What should i do about resistance?

[Justincredible76]

A trend i notice with every action i do is that in some form or another i face resistance towards whatever im doing. For example if im playing video games with my friends ill get the feeling that i should be doing something more productive towards my spiritual growth like formal meditation, and on the flip side when doing formal meditation i get an egoic pull towards doing something else less productive. 

In terms of being pulled to other things while in formal practice, i get that its something that can just be let go of, but when it comes to the feeling that im wasting my time with my friends, what should i do about that? I feel on one end, if i let go of the resistance its sort of like being a bum and getting nothing done, but if i keep the resistance while im doing the task then it makes it less enjoyable and creates tension. I hear a lot that i should “surrender,” so would that apply even in the case of my friends? Do i just surrender and lose that resistance or voice telling me to go meditate or be productive? But if i do that will i just still end up accomplishing nothing? Or will i somehow naturally end up doing more practice? Either way, the way im doing it now isnt really working and im not doing a whole lot of inner work, so it seems like holding on to the resistance isnt working. 

[Truth Addict]

You answered your question already!

Yes, surrender.

[Justincredible76]

@Truth Addict alright, cool. I confuse myself alot like that.. ill just do what i feel in the moment and see where it takes me.

[Justincredible76]

@Truth Addict could you actually explain the mechanics of that for me? Why does surrendering do me best? 

[Truth Addict]

7 minutes ago, Justincredible76 said:

@Truth Addict could you actually explain the mechanics of that for me? Why does surrendering do me best? 

Because it will teach you balance.

I'm assuming that you come from a neurotic background. If that's true, then surrendering will swing your pendulum in the opposite direction, and from this swinging back and forth, balance will arise.

Edited September 16, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Justincredible76]

@Truth Addict yeah, i sorta do come from that background, but i guess so do so many people today lol. But even for a non neurotic person, why would it still be an effective method?

[Truth Addict]

12 minutes ago, Justincredible76 said:

@Truth Addict yeah, i sorta do come from that background, but i guess so do so many people today lol. But even for a non neurotic person, why would it still be an effective method?

For someone who isn't neurotic, they wouldn't need surrendering, cuz they're already surrendered.

[Truth Addict]

12 minutes ago, Truth Addict said:

For someone who isn't neurotic, they wouldn't need surrendering, cuz they're already surrendered.

With further contemplation, I would say that it's not just black or white. There are degrees of neurosis. And the more you surrender, the less neuroses you will have, and the happier you will become.

Edited September 16, 2019 by Truth Addict

[Zigzag Idiot]

You are Intimate with Yourself When You’re Simply Being Where You Are

When you really like to discover the truth, when you just like to see and feel what’s true, this indicates that you like being yourself. It is lovely to be where one is without rejection, without the need to be somewhere else to be okay. In this place, the heart opens up, and there is enough space to feel joy. There’s contentment and peacefulness, and a personalness to the contentment and peace that gives the feeling of intimacy. You are intimate with yourself when you’re simply being where you are.

Spacecruiser Inquiry, pg. 196

 

To be where we are really is a form of surrender to whatever is happening. And that surrender is an awareness that embraces whatever our experience is. If I am feeling something and I see that I don’t like it, then I embrace that I am feeling something and I embrace the fact that I don’t like it. I don’t take the position that I shouldn’t have a negative response to what I am feeling. This implies a certain trust and confidence in our nature. Usually we don’t have that trust, so we want to take things into our own hands and twist them and turn them the way we want them to be. True Nature shows us that we have another option, which is to align with it in allowing our experience to be what it is.

The Unfolding Now, pg. 26

[Justincredible76]

@Zigzag Idiot beautiful quotes man, love em. Good words, i will try to practice surrendering to the moment throughout my day. 

@Truth Addict i see, that makes sense.

 

thank you both very much

[okulele]

7 hours ago, Justincredible76 said:

But if i do that will i just still end up accomplishing nothing?

I find that, paradoxically, when you surrender totally during unhealthy activities (any activity actually), a new perspective comes up that gets you free of that activity or recontextualaizes it.

[Justincredible76]

@okulele @Zigzag Idiot @Truth Addict Actually, i have another question. What about discipline? Ive never had much of it, and ive also never accomplished much externally either. Internally ive done alright id say, but i have trouble making results in the outside world. So how come surrendering to what you feel in the moment is better than discipline? If i could just brute force my way into whatever i desire in the moment, for example say i want to do hours of meditation, if i just said fuck everything else and did it for hours and went through the resistance and persisted, would that do me any better than being my normal wishy washy self where one minute i want/do this and the next i want/do that? 

Edited September 17, 2019 by Justincredible76

[Aggelos Doulgerakis]

I would say get your mind away from "doing". Resistance won't really be a problem if you surrender like @Truth Addict said.

[Truth Addict]

@Justincredible76

Fair question. I still struggle to find the balance between discipline and surrendering. I'm right now at the surrendering end, and trying to move towards discipline. I've let go of most of my neuroses, and now it's time to create a lifestyle that is both relaxed and efficient. That's what I consider balance to be.

What I've found helpful, so far, in my experience is to:

• Surround yourself with discipline (people and materials).
• Realising that surrendering, if excessive, stems from fear.

Anyway, if you're still struggling with surrendering, I think that you shouldn't worry about discipline, because that'll only make you more neurotic.

[Justincredible76]

@Truth Addict oh i see, its about a balance of the two. I can surrender way better than i can discipline myself. I was mostly having trouble contemplating how to integrate discipline into my life, and it brought about neurotic thoughts like “you should be doing meditating not doing this.” 

