re·sis·tance n. – A force that tends to oppose or retard motion. (dictionary.com)
I notice when my clients feel Resistance around growing their companies. I notice when they get nervous about genuinely stepping into the spotlight for the world to behold. Read Rosemary’s View of Resistance.
Resistance takes many forms and is noticeable in body language.
- People actually stay in one place when they are stuck.
- Muscles clench.
- Walking becomes stiff.
- Smiles disappear and are replaced with blank looks or furrowed brows.
Read a fun treatise on Resistance and the creative process called The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by novelist Steven Pressfield (The Legend of Bagger Vance; Gates of Fire). It is an excellent way to raise your awareness of what resistance is and how to recognize it.
Here is an excerpt from this book:
RESISTANCE’S GREATEST HITS
The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities, which most commonly elicit Resistance:
- The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.
- The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.
- Any diet or health regimen.
- Any program of spiritual advancement.
- Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals.
- Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.
- Education of every kind.
- 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.
- The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
- 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.
- 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.
