Resistance is evil

​Yesterday afternoon, I sat down to write. Then suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, I needed to do the dishes. There was a grand total of one bowl and one coffee cup and a single spoon on the counter.

But those dishes could not wait.

Then, while doing the dishes, I noticed my running gear from the morning lying on the floor in the laundry room. Gear that had been there all day, unnoticed, but now represented an emergency.

So in the washing machine they went.

On the way back through the kitchen, on my way to sit back down and write, I stopped to nibble on some spanish peanuts. Then something to drink. Then "just a few" goldfish.

I looked at my watch. It was 12:30. I told myself I didn't sleep much the night before and I'd feel more like writing if I just rested for a half hour.

So I rested.

When I got up, it was time to get back after my to do lists for my paid jobs.

I never wrote what I intended to write.

The moral of this story, I assure you, is NOT that Keith is a neat freak. I'll provide references to support that if you'd like. The moral of this story is that often - quite often - these distractions own my life.

Dishes, laundry, spanish peanuts and naps - maybe too often I dismiss them as mere distractions. They are much more than that, though - much more powerful.

They are resistance. Steven Pressfield goes so far as to call them evil.

Pressfield says in his book, The War of Art, "Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when he endowed each of us with our own unique genius."

I've written lately about the line in the Mercy Me song Say I Won't - the line that says "while I've been living my life my life's been waiting on me."

The thing about that life that's waiting on us - it's the unlived life that's living within us. It's that calling that nags at us relentlessly. It rocks us to sleep; it's the first thing that speaks to us in the morning.

Maybe it's writing or running or a relationship or volunteering in your community. It's not something screaming at you from the outside world, it's this quiet gnawing and nagging from within.

But this world, this world has tons of drama and emotions and distractions - it has tons of Resistance - that are constantly inviting us onto the roller coaster ride of being who the world wants us to be instead of committing to becoming the genius that was planted within each of us.

Genius, by the way, is a latin word meaning "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth"

Oh, how frustrated that guardian must get with me when I get up to wash three dishes and four articles of running gear. Oh, how frustrated that guardian must get with me when I refuse to run because it's been a long day. Oh, how frustrated that guardian must get with me when I get caught up in the emotions of a relationship instead of discovering the person beneath them. Oh, how frustrated my guardian must be some days.

But recognizing that is helpful. Because today, when I hear those dishes calling my name, I'm going to cling to that guardian. I'm going to lean into that spirit watching over me and say, not today Resistance. I know what you're up to and it's evil. (And who doesn't want to see washing dishes as evil ?!🤷‍♂️).

I believe there is an unlived life in each of us. For me, that's probably a bigger life than the life I live. It's opportunity. I think the goal in life might be to make those two blocks - the life we live block and the unlived life block - one block.

One life we live.

Standing in the way of that is dishes and spanish peanuts.

Standing in the way is Resistance.

It's standing in the way of your unlived life - and it's likely that's a beautiful life, full of happiness.

Is there any better reason to fight Resistance?