Simply Divine Life

“Resistance is basically the greatest thing that keeps us from being happy. According to Buddhist philosophy, all of life is suffering and that the key to happiness is to end this suffering. Not to end your life, but to end the struggle within life. The struggle is resistance. Resistance is the greatest sources of both external and internal hostility in the human species. It’s what keeps us stuck, unhappy, sick, unfulfilled and perpetuates a feeling of separateness and disconnectedness”. ~Keena

This is the opening paragraph in my free e-book, Resistance is Futile (which you can get access to via the “key to happiness” form to the right).  It discusses what resistance is, how to recognize it and how to get rid of it. In it I talk about the different types of resistance – fear and struggle being two of them. They are some of the mental-emotional awareness triggers that let you know that you are in resistance, so that you then get out of it. Resistance causes stress, anxiety, limitations and keeps you stuck.

We can boil the cause of resistance down even further, past the simple trigger awareness to the deepest source, and I touch upon it in Resistance is Futile:

“Struggle can be defined as “to make a great effort to deal with a challenge, problem, or difficulty” (Encarta English Dictionary); a great effort exerted against both external and internal forces. The struggles may seem superficially to be external, such as struggling with weight or financial issues, but they often stem from internal forces, primarily beliefs.”

What it really comes down to is this: resistance is the result of conflicts in beliefs.

“What you desire for yourself is out of alignment with what you believe you can have or deserve or do, and thus you struggle.”

What is a belief? The Encarta English Dictionary defines it as: “acceptance by the mind that something is true or real, often underpinned by an emotional or spiritual sense of certainty.” Beliefs are thoughts that appear have a sense of truth to them in that are seemingly backed up by our experience. More often than not they are given to (and accepted by) us by a trusted source like our parents (who must know this, we assume, from their own experience), or simply by the culture we live in. Henry Ford often said that there are two kinds of people: Those that think they can and those that think they can’t; and they’re both right.

Spiritual Lattice by Jared Tarbell; Creative Commons 

Just like scaffolding, beliefs then become a structure that shapes our experience of reality by attracting thoughts that reinforce the beliefs and by filtering our perceptions of the world. This is why beliefs are tricky. Most people never even think about what they believe, never mind if it’s true. They just act on them. They are such a part of our lives that we don’t notice them, like the nose on our face. And yet because of the power they have to shape our lives we need to examine each and every one.

When we go through the exercise of examining our beliefs we can keep the ones that serve us and get rid of those that limit us. The difficult part is that it is often easier for other people to see your limiting beliefs than you can! So you can use a trusted friend to help you with this exercise. Have your friend ask you (or ask yourself) about doing something outside your comfort zone that you really have wanted to do – whether it’s going on a roller coaster, asking the attractive neighbour on a date or spending money on something you’ve always wanted but never seem to get. When you feel that resistance – fear or struggle of any kind – it’s because you have a limiting belief about it. Journal about it. Explore what beliefs you have concerning doing that thing that is outside your comfort zone. Find out if there are a couple of beliefs linked together. Ask yourself why you believe it. Ask yourself if it’s true. Where did you get that belief from? What would happen if you did not have that belief?

This sort of exercise is extremely beneficial but some people find it very hard to do by themselves. You may wish to consider coaching as an alternative – it’s quicker, easier and often more successful than trying to do it alone. Please see the Bliss section of SimplyDivineLife.com for more information.

To your success and joy!

Blessings,

Keena

PS: Clearing your path of barriers first is the greatest key to success. Challenging your beliefs can be very scary for you, but so LIBERATING! Please do try it!

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