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Sometimes it’s all you need. One good reason can give just the motivation you need to get things done. Especially things that are a stretch. One good reason can help you get over some obstacles. It can set you up with a strong intention which will pull you through. That reason can make obstacles seem scalable.
One Good Reason can also come in handy when you come up against resistance. Before you say no, see if you can devise one good reason why you shouldn’t do it. Often you will find you don’t have even one that’s enough to skip it. So maybe you can move ahead and do it anyway.
Or you might find a good reason to say no thanks or not right now. This can not only buy you some time, but give you useful information as well. What is that reason? Can you fix it? Do something about it?
One Good Reason can help you do things you never dreamed possible. One reason at a time.
1) Do What Needs to Be Done
Taking care of business always makes you feel more at peace.
2) Be Good To Yourself
Making sure to get the care you need will certainly strengthen your foundation!
3) Create Harmony Around You
Keeping harmony in your environment will support peace. Getting rid of clutter is one way. You also contribute to harmony through your state of mind.
4) Make a Choice To Be Peaceful
Some days, surely, it is more difficult than others. Still, you can stop a moment, take a breath and make a new choice to be peaceful, no matter what is going on.
5) Return To The Present Moment
There you will see that all is well. The more you do this, the more it builds your foundation.
6) Keep Your Promises
This goes along with taking care of business. Doing what you say you’re going to do will give you a deep sense of peace. I might even call this the keystone of the foundation. Remember, too, to keep promises to yourself, as well.
7) Do What You Love
Make sure to include something you love in each day. Try to take even one step toward a dream. Savoring these moments will show your belief in yourself. Surely that will support your peace!
8) Move Through Any Resistance
Rack up successfully moving through resistance. Like present moment awareness, it will accumulate. The more you transmute resistance or fear, the stronger your peace and the sturdier your foundation.
Happy Building!
“You don’t have to make anything happen. Just align yourself with what wants to happen and let it.” – Alan Cohen
Alan Cohen always gets me thinking with his simple prescriptions of ease. I like this one especially. It seems to capture so much.
I am intrigued by this notion of “aligning’” myself with what wants to happen. How do you do that? I had a thought that it’s kind of like putting yourself in glory’s way. Why put yourself in harm’s way when you can step into a spot where good things can get you?
There’s also the job searching/networking theory of putting yourself out there. I guess that’s good for a lot of things. If you want something good to happen to you, it’s a little foolish to hide out at home, talking to no one. It simply can’t find you.
Maybe it’s about flowing with life. Letting go of the resistance and allowing it to happen, to come into your life. Alan asks us to let it happen in the second part, but maybe it’s in the moving piece too, the lining up. Makes sense that there’s a certain amount of letting go involved in getting in line.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this Resistance thing. Eckhart Tolle says it’s the ego trying to protect itself. Resistance causes blockage and dis-ease. (Doesn’t sound like a clear flow to me.) I’ve always been taught to fight through resistance. But I’m getting the message lately that it’s better to accept it. The tides of my life are trying to flow in a different way than how I’m going. That is Resistance. If I let myself move where life wants to take me, perhaps I will align myself with what wants to happen.
I just love the ease in this. It’s about surrender which – though I can’t say I practice as well as I’d like – I do believe in. It’s that softer touch, going with the flow. Acceptance of what is going on is the only sane way to live. Anything else is useless, and perhaps bordering on madness. We haven’t yet figured out how to bend space. You can exert effort, but you are not often enough to change the course of things. You can only affect its path a little.
Perhaps it’s a daily practice. Aligning day in and day out. Trusting, sort of sitting back and watching life happen. After all, we’re all conscious and aware. We’ve set intentions. We can trust in that. Making choices in the now, accepting and aligning with what is happening in front of us.
Resistance can be tricky when you really want to do something, but find yourself continually avoiding it. I’ve been reading a lot lately (and isn’t it just like life to come at you from all sides) about determination. It is a vital factor in success. In other words in moving through resistance. Those who keep going, who are not sidelined by the first hint of discomfort, are the ones who succeed.
