Move Toward What You Resist

Move Toward What You Resist
Sometimes is it success rather than failure that we resist. (George Rudy/Shutterstock)
9/13/2021
Updated:
2/8/2022

Our minds have the tendency to turn away from what we fear and resist the most. We naturally don’t like pain, frustration, and difficulty. So turning away and avoiding such things are protective acts.

And yet, this keeps us in our comfort zone, the stagnant zone. Growth requires pushing into resistance.

Each day, find the thing you’re resisting the most and move toward it.

I don’t mean that you should do something that’s actually unsafe. Jumping off a cliff to your death is not an example of moving toward your resistance.

Find the thing in your business or personal life that you know would be powerful for you, but that you’re resisting doing. Move toward that.

Turn toward it and look it in the face.

Move closer to the fear and let yourself feel it completely. Open your heart to it.

Let your love melt the resistance a little. Stay in it even if it doesn’t evaporate. Be courageous and fearless with it.

Do the thing you’re resisting the most. Do it bolder and louder than you are comfortable with. Do it from a place of love. Do it long enough that you are no longer held back by it, and your relationship to it is transformed.

Find the joy and beauty in the middle of the resistance. Find gratitude in the midst of your fear. Play in the midst of your burden.

You only need to focus on one small moment of it at a time, instead of the whole huge burden of it. You only need to open your heart for a moment. And then another, and another, but you don’t need to worry about all those “anothers” right now. Just this one moment.

Move closer to your resistance, open your heart to it, do it repeatedly, and see what happens.

Leo Babauta is the author of six books, the writer of “Zen Habits,” a blog with over 2 million subscribers, and the creator of several online programs to help you master your habits. Visit ZenHabits.net
Leo Babauta is the author of six books and the writer of Zen Habits, a blog with over 2 million subscribers. Visit ZenHabits.net
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