Is this what your obstacle looks like?
I read a very interesting post on Steven Pressfield’s blog yesterday where he compares battling his resistance to wrestling an alligator.
(I’ve referred to Steven’s ground breaking book on resistance in a previous post called Resistance is Your Soul’s Compass.)
He says:
Sometimes the beast is a cute little cayman. I can clamp his jaws shut with my left hand, grab him by the tail with my right. It’s no problem to wrap him up and get him into the trunk of the car.
But sometimes that gator gets a little bigger. Right now, in the project I’m working on, he outweighs me by eighty pounds and he’s kicking my ass.
We can see clearly here how his metaphor for his resistance to writing changes over time and according to what he’s working on. He goes on to describe the recent gator as a huge, prehistoric, invulnerable beast that sees him as nothing but lunch meat.
And this really got me thinking and asking…
What good is a resistance metaphor I can barely beat?
When I first read Steven’s post I thought “Whoa! A metaphor that big is just setting us up for defeat. Why not make it smaller?”
In fact I was going to write this post about how to make our obstacles seem smaller by making our metaphors and our images of them smaller. (And sometimes that can really work in our favour!)
But then it started to sink in, what Steven is describing here.
Sometimes what we’re up against is BIG!
And generally, knowing that up front is a good thing. What’s that old line about “never bring a knife to a gun fight”?
Now I usually try to avoid battle and war images of all kinds when I’m talking about resistance. I’m really trying to change the mindset out there from one of battle to one of welcoming it’s wisdom and evolving beyond it’s power.
But Steven’s really got me appreciating the fact that sometimes we need to know the scope of what we’re dealing with, so we can take appropriate measures.
There’s no such thing as “casual” when it comes to a 200 lb ‘gator
So when our resistance is being extra sneaky, extra vigilant against our progress, and extra strong, we need to get stronger to match it.
How do we do that?
Here are a few ways to get stronger so you can keep moving toward what you really want:
1. Strengthen your awareness – of your resistance and it’s strategies and where you do and don’t fall prey to them. Get good at noticing your state. Track patterns and even keep a log of progress and stuckness so you can understand it’s top tricks and catch resistance in the act faster and faster.
2. Strengthen your desire – for what you want, your dream, your project. Spend some time with it – imagining it, breathing with it until you can really FEEL the longing for it. That’s powerful, resistance-transforming juju.
3. Strengthen your structures – Look at the routines, habits and systems in your life and in your environment. Are they strong enough to help hold you on course or are they derailing you and leaving back doors wide open for resistance to crash through?
4. Strengthen your metaphors - Make sure your metaphors for things like your resistance and your path forward are really working for you.How do see them? What are the images and stories you use to talk about them to yourself and others? Are these helping or hurting your progress?
And finally, is your metaphor for resistance the right size?
Big enough to take seriously and yet small enough to not feel overwhelmed and defeated by it before you even start.
What ARE your metaphors for resistance? I’d love to hear them below!
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To your deepening journey.
