Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art says “Resistance is the only thing getting in the way of achieving your greatest successes.” However there is a resistance everyone uses every day that is one of our greatest successes. We learned that resistance as a young child so we no longer wear diapers.
Granted there is resistance that does get in the way of achieving great success. That resistance shows up in the form of procrastination, lack of motivation, insecurities, self doubt, fear.
However I think there is something else that we might think is resistance but it’s not. It’s what I call “Inspired Inaction.” Inspired inaction is when we are being guided to wait. You know, like waiting for a bus is not resistance to riding the bus. We have to wait for the bus to arrive or we’ll miss it.
My question is “How do you tell the difference between resistance and inspired inaction especially if the inspired inaction is misinterpreted as lack of motivation?
What are your thoughts on this?
Please comment below. Thanks!
Have you ever looked forward to a day and it finally arrives only to turn out very different than you expected?
You’re thinking about a day that sucked aren’t you? To be honest with you that’s what I thought was going to happen to me the other day. But not getting what I expected lead to something even better happening. Would you like to hear what happened?…
Great! Here’s my story…
For the past 8 months I’ve been letting my hair grow after receiving such a bad haircut I seriously thought about shaving my head.
Bad Haircut ---------- Good Haircut
I had been looking for a new stylist here in my hometown. Continuing to take a 4 hour plane ride to get my hair cut in California was not my first choice. I had been going to an out of state stylist because it takes someone very special to cut curly hair so it naturally looks and behaves amazingly.
So, one of my haircut conditions is that it gets cut dry. I found a salon and a stylist who I thought would do an excellent job. Today was my appointment with him. I drove an hour to get to the salon to meet him. He was wonderful. He totally understood what I was looking for so I was really looking forward to this haircut. Then he dropped the bombshell. The receptionist had given me incorrect information. He doesn’t cut hair dry. We both had to agree he was not the right person for me.
I left the salon despondent. The mucked up scrambled thought processes I had been feeling in my brain because of the bad haircut was still there. So on my drive home I decided that since getting to have pretty hair was no longer on today’s agenda I would go to an upscale shopping mall and look at pretty things there.
While walking around I passed a jewelry store with a large window poster for some lovely crystal rings or bracelets.. I couldn’t tell which.. and decided to go into the store to check them out.
Cutting to the chase, when I put the ring on my finger I felt so amazingly good 
inside I literally began to cry. All the mucked up feeling in my brain from the bad haircut completely disappeared. I had my superpowers back!
The very thing I wanted to accomplish by getting my haircut I got by wearing this ring. I looked at the price tag of the ring. It was about the same amount that my haircut and tip would have cost. So I bought the ring and I’m calling it “My New Haircut.”
Yes I’m still looking for a local stylist who is perfect for me but until then I’ve got my superpower ring to carry me through and remind me that sometimes the solution I’m looking for will come in an unexpected way.
Recently I participated in a blindfolded maze. I went into it with a cocky attitude because I’m so great at sensing energy pathways. I figured I’d get through it in a snap. However using all my mental strategies led me in circles. Muscle testing didn’t work either. I was really frustrated. Then I realized how full of myself I was…how embarrassing! I threw out all my strategies and got really, really quiet in my head and body. I breathed deeply.
Out of that deep quiet openness I was able to clearly sense what direction to take. When I looked at the maze afterwards I saw that I had been only about 1/2 way through before that. After getting quiet it took me only about 5 seconds to complete the maze. I’m thinking now about the season we are in. There’s already so much loud blasting for attention – sale here – better sale here… Whatever way you use to successfully get through the mazes of your own life perhaps connecting into your own quiet openness will help make this holiday season more magical for you.
The Healer’s Way has posted another article I wrote. In it I respond to the questions and healing concerns left as comments after the previous article.
Here’s the web address so you can read it. 🙂
Personal Development | Barbara October 2, 2013 | 
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