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.
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| Original icon of St. Phanourios of Rhodes ©OrthodoxWiki |
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 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.
Hi Dora,
I wonder if it is an August thing. I have been feeling the same way. I looked back at my general blog and August seems to bring the same theme, low motivation, marking time etc. I still think in terms of the new year beginning in September, probably because we have been associated with educational institutions all our lives. That is when the energy returns. And that is coming soon. I have a 90% finished piece sitting and staring at me. But I can find grass to cut and photos to take, and jam to make. I must get a copy of that book though. It sounds very good. Have a good week!
Hi Lorraine, there are things I need to be doing, and I’m just not. I tend to daydream, read, or whatever instead of act. I hear Pressfield’s other book is also good for resistance, Do The Work. Good luck!