The War of Art: Resistance

The War of Art (Resistance)

My good friend Faith and I come to a local coffee shop almost daily. That’s one of the things I love about Nashville. It’s like Seinfeld only not in New York. I see my friends everywhere and there are always coffee shops full of people reading or working on their laptops. Anyway, the other day she brought a book someone gave her called “The War of Art”. I read the first part of it and found it to be talking about what I’ve always felt but was not able to articulate as well as this book does. It’s all about Resistance.

If you are an artist or really any person trying to do something unusual, or expressive or spiritual you will meet Resistance. It’s what makes 99% of artists give up painting, writing, singing, performing. I’m not talking about fear or discouragement, because that stops people too, but those are the symptoms of the greater problem of resistance. I used to call it the devil because I see the world spiritually and also because my art is in direct opposition to his agenda. But I can’t give the devil all the credit for trying to thwart, slow and stop me from doing what I was put on this earth to do.

I was talking to someone today who’s been trying to write a book for the past 8 years, I know a friend who’s been trying to start his business for the past few years, I meet people everyday who are just on the brink of giving birth to their purpose but resistance is keeps them from delivering.

I don’t know what your passion, purpose and expression is but I’m willing to bet you aren’t participating in it nearly as much as you think about starting to participate in it but just never get around to it. Resistance is keeping you from it. And you must learn to face Resistance head on, know how to deal with it and get around it and sometimes just even hold it off with one hand while you work with the other. That is if you ever want to look back on your life and see that you did do that thing you always knew you were meant to do. Don’t let resistance keep you paying bills, cleaning the house, organizing papers, watching tv and playing games on your phone instead of just doing the darn thing you were made to do.