What you resist sticks to you.
I got this quote from a self-help book, and I thought it was talking about push hands! The book is by David Allen, from the Getting Things Done fame. His more recent book is Making it all work: winning at the game of work and the business of life.
When he mentioned about resistance, he meant resistance to action. It was in the context of work. For things that we resist to do, like taking out the trash, the thought of taking out the trash itself will haunt you. You might not be thinking about it consciously, but it will take up some real estate on your psychic land. And because you did not consciously note down this piece of resistance, it will haunt you like there’s no tomorrow. You will be thinking about the trash at the most inopportune time. When you’re eating, when you’re sleeping, when you’re brushing your teeth, when you’re out shopping and just remembered that the trash collector is coming round this afternoon…
Similarly in a push hands exercise. When I resist, my force is used against me. It’s being used to stick to me and followed through with a force that I cannot resist, because I resisted.
My teacher reiterated this to me again. I must let go.
Let me pass this message along to you as well. It is only when we let go that we can be honest with ourselves. And that’s the whole purpose of a journey within – to be honest with yourself. Resist yourself, you will become the enemy of yourself. Let yourself go, and you can be your own soul mate.
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2 Comments
Great post! When I push back against something, like my wife coming up with something for me to do, I try to examine just exactly why it is that I’m pushing back (at least when I think about it). Sometimes I have good reasons, but more often, not.
It’s a good exercise for self reflection.
Hey Rick, i totally understand that bit about the wife…
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