Aboout resistance, contraction, openness, closedness

[PurpleTree]

So seemingly there is just what is.

But at some point we developed resistance. 
 

Probably because of survival. It feels like a energetic contraction in the body. 
 

Or thoughts about what is.

Tolle or Ram Dass once told this story.

Some people are working all year. They don’t enjoy their work. They are waiting for their two weeks of vacation where they are at the beach sipping a margarita. Then on vacation there is other stuff that annoys them like local stuff that’s different than at home.

So they have resistance to work life and then also when they have their long due vacation.

Resistance is basically a No to what is.

Something, someone or self should be different.

It‘s tied to time, self, control, other.

Any good practices?

[PurpleTree]

Here‘s what gpt said

Letting go of resistance to what is — accepting the present moment or reality as it is — is one of the core challenges in personal growth, mindfulness, and many spiritual paths. It doesn’t mean passive resignation, but rather a shift in your relationship to the present.

 

Here’s a practical breakdown to help you move toward acceptance:

 

 

 

 

🌿 1. 

Notice the Resistance

 

 

Pay attention to the tension or reactivity in your body, thoughts, or emotions.

Ask yourself: What exactly am I resisting right now?

Resistance often shows up as frustration, avoidance, blame, or tightness in the body.

🪞2. 

Name What Is

Simply acknowledge what’s happening — internally or externally — without judging it.

Example: “I feel anxious right now.” or “I don’t want this to be true.”

Labeling helps break identification with the emotional storm.

 

🧘 3. 

Practice Presence (Not Passivity)

 

Return to the present moment through your breath, body sensations, or sounds.

Try simple mindfulness techniques: “Can I be with this, just for now?”

Acceptance doesn’t mean liking the situation — it means allowing it to exist without fighting it.

 

💬 4. 

Shift the Inner Dialogue

 

 

Instead of:

 

“This shouldn’t be happening.”
Try:

“This is happening. What now?”

 

 

This shift turns resistance into responsiveness.

 

 

🌀 5. 

Use Surrender as Strength

Surrender isn’t weakness. It’s letting go of the mental struggle that creates suffering.

 

Eckhart Tolle describes surrender as the inner acceptance of the present moment.

Byron Katie’s question “Can you absolutely know that it shouldn’t be this way?” is powerful for loosening resistance.

 

🛠️ 6. 

Let Go Repeatedly

Letting go isn’t a one-time event — it’s a practice. You may let go, then resist again — that’s okay.

 

Keep returning to presence.

Each time you notice resistance and soften around it, you deepen your inner freedom.

💡 Bonus Tools

Meditation: Try acceptance-based meditations (e.g., “Allowing everything to be as it is”).

Journaling: Write what you’re resisting, what you’re afraid might happen, and what you’re trying to control.

Books: “The Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer, “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle.

Would you like a guided practice or mantra to work with this directly?

 

[PurpleTree]

I remember i used listen to Singer for a while.

He said there are these Samskara in the body karmic contractions, feel into the and soften them.

But now it sounds a bit like spiritual dead ends.

[Reciprocality]

Do you want a good advice in how to resist the resistance? 

Perhaps yielding to the first order resistance is the least taxing way to go about it, perhaps it happens for reasons that are entirely necessary or natural.

Edited May 24 by Reciprocality

[The Caretaker]

You can read "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. I was expecting a book about creative blockages, but got a personal manifesto against "resistance".

Maybe at least you will find some value in his work. The book is ~120 pages, but most of them are 2/3 empty.

[PurpleTree]

1 hour ago, The Caretaker said:

You can read "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. I was expecting a book about creative blockages, but got a personal manifesto against "resistance".

Maybe at least you will find some value in his work. The book is ~120 pages, but most of them are 2/3 empty.

Yea i‘ve read it.

Don‘t remember much about it other than i liked it.

[Someone here]

So here's what's going on ..there are no "People ". Yeah I know this sounds so much outdated. But it is the truth of no self . I also get pissed off sometimes that people Don't understand that they don't exist lol and as a result they take themselves and everyone else seriously and they fight each other's.  In fact I just had a fight right now before typing this comment .but I realized nothing is as it appears. The person I'm angry from doesn't actually exist in reality .so who am I angry at ?

Edited May 24 by Someone here

[Paradoxed]

I think resistance to thoughts/emotions leads to suffering, and the physical manifestation of resistance is tension/contraction in the body along with mental neuroticism. This is why people are so anxious, they are fighting constantly and are not good at surrender. When you surrender and fully allow yourself to feel your emotions the tension is released. When you stop running away, or fighting whatever negative feeling, you experience it, let it go and move past it. But you actually have to feel the feeling, or experience the emotion fully, without judgement, without trying to fix it, and without trying to do something about it. When you do that, you experience it fully the tension is released. 

