This last blog for May is our final note on the topic of Intentions – their power, the mechanics of doing them, and what stops us.

I recently heard Steven Pressfield speak about “Resistance,” with a capital R…and I thought this would be a perfect ending for this series.

Steven is a screen writer and author of more than 14 books, perhaps the most well known is The Legend Of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life, which was made into a highly successful movie.

His book, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles is about what blocks creativity and how to break through those blocks. He is a no-nonsense kind of fellow, and, as a writer, is very familiar with blocks and resistance. It was 16 years before he sold his first screen play–imagine what it took to hang in for that long!

So what are his perspectives on Resistance? He believes Resistance is a force of nature, like gravity. For every force in a positive direction, there is an equal and opposite force in the opposite direction. Therefore, each time we desire to move forward there will automatically be Resistance. Here are a few examples from Steven’s short list:

• Whenever we want to improve ourselves in health, fitness, building our abs or meditating
• When we want to move to the next level in a career, education or skill development
• When we are considering a commitment like in marriage, children, buying a home, moving
• When we put ourselves out in the public, making a speech, a presentation
• When we take a stand for a cause or injustice
• And even when we want to help others, we may encounter Resistance

In other words…just about all the time. Any time we want to expand into our “greater self, ” we can expect Resistance to show up. In fact, the greater the “call to our soul” the more the Resistance. Know that when you have a dream there will automatically be this shadow, called Resistance. No wonder it’s often difficult to pursue what really matters to us. And I would add that if you have a lifetime of experiences that “say” you won’t make it… or you’re a failure… or you’re not worthy of success… it’s even more likely that Resistance will show up and stop you in your tracks.

So, how do we address this phenomenon?

1. Expect it and be ready to address it. Forget the shame or guilt, Resistance is part of life.
2. Know that the little voice in your head that natters away at you, isn’t you. All the negative self talk comes from what I call the “constricted” self, not your Authentic Self. Peter Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, calls the voice in your head “the roommate.” Don’t listen to it!
3. Look Resistance straight in the eye, head on, and move ahead. Steven’s famous line is: “Put your ass where your heart wants to be.” Go sit at the computer, or the yoga mat, or the canvas and let yourself just begin.
4. Steven says his biggest breakthrough came when he became a Pro, when he shifted from an amateur perspective to behaving like a professional. Amateurs play for fun and when it isn’t fun anymore they stop. Professionals play for keeps, they are in it for the life. So the question is which are you? Which do you want to be, an amateur or a professional?

At the end of every day Steven asks himself only 1 question. He doesn’t ask, “how many pages did I write?” He doesn’t ask if what he wrote is any good? He only asks: “Did I overcome Resistance today?”

Well, like writing intentions, this is a great daily practice…a way of keeping yourself awake and on course to what you really want your life to be.

I hope these thoughts are helpful to you, and a great big thank-you to Steven Pressfield for all his wisdom.