It comes in many forms, genres, and delightful packages.

It’s like the temptress, Delilah, who seduced Samson from his power.

It may present itself in beautiful and alluring packages, shiny, full of glitter and enchantment. An exciting phone call, lunch with a friend, or the need to go attend to some personal drama.

All creatives encounter the tempting desire to be distracted from what is dying to be expressed—particularly in this day and age of so much great technology, texts, iPhone’s, iPad’s, social media, and internet addiction.

There are many genres appearing in different costumes. Resistance is a drug that will hold us hostage and at the end of our life it will have it’s last laugh.

It sets the scene in many ways:

• Depression
• Guilt
• Anxiety
• Hopelessness
• Victimhood
• Self Hatred
• Low Confidence and self esteem
• Comparison
• Addiction
• Criticism
• Self Doubt
• Illness
• Restlessness
• Boredom
• Aggression
• Fantasizing
• Gossiping
• Dissatisfaction
• ADD or ADHD
• Creative Constipation
• Hypocrisy
• Feeling overwhelmed

The list is endless, but ultimately they all lead to self-destruction and extreme damage to our consciousness.

I do it all the time. Every time the creative urge strikes or my muse calls, I seem to develop what I call creative ADD or ADHD. I cannot focus and I run here and there and everywhere except where I need to be and that is to be writing. Everything seems to be more important, from checking my email 100 times, to brushing my teeth or squeezing in one more yoga pose. For this very reason is why I went on my Facebook fast.

It comes in many disguises externally and internally. Kids, jobs, spouse, family, the to-do list, etcetera. Internally it presents itself through low self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy. In its outward form, it is expressed through procrastination. It’s shadow is the inability to make commitments to one’s self, others and to life. This is yet another element to an ever so elusive and destructive trance.

It’s called resistance: the destroyer of all creativity.

Resistance is self-sabotage clear and simple. Resistance will do everything in it’s power to distract us from doing our work. It will seduce us, tempt us, berate us, bully us and guilt us with it’s pernicious powers. It is the enemy within and must be overcome. It has it’s own life force, all too real to deny. It’s job is to prevent us from expanding and stepping into our light.

Resistance is so cunning that it uses fear of rejection as it’s shield. The fear of criticism keeps us chained and paralyzed unable to break it’s wicked grip.

We are afraid of expansion, our greatness. Procrastination is it’s messenger sitting on our head. This beast I call resistance feels like I am wrestling with a big, hairy gorilla in the mud. Needless to say he whoops my butt left, right and center. He has beat me up and down day after day until now. I am putting on my A-game and going to defeat the gorilla I call resistance.

Procrastination tricks us into thinking we can do it tomorrow.

There is no such thing as tomorrow all we have is now. This very moment. Resistance is so insidious that we believe it. We think we have time and before we know it our life is over and all we have to show for it is regrets. Resistance simply robs us of our life like a thief in the night.

Resistance is so insidious it knows we cannot take criticism, judgment and haters. It uses this as a ploy so we never even get started and if we do the moment we get one bad comment we quit the game. Resistance is the inner bully and the moment we stand up to it’s intimidating tactics it runs away like a dog with it’s tail between it’s legs.

When the resistance becomes so thick and heavy it means we are about to experience a big breakthrough. It is darkest before the dawn. When we step into our calling we know that we are stepping into the battlefield of our mind.

Resistance can be defeated. All we need to do is just keep showing up day after day and this is how it slowly looses it’s power over us. If we are experiencing resistance it’s a good sign that our being is being pushed through the birth canal of magnificent things to come. Our job is only to keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually we will walk through the veil only to realize it was only maya.

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Assistant Editor: Jane Henderling

Photo: elephant journal archives