Resistance: The Chains in My Hands are My Own

True serenity is not the absence of problems. It is remaining peaceful and centered in the midst of them. It is being able to equally accept what we like and what we don’t like. Serenity is the absence of resistance, not the absence of problems. It is acceptance to the degree of being able to bless all that is.

I don’t have to love or like everything. I just have to appreciate that it all has a purpose and not by my attitude make it bad. “Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.” What I judge as bad, I naturally resist. It is my own resistance that causes me pain, not the thing or person that I am resisting.

“Resist not temptation.” (Holy Bible) This does not mean to give in to temptation. It means that we should not resist because in so doing we give it power over us. Rather, “judge not” and turn your attention to something else. Likewise, resist not those things which we do not like or want to experience because our resistance ties us to them and gives them power over us. Only that which we resist can hold us in bondage. Further, it takes great exertion to press against anything, so resistance causes fatigue.

Think about those things that you don’t like to do but know you must do. Are they a struggle? Do you frequently meet obstacles while trying to do them? Do you feel tired or drained either while doing them or directly after? These are indications that you are resisting. It is natural to resist that which we don’t like, but we have the power to change our attitude about anything. Try to see your obligations in a different light. How do you benefit from doing them? Are you benefiting someone else by doing them? We can also choose to occupy our minds with pleasant thoughts while accomplishing unpleasant tasks.

Our experience begins in our mind. Whatsoever we dwell upon in our thoughts will be our experience. The more we think about what we don’t like, the more it persists in our experience.