Resistance can be insidious. It lurks under cover, not always easy to see. Ready to spring on you when you think your determination is ready to stand up and be seen. Resistance might allow you to feel like you can and will, until you get ready to act and then it pounces, holding you back. One could easily deduce it is working against you, a foe to be defeated. But I’d like to offer that it is not. But in fact, trying to help.
I like to think of it as a pouty child. She might not be able to express exactly what’s wrong. But, clearly, she knows, something is. Fears are pressing to get noticed. Maybe somewhere inside, he doesn’t feel it’s the right time. Something else needs to happen first.
It takes patience to work with these children. To encourage them to speak up and let you know what’s bothering them. If you give them a little time and quiet, they will usually reveal themselves to you. Very often you will find a child-like fear: “They won’t like me anymore.” Or, “What if I fail?” Sometimes you might discover you need some help, or that you will be so much more willing if you just make a list first or some such simple thing you can do. If you get no message, maybe they’re trying to tell you to rest a bit before you begin, re think it.
You may need to talk back to the fear. Tell it gently you really aren’t afraid of that anymore. And this is too important to let slide because of a possibility. Reassure it you will get what you need. Whatever you can do to ease these voices will pave the way for less resistance and a clear shot for determination.
Once you’ve given them their say, you can wield determination and take a step, no matter how small. Moving yourself through the discomfort of resistance, showing the fears that you are determined to do it. Even if you “doan wanna,” at the moment.
When I’m resisting writing, if I put aside the high expectations and just allow myself to put pen to paper and write whatever comes up, I’m soon into it. Type it up so I can work with it and oh my, look at what I have now!
I think you’ll find when you get to doing whatever you’ve been resisting, you will do a better job and feel better doing it because you listened to and acknowledged the messages of your resistance.
I having been searching for the Positive Slant on winter. It’s not been easy. Everywhere I go, everyone is talking about the weather. I made a quick list of some things I can like, off the top of my head, but it was a stretch. Feeling warm and cozy, might be one. Hot chocolate and snuggling up under the covers. But most of these are short lived (and may all be under the heading of “warm and cozy.”) And not particularly exciting. I can just as well enjoy chocolate milk in the summer. And warm and cozy (even a fire in the fireplace) can happen when it’s damp in the Fall. I know, some people find a freshly fallen snow silent and beautiful. But after the third day, it gets old and slips quickly into being a dirty nuisance. Mounds of snow in parking lots, taking up valuable spaces . . . Perhaps you enjoy a spot of cross-country skiing or ice skating. I prefer tennis, golf and a walk – all of which are curtailed or impractical in the freezing temperatures of winter. I find myself cranky and my eyes are growing dim to blessings. I don’t like being this way.
I am practicing allowing, as my last post spoke. Being in the now and saying, okay, this is what’s happening now. I’ll deal with next week’s snow when it comes. This practice has helped. Every time I turn around in this weather business, I’m seeing a new lesson, another opportunity to expand and grow.
It occurred to me the other day, as we were driving to a nearby town, one flurry-ing evening. Ill spirits surrounded me on what could have been a fun adventure. My nerves were shattered and my energy almost spent. My thoughts were telling me that I was expecting something else. Maybe not that the next day would be sunny and 70, but at least that it would be dry with moderate temperatures.
The truth is – no matter how hard I try to resist it and expect something different – it is winter. And where I live that means there is always the possibility for snow and/or ice. And there is a very high probability of temperatures at or below freezing. What kind of fool would expect anything different? Yes, I will admit it’s been a wetter winter than previous years. I am more exposed than I have been in the past, too. Surely, we have messed with Mother Nature. All thinking people should realize, you can’t do that and expect her to remain silent. Winter blows the way it does. And my resistance, reluctance, revulsion, really isn’t going to stop it.
