Characteristics of Resistance

The first part, Introduction to Resistance, was all about understanding what Resistance is. Any act that rejects instant/immediate gratification in favour of our long-term growth, health, or integrity will elicit Resistance.

In this second part, let's get right into the characteristics of Resistance:

Resistance is Internal

Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in our parents, friends, jobs, bosses, spouses, and kids; it actually arises from within. It is self-generated and self-sustaining. Resistance is the enemy within.

Resistance is Insidious

Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will willfully lie, fabricate, falsify, seduce, bully. It will assume any form if that's what it takes to deceive you. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned.

Resistance is Implacable

Resistance is like the Alien or the Terminator. It cannot be reasoned with. It understands nothing but power. It is an engine of destruction, programmed from the factory with one object only: to prevent us from doing our work. 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 Universal

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.

We're wrong if we think we're the only ones struggling with Resistance. Everyone who has a body experiences Resistance.

Resistance is Infallible

Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of the oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North—meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.

Resistance Never Sleeps

Recently, I watched one of Deepika Padukone's videos in which she said she was nervous before receiving her TIME100 Impact Award. In other words, fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.

Resistance is fueled by Fear

Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power through our fear of it.

Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.

Resistance only opposes in one direction

Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher one. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually.

So if you're in Calcutta working with the Mother Teresa Foundation and you're thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing. . . relax. Resistance will give you a free pass.

Resistance recruits allies

Resistance by definition is self-sabotage. But there's a parallel risk that must also be guarded against- sabotage by others.

When a writer begins to overcome her Resistance—in other words, when she actually starts to write—she may find that those close to her begin acting strange. They may become moody, they may get sick; they may accuse the awakening writer of "changing," of "not being the person she was." The closer these people are to the awakening writer, the more bizarrely they will act and the more emotion they will put behind their actions. The reason is that they are struggling, consciously or unconsciously, against their own Resistance.

The awakening artist must be ruthless, not only with herself but with others. The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.

Resistance is most powerful at the finish line

So, after procrastinating for the first two days of March, on March 3, 2022, I decided to learn how to blog. I discovered that there were primarily two options:

1. build a website on your own by learning web development or hiring a web developer OR

2. use any website builder tool such as Substack, Wix, Squarespace, etc.

I chose the second option. It took me about 13 days to decide on Wix as my website builder, purchase my domain name, and host my website, as well as choose the template, fonts, font sizes, logo, and so on. After I finished writing my first blog, all I had to do was click the rounded blue "Publish" button.

I couldn't do it!

I began to wonder,

Is it worth it?

Is Wix the best website builder, or could I have gotten by with Substack or Medium?

If people are interested in the book, they will buy it right away; why would they read my blogs?

I have been doing the same thing on Instagram already, then why Blogging?

I don't have any source of income right now, so ideally, I should be learning something, then why am I doing this?

Finally, with my hands trembling and my heart racing, I closed my eyes and pressed the "Publish" button. I pulled my chair back, ran out of my room and cried just a little bit. I could feel it when the author said-

The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we're about to beat it. It hits the panic button.

Be alert for this counterattack. Be cautious at the end.

My favourite lines:

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel towards pursuing it.

Happy Reading !