power principles of time mastery!”

The Power Principles of Time Mastery

You’ll Get A Signed Copy!

REGISTER HERE

Free Online Training Workshop

Thanks for signing in to the workshop!