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.
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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.
