Dealing With Resistances

Whenever you set a new goal, intention or have a dream, it usually means you want to better some aspect of your life – be it you work life, you relationships, you finances, or your health and well being. There is a part of your life that is not up to par with how you envision your life, so you set an intention to create that part as you envision. But if you envision this aspect of your life as different from your current reality, then why isn’t that part of your life the way you envision already? Why must you continue to set goals and intentions? Why not just live the life you envision?

The answer is resistance. You have a resistance to change. Your conscious mind makes all of these wonderful plans and intentions for your life; it has reasoned and decided to make some sort of change. That is what the conscious mind does. So far, so good. But, now there is the power of your subconscious mind, and it too must do its job. The job of the subconscious mind is to keep you safe; but to the conscious mind that means keeping things the same, maintaining the status quo.

Resistance is basically a battle of the two minds. Consciously you want a shift; you want something to change in your life. But subconsciously, you need things to stay the same because that is what is safe and familiar. Remember, the devil you know is safer than the devil you don’t! Even if what your current reality looks like is toxic, stressful and full of struggle, it is still what you know and what you are familiar with. The known is safe, the unknown is not.

So, how do you wish to see your life? The secret is to re-program your subconscious mind so that it is on board with your conscious desires. The most effective method I have found is meditation. When you meditate, you are basically preparing the subconscious mind for conscious and mindful re-programming. In the meditative state, you can by-pass your subconscious gatekeeper to feed it your new plans and intentions. Without the resistance, it becomes much easier to create next inspired action steps to achieve your desired intentions.

“What you resist, persists;

But what you befriend, you transcend.”

“Stop resisting what is – this only leads to suffering.”

Self-Assessment Reflection Questions:

1. “Where in my life have resistances showed up?”
2. “Which goals and intentions do I experience the most resistance?”
3. “What is one small action I can take right now to deal with the resistances in my life?”