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The Unlived Life
"Most of us have two lives. The live we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
Have you ever brought home a tredmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of youga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practivce, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your live to the service of others? Have you ever anted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campain for world peace, or to perserve the enviornement? Late at neight 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 doesnt write, a painter who doesnt paint, and entrepeneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and dysfunction. Resistance is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, harder to kick than crack cocaine. We're not alone if we've been mown down by Resistance; millions of good men and women have bitten the dust before us. And here's the biggest problem: We don't even know what hit us. I never did. From age 24 to 32, Resistance kicked my ass from East Coast to West and back again 13 times, and I never even knew it existed. I looked everywhere for the enemy and failed to see it right in front of my face.
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Look into your own heart. Even though you've only read a few paragraphs into this article, unless I'm crazy, right now a still, small voice is piping up, telling you as it has 10 thousand times, the calling that is yours and yours alone. You know it. No one has to tell you. And unless I'm crazy, you're no closer to taking action on it than you were yesterday or will be tomorrow. You think Resistance isn't real? Resistance will bury you!
You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At 18 he took his inheritance, 700 kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement, but I'll say it anyway: It was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas."
The beginning excerpt from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
I will post stuff from this book as offten as I can. Its amazing.