[GreenWoods]

@Justincredible76 completely surrender yourself to the task and you don't need discipline for it

If you want to meditate for 2 hours but feel a lot of resistance because your lower self wants to do sth else, then surrender your lower self and your will, surrender the resistance and surrender completely to the meditation. No matter how demanding the meditation turns, it is no problem, because you have given yourself up, now it happens by itself and you don't need discipline. Because discipline is only needed if you do sth that goes against what you desire/will. Eliminating desire/will through surrender, you eliminate the need for discipline.

The only problem is whether one can surrender that much...

[Nahm]

@Justincredible76

Become aware of what fragmentation is. Overly simply put - it’s found in the thinking, specifically thoughts about yourself - as if the one who is aware of the thought is one you, and the thought is about a second you. Just begin to notice this in your thinking, writing, etc. Notice it, realize you have never been “two”, and have a laugh every time. Allow your infinite nature, truth, to be the punchline to duality. There’s a natural release in finding it funny. Notice these Twoness-ess:

”I can discipline my self”.

 Everything is twoness, this or that - except for you. You are the awareness. Relative to physical-world-thinking, you are the Nothing. Notice, how this thinking you’ve been doing, about yourself, as if you were a thing, a this or that...notice how this thinking of yourself dualistically (twoness) keeps leading you into the back and forth - of this or that. This is because, again, you are awareness, aware of this or that. 

So, reconsider “discipline” from the true self perspective,of,  Nothing. This would be a different paradigm for your consideration - one where the “discipline” is not in doing, but in letting go. Spirit, is like a cork being held under water by holding thoughts about yourself. When you let the thoughts go, the cork of course, naturally floats. Inspiration is natural, organic, perfect alignment in actuality. The entire experience is ‘housed’ in purification. You let go, reality washes it from you. Please pause to notice the distinction here. Letting go is not an action you do, like other things. Purification is the fundamental nature of reality, 24/7. The “current” which “takes” what you release and let go of, is always running - so you - don’t have to. You, just let thoughts go, universe is already a system created around that, already designed in purification. 

“i face resistance towards whatever i’m doing.”

See the twoness here also. Resistance is just an arising thought, you choose or let go. That’s it. Resistance is not something separate, but rather, a micro phase in your creating. It’s like if a deep diver in going to the bottom of the ocean, he has a feed of oxygen. You are out here in infinity, creating reality - and your “feed” of creating from source, is the linear, one at a time - thoughts - from which to choose from, to create what you want. Pick a thought and roll with it if it feels good. If it doesn’t feel good, let it go. You will find, the “resistance” is the clay itself, the very means of creation / creating / creator. SImply put, you are not “facing” anything. You’re creating. 

 

“...the feeling that im wasting my time with my friends, what should i do about that?”

”Play it out”. A great, short, simple, effective exercise. If you’re not relaxed, feeling good, having fun playing with your friends...play it out. Think, ok, let’s say I tell them to bolt to I can feel better from doing my practices....and you do, and you do feel better. Then, within you arises the thought... “I should hang with my bros, to have more fun, and feel more excited than I do right now”....so you do, and it is fun....but this style of thinking leads in the dualistic, this or that’s loop you’re sharing with us. If you “play it all the way out”- you see everything you’ll ever do - is for feeling better.  How about flipping that paradigm too - feeling good and then doing whatever, from that better feeling place? Careful not to let the subtlety about this slip past you. This is the force, the chi, the prana, the “when you’re ready - you won’t have to dodge bullets”- stuff. 

So, you, can’t be disciplined, but every activity, and the time allocation of it - can be, because it’s all as simple as a this-or-that choice. Try this out - just write segments of time down on a piece of paper. Maybe.. 9 - 9:30 - meditation, let everything, and every arising thought - go.  Then maybe write down, 6 - 7, play with the homies, let everything else go, and be present, have as much fun as possible - and no worry’s at all about “should I be surrendering” - I can just write it down - “tonight, 10-10:30...meditate, surrender everything” - then get back to fun. 

This “segment thinking” is utilizing duality, rather than pretending you are of it and trying to conform yourself to it in thinking. You’re too big for that, ya ain’t gonna fit in duality - you crazy infinite being you.

 

Think in terms of segments of time about this - segments of experience - rather than segments of you. 

In your “letting go”” segments of time....feel into the actuality of purification. Feel when you let go, body relaxes, muscles release, gravity pulls and washes from you, what you let go of. Likewise, inspiration, is inherent in the design of reality. Notice how it fills you up, without you needing to do anything. 

By letting go, you are giving it to the universe, and the universe takes care of everything from there. Divine, no? 

Having let go, the universe fills you with inspiration. There’s no “worth”, no “deserving”, really, at all. This is just how reality is  designed - how you are designed. This is how you designed the whole thing. You didn’t half ass it bruh. It’s perfect, flawless, seamless, the functionality is so divine and perfect - the functionality can not even be found. It’s not designed for you to strife, to suffer.

Let. Go. & Create.

This is just infinite creation, at play. 

You’ll never truly “find” the fun - so go ahead, and see that you can bring it everywhere you go. 

 

 

[Zigzag Idiot]

Well thought out replies from all. I just woke up and need a few minutes to ponder if I have anything of possible value to contribute. ?‍♂️?

[Zigzag Idiot]

practicing Centering Prayer for twenty minutes twice a day has made a lot of difference for me. There's more flexibility in getting this done rather than 1 hour long sitting per day. It's an exercise in letting go of thoughts and discovering, slowly, the state of non conceptual awareness or what others call objectless awareness. When given time, it begins to create inner spaciousness.

 

[Truth Addict]

@Nahm

That's beautiful!

I needed it. Thank you! ❤️