Steven Pressfield Archives - Dora Sislian Themelis Art

Resistance is Really Not Out to Get Me

Resistance Is Impersonal

Resistance is not out to get you personally. It doesn’t know who you are and doesn’t care. Resistance is a force of nature. It acts objectively. Though it feels malevolent, Resistance in fact, operates with the indifference of rain and transits the heavens by the same laws as the stars. When we marshal our forces to combat Resistance, we must remember this.

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

How lovely to be acquainted with Mr. Resistance and know, for a fact, that it isn’t out to get me. Personally. Oh, how nice.

Well it seems like it is, you know, evil. That’s just my opinion. So it’s nice to know it doesn’t know who I am, nor does he care. Ooh, even better. I’d like “him” to leave then. Now.

Session 3

Resistance is annoying, but what can I do about it? Just move on. Admit to falling through the rabbit hole once again, and get on with it.

After all, it’s nothing personal. Just business.

The Enemy Within

Resistance is Implacable

Resistance is like the Alien, or the Terminator, or the shark in Jaws. It cannot be reasoned with. It understand nothing but power. It is an engine of destruction, programmed from the factory with one object only: to prevent us from doing our work. Resistance is implacable, intractable, indefatigable. Reduce it to a single cell and that cell will continue to attack.

This is Resistance’s nature. It’s all it knows.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

im·plac·a·ble
adjectivenot to be appeased, mollified, or pacified; inexorable: an implacable enemy

[im-plak–uh-buhl, –pley-kuh-]

Red Leaf ©Dora Sislian Themelis, Watercolor on Canson paper

Yes, I had to look up the word “implacable.” Mr. Resistance is that word and every one of it’s meanings. It’s an enemy, a foe, an army bent on destruction.

No wonder I can’t get any work done around here.

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Welcome to the wonderful world of Resistance, where it’s all your fault. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with me, of course.

Ahem.

Mid-Morning ©Dora Sislian Themelis, Watercolor on Canson paper

RESISTANCE IS INTERNAL

Resistance seems to come from outside outselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, bosses, kids. ‘Peripheral opponents,’ as Pat Riley used to say when he coached the Los Angeles Lakers.

Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated.

Resistance is the enemy within.

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Well, obviously, it’s about me, us, the artist, the whoever wants to get anything important done. I know this all too well. It’s the old story where we blame everything under the sun as to why things don’t happen: the laundry, the kids, housework, the garden. I’m sure you can think up quite a few others.

Busy is the code word for Resistance. And it’s interesting how ‘busy’ we can get when we’re supposed to be working.

As I go along in this life I think the side of me that hates having Mr. Resistance over stay his not-so-welcome welcome is gaining the upper hand. “His” visits have become shorter.

Right now I’m blaming my none painting on mat board. Yes, that’s right, mat board, or my lack thereof. If I had more mat board I could finish matting the paintings I have waiting and clear my desk so I could paint.

Yeah, right.

Mr. Resistance, Why Are You Still Here?

Resistance is Invisible

Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-protential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work. ~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

In an effort to help my art making persuade Mr. Resistance to think it was his idea to cut short his stay, I’ve started re-reading Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art, as I mentioned in my latest posts.

Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, says we should NOT read. Where do you go with conflicting thoughts on this subject?

I read. Sorry. Right now I need a kick in the pants, again, so I’m reading.

And since I’m reading, and obviously this is a sore subject for many of us artists, some of my yapping could help you, as one of my wonderful readers commented on it.

Hey, we’ve all been there, and done that at one time or another. Every now and then, we all need to be kicked in the pants.

I talked about this book in posts a while ago, when I started reading it, and felt really good afterwards. Even recently, I had an adrenalin rush after reading it and immediately picked up my stuff and went to work.

The War of Art is easy to read, consisting of short blurbs of information, titled to grab your attention quickly, like the one at the start of my post.

So easy, though, that you might think you can just scan and move on, but that would be a mistake. This is my only criticism, because I scanned a few, got my fix, and shortly after stopped reading.

Here I am again, back at the beginning. Will it become a weekly post as I did while I read The Artist’s Way? It would be nice, but don’t hold me to it.

I’m Artist A.D.D. like that. But I’ll try.

I’ll tell you, one thing, Steven Pressfield knows what he’s talking about, and says it in such a way that you recognize the Resistance thing right off the bat. He speaks my language, anyway.

So here’s my call to action: What helps you boot Mr. Resistance out the door?

I would love to see your comments. In the meanwhile, I’ll be reading, and hopefully, painting.

Thought for Thursday

“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.” ~Steven Pressfield

Lost Motivation and Finding a Way Around Resistance

Over the weekend I read a post somewhere online about fighting with Resistance.

Yes, my favorite topic.

The writer, whom I can’t remember so I apologize, wrote something like “When you are in pain, make great art. You have no money, make great art. You lost your best friend, make great art.” Sounds like a plan. Right?

Okay. It’s time to revisit a book about the subject, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield.

Before I continue I need to share. Today I attended church services for a favorite saint, St. Phanourios. People pray to him for help in finding lost things. To return the favor and thank him for his help, parishioners bring a special baked cake to share with everyone after the service.

I can’t find plenty of things throughout the year, so I baked the cake, grateful for the saint’s help. But right now I need to ask him to help me find a way to avoid Resistance.

Nothing helps me better than reading a good book about a topic, so with the urge I took for a nudge from St. Phanourios, I opened The War of Art and started to read it.

Again.

The author lists things that bring up Resistance, like any diet or health regimen, any calling, education of any kind, any kind of courage, any enterprise, etc. Pressfield describes Resistance and it’s characteristics with short, pithy paragraphs, with biting titles.

This one stuck with me as I read:

Resistance is Insidious

“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. resistance is protean. It will assume any form, if that’s what it takes to deceive you, it will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a realm then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take Resistance at it’s word, you deserve everything you get. resistance is always lying and always full of crap.” pg. 9

Ooph! I felt that kick in the butt. Thank you, St. Phanourios. It could be just what I was looking for.