“Nothing can hold you back without your permission.”
— Trent Shelton.
The biggest thing that holds me back is Resistance. Plain and simple. “What you resist, persists.” When I take my ‘permission’ away from resisting ~ things become sooooo much smoother.
Removing resistance, to me, is not about acquiescing, giving up (or in), flinging my wrist-to-my-forehead-and-sighing, or putting that same forehead (along with my eyes, ears, and chin) in the sand.
Removing resistance is not about caving in to the status quo because I “must,” or am too caught up in what other people think (OPOs).
It is not bullying my way around it, shaming others in person or in written word (including Facebooking them, tweeting, messaging et al – for all the world to see) to prove I’m right … and thusly superior, and conversely they are wrong and inferior.
Removing resistance IS about seeing what at this moment;”Is.” What I am, at this moment, believing is truth for me. Acknowledging to myself, in this brief moment in time, that I believe that ‘what Is,’ is what it is. ‘Cuz ~ it is! Even for a nanosecond ~ it Is. Looking It in the eye and saying “I see you. I don’t like you, yet I see you. I don’t gotta like you, yet I do see you.” Then and only then can Change happen. Can resistance loosen. Incrementally. Bit by bit. Baby-step by baby step. Only then can change happen; resistance loosen..
I can hear the disagreements “out there” right now : ) : ) I’ve played those conversations in my head ! “Yah…well what about …being in prison, having this xxx-diagnosis, no job, my adult kid living in the basement, the car sitting up on blocks, not getting that raise ….” {You can add your own personal favorite. Feel free!}
What’s so intriguing, is I can give myself permission to be in resistance. Ha ! Funny thing happens though …. it (and I) lose steam in ‘resisting.’ I begin to feel a wee-bit silly. Self-righteous sometimes, embarrassed at other times. Often confused. It (and all my ain’t-it-awfuling-ing) loses some of that panache. Looses a wee-bit of steam indeed. Huh.
When I let go of Resistance – see the “It” for what it is – in this moment of time ~ then I can step back/above and begin to find ways out. Of stopping ‘being held back’. Because I am in Now. Not yesterday. Not at the moment of creation. Not in the story (often VERY dramatic in the telling). Not in the old emotional swirl and Committee chatter about what got me here, or how it feels, or what I did to “deserve” it. Nope. I can observe from Now ~ and begin thinking of clever (oftimes silly .. or magical .. or potentially illegal .. or actually pretty darn creative!) solutions to the It being resisted. (See, it’s the resistance that holds one back. Not the ‘It” that’s being resisted.) Solutions are the antithesis of Resistance. I can’t change the prison bars…or diagnosis…or the lack of a raise . Right now. Yet I CAN choose to make some discoveries about the ‘why’-time I’m spending, and get the “Ohhhh” understandings.
The rock got in my shoe. I am getting a stone bruise. I am pissed that these new hiking boots that I spent all that money on “let” a stone get inside. I am limping. I just wanted to get some exercise. It’s the first cool morning in weeks!
- What’s the “It” ?
- What’s the Resistance?
- What is the “IS” at this moment?
- Now ~ What are some solutions?
Big or small ~ irritant or life-threatening ~ this is a process. First as an Observer ~ then as a Thinker/Evaluator. Then ~ as a Doer. May take 45 seconds. May take days. What’s it worth to you to move forward ~ with your permission !!