It's the same way with people who are avoiding responsibility or avoiding certain thoughts. It all just gets buried until you are a tense, depressed, and anxious wreck. Energetically you are closed off. We have all been there.

[Hojo]

Its karma. Partially survival as you are living your life to survive in many different ways. So you pick a path that you feel most comfortable with and the resistance is the karma the memory you have built up about your life and how its the best way to survive. When you try to divert you are forcing God to start making something new the resistance could be the 'loading' time for God to create something out of thin air.

Like when you are if you lucid dream if you try to change the dream that takes alot of mental power.

God goes like this with the mind and thats the resistance. If you can sit there and do this with your mind not the body and stare at a wall you can do things. Its how I used to force myself out of sleep paralysis.

 

Edited May 25 by Hojo

[Princess Arabia]

Good luck

The very fact that you feel the need for a practice is resistance itself.

Edited May 25 by Princess Arabia

[VeganAwake]

There isn't anyone actually resisting, so it doesn't matter what happens 🤔🤣🫢

❤️ 

[PurpleTree]

5 hours ago, Princess Arabia said:

Good luck

The very fact that you feel the need for a practice is resistance itself.

Ok so please give ME directions.

I‘m on a very important path and need a practice.

I want to be enlightened so that i can feel better about Myself.

Please give Me directions back to the garden of Eden.

Gracias 

[PurpleTree]

17 hours ago, Paradoxed said:

I think resistance to thoughts/emotions leads to suffering, and the physical manifestation of resistance is tension/contraction in the body along with mental neuroticism. This is why people are so anxious, they are fighting constantly and are not good at surrender. When you surrender and fully allow yourself to feel your emotions the tension is released. When you stop running away, or fighting whatever negative feeling, you experience it, let it go and move past it. But you actually have to feel the feeling, or experience the emotion fully, without judgement, without trying to fix it, and without trying to do something about it. When you do that, you experience it fully the tension is released. 

It's the same way with people who are avoiding responsibility or avoiding certain thoughts. It all just gets buried until you are a tense, depressed, and anxious wreck. Energetically you are closed off. We have all been there.

So are you liberated now through surrender?

[Paradoxed]

On 5/25/2025 at 5:56 AM, PurpleTree said:

So are you liberated now through surrender?

With certain things I have a lot of trouble surrendering. I wouldn't say I'm liberated but my life has gotten a lot better.

[PurpleTree]

2 hours ago, Paradoxed said:

With certain things I have a lot of trouble surrendering.

 

On 2025-05-24 at 6:02 PM, Paradoxed said:

But you actually have to feel the feeling, or experience the emotion fully, without judgement, without trying to fix it, and without trying to do something about it. When you do that, you experience it fully the tension is released. 

Ok thank but so then you don’t really know this to be true? Just because a guy in a youtube video or a book said doesn’t make it true.

[VeganAwake]

@PurpleTree 

Hi,

Awakening is a clear recognition revealing that this needy self character wanting to attain awakening.....isn't actually real....it's an illusion of self construct.  There isn't a real "You" inside that PurpleTree body over there

There IS a body, but its actually empty...... that needy "You" character isn't really in there. That's the self-illusion

So the issue is:  how could there ever be a practice or method, to literally help an illusion, recognize that its an illusion

Any spiritual practice or method suggests that there is in fact, a real "You" which could benefit from spiritual practices in the future

Awakening isn't a result of spiritual practices, methods, meditation or genetics.........it's a simple recognition which allows for an enormous energetic relaxation of the body. An energetic shift away from upholding this needy self construct

It can seem to happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone....but it certainly does seem rare

Nothing actually needs to happen in the future because, it's already that now

It's just either recognized, or it isn't........doesn't matter either way

❤️ 

[Princess Arabia]

On 5/25/2025 at 5:40 AM, PurpleTree said:

Ok so please give ME directions.

I‘m on a very important path and need a practice.

I want to be enlightened so that i can feel better about Myself.

Please give Me directions back to the garden of Eden.

Gracias 

 Feel better about yourself? Enlightenment is about no-self, right. According to the definition.

Do nothing. Go about your daily life. Enjoy or don't enjoy, Laugh or cry, Sulk or be merry. Get angry, get miserable be anxious, be depressed, feel hungry, feel full, get married or not. Have sex, eat fruits, wear headphones.  Drive, walk, move to another city, get drunk, be sober, do drugs, don't do drugs, sing, talk, type, go to work, pee, sleep, wake up.

