Curious about Resistance - What Do You Resist? What Are the Benefits of Resistance?

“Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory.” - Frederick W. Faber

“Commitment is the enemy of resistance, for it is the serious promise to press on, to get up, no matter how many times you are knocked down.” - David McNally

Resistance - what an interesting word! Is resistance good or bad? What should we resist, but what shouldn’t we? Resistance covers the whole gamut from political actions to being in a sales situation to social interactions to our own reactions to what we encounter in our thinking, our approach to life, our goals and on and on.

I hope you appreciate the quotations I use in these blogs and my e-newsletters. Once I have picked a theme and look it up on Google’s www.brainyquote.com site, I am amazed and thrilled with how the quotations (there are often hundreds for many of my chosen themes) give me new and opposing viewpoints to ponder. They make me think - and, isn’t that the reason for this blog, after all?

I decided, going along with my thinking theory, to make some lists (lists are always a help and if we write them out by hand, they will be more beneficial). Divide your paper into three columns, or create a table with three columns. In the first column, list “What I Should Resist (doing, saying, thinking).” In the second column, list “What I Shouldn’t Resist (doing, saying, thinking).” And, in the third column, list the action that you are going to take to help rectify either column one and/or column two (which can relate to each other, if you wish).

These columns will be personal, and for your eyes only. Post the sheet where you can refer to it the beginning of every day, and you will be well pleased with your progress. Below, I am going to share a few of my examples:

Column #1:

• Resist playing my favorite computer games, instead of productive work.
• Resist using my credit cards for unnecessary purchases (and most are unnecessary).
• Resist staying in bed early in the morning when the alarm goes off instead of exercising.

Column #2:

• Shouldn’t resist working on computer projects that are challenging.
• Shouldn’t resist cutting up my credit cards, or paying the full monthly balance.
• Shouldn’t resist jumping up early to exercise at least an hour before starting my day.

Column #3 (action):

• Set aside only 30 minutes at the end of the day for playing a couple of computer games.
• Cut up all my credit cards except the one where I pay the full balance each month.
• Get up early and exercise.

You get the idea. Now, let me share a few of the great quotations I found about resistance:

• “You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach. Then I think you have to develop a kind of resistance to rejection, and to the disappointments that are sure to come your way.” - Gregory Peck
• “At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.” - Maya Angelou
• “I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
• “The first resistance to social change is to say it's not necessary.” - Gloria Steinem

And, then there is physical resistance - which builds lean muscle mass, strength and endurance:

• “The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
• “You increase muscle bulk by training against resistance. For example, weights.” - Deborah Bull
• “My system uses no apparatus. The resistance of your own body is the best and safest apparatus.” - Charles Atlas

What about the “path of least resistance”:

• “The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.” - H. G. Wells
• “Try to find the path of least resistance and use it without harming others. Live with integrity and morality, not only with people but with all beings.” - Steven Seagal

Even though I have many more great quotations, I will leave you with this one. Robert Conklin wrote, “Resistance is thought transformed into feeling. Change the thought that creates the resistance, and there is no more resistance.”