I see that allowing in the moment is one thing, but I need to take a further step into acceptance. When I accept the nature of winter, as it is, today, for better or worse, I move into an easier frequency. In that space I might at least put less stress into the already stressed atmosphere. No wonder I’m so worn out all the time, resisting what is Winter!
This is a quote from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The 1981 BBC production. Marvin, the cranky robot, who has caught our unwelcome hitchhikers, chants, “Resistance is Useless.”
Of course, that is how it works in this galaxy, our Universe. Resistance gets you nowhere. It is quite useless. It keeps you from staying still when you need to, moving forward when it’s called for.
What you resist persists. It is in the surrendering, in taking naps and accepting where you are that things begin to happen. Certainly you don’t make progress by resisting.
Perhaps gritting your teeth, hunching over to protect yourself and forging forward can make things happen, too. Shakti Gawain would tell us to surrender and listen. Listening for what to do next, to your inner guidance, is a much better way to proceed.
Resilience, on the other hand, works. Being able to sway in the wind. Survive on a little less water or sun, bouncing easily back, when you get what you need. Being able to go with the flow of your life. Words aren’t coming? Money’s staying away? Ideas running dry? Energy crashing? Whatever it is, if you’re resilient, you can ride it out.
It doesn’t mean you give up. On the contrary. It means you don’t lay flat when you’ve been blown over or cut down. Instead, you get back up, patch your wounds and get back to it. The ability to Keep Coming Back, no matter how many times you’re blown off track, that is what creates forward motion.
Resistance is Useless! Resilience is Grand!
or How to Honor the Resistance and Figure out What it’s Trying to Say
The idea is that, with practice, you can run through these stages quickly. But even if you can’t, it pays to take a little time to get to know the resistance.
1) You begin by Acknowledging How you Feel Notice how your body feels. Experience that resistance to move forward. Tell the truth about where you are.
2) Ask yourself questions to try to Get to the Real Truth behind it.
Do you really want to do this? Is this something you must do? Could you do it at another time?
If you’re stuck with it, continue to ask questions to find out more about it:
Why are you resisting doing this? What is it that offends you about it?
What is in your way of doing it? Are you afraid? Feel like you’re being judged? Unsure about something? Too many expectations? Too overwhelmed?
3) Poke into What You’re Getting Out of being resistant:
How does it serve you to feel this way?
4) Look for ways to make it Feel Better. What would you need to be willing to do this?
5) Review the Benefits. What will you get out of doing it? What are your good, solid reasons for doing it and what can it bring? It’s possible that there could be much to be gained from doing this. It might strengthen your character or improve your chances to get what you want in the future.
6) Choose one of those reasons as a Guiding Reason. Just one thought that you can roll over in your head to remind you why you want to do this. I can just as easily tell myself I do want to do this, that I’m not too tired, too sad, or too whatever to do it. Maybe I really do want to do it, on some level. Perhaps I am willing to be a little uncomfortable at the moment for great rewards down the road.
7) Set Some Boundaries. See what you can do to get what you need. Maybe if you eliminate one piece of it, you’ll be more into doing it. It does no one any good to be resistant to something you need to do. What can you do to make it easier on yourself, to honor those feelings of resistance, listen to them?
8) Build Enthusiasm. Poke into your grab bag of motivators and find something that can give you the fuel you need to do this. I like to put a fun spin on it, if I can. Maybe jog around a bit to get my energy back up, take a walk. Repeat my Guiding Reason or list the benefits.
9) Make a choice to Do Just One Thing. Take one small step, one SARK MicroMovement. It all really comes down to this. Take action! Taking even one tiny step gets you started. The only way to lose is to not take a step.
10) Allow yourself to Acknowledge You Did Something. You took a step, even when you didn’t want to. It doesn’t much matter whether it was the “right” step or even the “best” step. It got the energy (and you) moving. SARK says that your brain can’t really tell whether you did one thing or ten.
Notice how you’re feeling now. See that you can transform your feelings of resistance into willingness and accomplishment!
The Positive Slant On the Path 