Don't feel good about yourself, feel good about yourself, whichever one is happening is what's happening. Don't care. Don't try to feel a certain way. That's inherent. Can't help that. The fact that you feel, is the fact of your existence. Don't care how you feel, you're dead. You're dead, you're enlightened, miserable or not. Doesn't feel good, so what. Feels good, so what, Neither matters. Only to you. Enlightenment means there's no caring what happens even if you're sad or miserable. Who cares. You, why, why do you want to feel good, why do you want to feel bad. Feeling is feeling. No such thing as feeling good or bad, just feeling. You feel. That's it. No feeling, you're dead. Do you want to die. Then feel. Whatever that is. It's all enlightenment. All of it.

Now, you'll see how life is just happening and that you're only here for awhile and when you die, you were never here. Can't be. Nothing real changes. You're energy in motion. Nothing here for you to own. That's freeing. Thatls enlightenment. Born with nothing, die with nothing. Why do you want to feel good about yourself. No need. Feel bad. One day you'll feel good, then feel bad, then feel good......right up to your death. Can't cling to feeling good about yourself, it was never yours to begin with. Let feeling bad about yourself be there. It doesn't care about you. That's life feeling bad about itself. No need to interfere. Watch how you start to feel better watch how you drop dead. When you don't care, it doesn't care. Stop wanting and everything is welcomed. Even the need to not feel bad is welcomed. It's all welcomed. 

Sorry I couldn't be of any help. When I stopped caring, caring took over on it's own. I only care when caring is present. I don't try to care. I don't 'not care' either. No such thing as 'not' in reality, it's just whatever is and it's free to be whatever it wants.

Edited May 27 by Princess Arabia

[PurpleTree]

On 2025-05-27 at 7:14 AM, VeganAwake said:

@PurpleTree 

Hi,

Awakening is a clear recognition revealing that this needy self character wanting to attain awakening.....isn't actually real....it's an illusion of self construct.  There isn't a real "You" inside that PurpleTree body over there

There IS a body, but its actually empty...... that needy "You" character isn't really in there. That's the self-illusion

So the issue is:  how could there ever be a practice or method, to literally help an illusion, recognize that its an illusion

Any spiritual practice or method suggests that there is in fact, a real "You" which could benefit from spiritual practices in the future

Awakening isn't a result of spiritual practices, methods, meditation or genetics.........it's a simple recognition which allows for an enormous energetic relaxation of the body. An energetic shift away from upholding this needy self construct

It can seem to happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone....but it certainly does seem rare

Nothing actually needs to happen in the future because, it's already that now

It's just either recognized, or it isn't........doesn't matter either way

❤️ 

Thanks yea nicely put.

On 2025-05-27 at 7:56 AM, Princess Arabia said:

 Feel better about yourself? Enlightenment is about no-self, right. According to the definition.

Do nothing. Go about your daily life. Enjoy or don't enjoy, Laugh or cry, Sulk or be merry. Get angry, get miserable be anxious, be depressed, feel hungry, feel full, get married or not. Have sex, eat fruits, wear headphones.  Drive, walk, move to another city, get drunk, be sober, do drugs, don't do drugs, sing, talk, type, go to work, pee, sleep, wake up.

Don't feel good about yourself, feel good about yourself, whichever one is happening is what's happening. Don't care. Don't try to feel a certain way. That's inherent. Can't help that. The fact that you feel, is the fact of your existence. Don't care how you feel, you're dead. You're dead, you're enlightened, miserable or not. Doesn't feel good, so what. Feels good, so what, Neither matters. Only to you. Enlightenment means there's no caring what happens even if you're sad or miserable. Who cares. You, why, why do you want to feel good, why do you want to feel bad. Feeling is feeling. No such thing as feeling good or bad, just feeling. You feel. That's it. No feeling, you're dead. Do you want to die. Then feel. Whatever that is. It's all enlightenment. All of it.

Now, you'll see how life is just happening and that you're only here for awhile and when you die, you were never here. Can't be. Nothing real changes. You're energy in motion. Nothing here for you to own. That's freeing. Thatls enlightenment. Born with nothing, die with nothing. Why do you want to feel good about yourself. No need. Feel bad. One day you'll feel good, then feel bad, then feel good......right up to your death. Can't cling to feeling good about yourself, it was never yours to begin with. Let feeling bad about yourself be there. It doesn't care about you. That's life feeling bad about itself. No need to interfere. Watch how you start to feel better watch how you drop dead. When you don't care, it doesn't care. Stop wanting and everything is welcomed. Even the need to not feel bad is welcomed. It's all welcomed. 

Sorry I couldn't be of any help. When I stopped caring, caring took over on it's own. I only care when caring is present. I don't try to care. I don't 'not care' either. No such thing as 'not' in reality, it's just whatever is and it's free to be whatever it wants.

Thanks yea inwas mostly joking. But thanks for trying to help out.

[krazzer]

@PurpleTree To resist you need a situation and a "you". Remove the "you", the ego, and the resistance will vanish with it.