Steven Pressfield has mentored me from a distance. In The War of Art he writes; “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us.”
Between the two stands Resistance.
Steven Pressfield
Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditaion practice?
Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others?
Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace, or to preserve the environment?
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be?
Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture?
Then you know what Resistance is.
Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance.
This second, we can sit down and do our work.”
Just now I am sitting down to do my work. I am haunted by words attributed to Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inaugural speech;
“…You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.”
Hand me another brick…