For years, I’ve been struggling with an enemy. An enemy that I’ve been fighting the greatest battle in my life from the day that I had the conscious mind up to the present, an enemy that I figured every single one of us have. This enemy is what I call…
“The Devil”.
Do you any have an idea of what I’m talking about? Well the devil is the still small voice in the back of your head that's always whispering the words, “You can't.” The worst part is, you know the devil. You may think you hate it, but you actually love it. You let it control you like a robot and you do just about everything it says. Every time there's something you desire for yourself, you consult the devil first, to see if it will say, “You can or can't have that.”
To support this, I have read some works from Steven Press Field who first wrote in his book a few years ago. He said that there is a “resistance”, within every human being that tells you that it will never work, Steven’s theory of resistance is extremely useful because it shed the light on the difficult problem that creates doubts, and fears. It will always force you to think the other way around hindering you from pursuing a greater and a more productive life.
Unfortunately, what you don't realize is that it doesn't know anything about you. It's dumb and an idiot. It's nothing but a bird, repeating back to you anything negative. Anything that makes you hopeless, hurt, and defeated. Sucking up all the potential that you have in order to live the life that you’ve wanted for yourself.
If a person once told you “You'll never accomplish anything,” it was listening; it hoards words like that and repeats them back to you until you’re exhausted. It doesn't know what its saying. It doesn't care.
Listening to this small voice is the ultimate source of why people fail. Now, you might think, how about the successful people do they have it? Well of course they do. Although as a matter of fact I don’t believe there are terms such as “successful” and “unsuccessful” people. What I believe however is that there are two types of people. First, are the people who recognize their potential and “TAKE ACTION” about it, and the people who recognize their potential and then do “NOTHING” about it.
This is the truth of what separates the few who “take action” and succeed, from the masses that stumble, fall and ultimately surrender.
There’s a physiological explanation in the brain to this resistance-your amygdala. The amygdala is located near the brain stem. It’s responsible for anger, revenge, sex, survival and fear. When the amygdala is activated, when it feels threatened, when there’s a sense that people might actually laugh at you, it takes over. It’s the one that leads you to distractions.
And so the resistance kicks in. How does it actually play “the devil”?
The devil finds excuses, it makes tasks either overly complex or oversimplifies that you fail. It uses phrases like, “see, I told you it would never work.” It is also responsible for giving you an even better idea just before you finish this one, that leads you to accomplish nothing… in fact, it will do anything it can to prevent you from “Taking Action”.
This resistance sabotaged my life for so long. It trapped in the 4 corners of a box, that I sometimes lose control of myself. And in the end, I found myself regretful and disappointed, repeatedly saying to myself the line “IF ONLY”. If only I say this, if only I made this decision, If only I do this and that then my life would be much better.
The resistance is powerful, so powerful that all the shortcuts, time savers and focusing tools are powerless. As we are all aware, the web is filled with different techniques, methods and list that offer to help you in your battle to “defeat the devil”. But unfortunately because the content are practical, polite, and calm. .None of them are working for you because you may NOT be serious about actually defeating the resistance.
Its fun to procrastinate and comforting to complain...
Now you know its name. Now you know how it sneaks in under the radar and sounds quite sensible as it undermines your work and compromises your vision.
The challenge then, is that YOU must DEFEAT the enemy. You need to seek and find a purpose SO IMPORTANT that it is worth overcoming your fears. SO IMPORTANT that yes, you are willing to go through all the hoops, have a bloody war if necessary until you defeat it. And WIN.
“The Devil”.
Do you any have an idea of what I’m talking about? Well the devil is the still small voice in the back of your head that's always whispering the words, “You can't.” The worst part is, you know the devil. You may think you hate it, but you actually love it. You let it control you like a robot and you do just about everything it says. Every time there's something you desire for yourself, you consult the devil first, to see if it will say, “You can or can't have that.”
To support this, I have read some works from Steven Press Field who first wrote in his book a few years ago. He said that there is a “resistance”, within every human being that tells you that it will never work, Steven’s theory of resistance is extremely useful because it shed the light on the difficult problem that creates doubts, and fears. It will always force you to think the other way around hindering you from pursuing a greater and a more productive life.
Unfortunately, what you don't realize is that it doesn't know anything about you. It's dumb and an idiot. It's nothing but a bird, repeating back to you anything negative. Anything that makes you hopeless, hurt, and defeated. Sucking up all the potential that you have in order to live the life that you’ve wanted for yourself.
If a person once told you “You'll never accomplish anything,” it was listening; it hoards words like that and repeats them back to you until you’re exhausted. It doesn't know what its saying. It doesn't care.
Listening to this small voice is the ultimate source of why people fail. Now, you might think, how about the successful people do they have it? Well of course they do. Although as a matter of fact I don’t believe there are terms such as “successful” and “unsuccessful” people. What I believe however is that there are two types of people. First, are the people who recognize their potential and “TAKE ACTION” about it, and the people who recognize their potential and then do “NOTHING” about it.
This is the truth of what separates the few who “take action” and succeed, from the masses that stumble, fall and ultimately surrender.
There’s a physiological explanation in the brain to this resistance-your amygdala. The amygdala is located near the brain stem. It’s responsible for anger, revenge, sex, survival and fear. When the amygdala is activated, when it feels threatened, when there’s a sense that people might actually laugh at you, it takes over. It’s the one that leads you to distractions.
And so the resistance kicks in. How does it actually play “the devil”?
The devil finds excuses, it makes tasks either overly complex or oversimplifies that you fail. It uses phrases like, “see, I told you it would never work.” It is also responsible for giving you an even better idea just before you finish this one, that leads you to accomplish nothing… in fact, it will do anything it can to prevent you from “Taking Action”.
This resistance sabotaged my life for so long. It trapped in the 4 corners of a box, that I sometimes lose control of myself. And in the end, I found myself regretful and disappointed, repeatedly saying to myself the line “IF ONLY”. If only I say this, if only I made this decision, If only I do this and that then my life would be much better.
The resistance is powerful, so powerful that all the shortcuts, time savers and focusing tools are powerless. As we are all aware, the web is filled with different techniques, methods and list that offer to help you in your battle to “defeat the devil”. But unfortunately because the content are practical, polite, and calm. .None of them are working for you because you may NOT be serious about actually defeating the resistance.
Its fun to procrastinate and comforting to complain...
Now you know its name. Now you know how it sneaks in under the radar and sounds quite sensible as it undermines your work and compromises your vision.
The challenge then, is that YOU must DEFEAT the enemy. You need to seek and find a purpose SO IMPORTANT that it is worth overcoming your fears. SO IMPORTANT that yes, you are willing to go through all the hoops, have a bloody war if necessary until you defeat it. And WIN.
Great blog. I can relate to overcoming the inferior whispers of a not-so-silent enemy. I remember when I was a child constantly hearing my mother put down and degraded by my father. I knew that I had to overcome this mind set to take verbal abuse or "crap" as I would call it. (grin) By the time I was a teenager my mother would constantly tell me not to settle for this type of relationship and that I can be/do whatever I want. I chose to believe her. Now my precious mother is 76 years old and learning to enjoy her liberation. My parents marriage was salvaged because they both changed with a lot of counsel and prayer. I too, of course, continue to fight, when ever necessary, the mental battles that attempt to rage. As you explained, we must choose to take action and that determines our own successes.
ReplyDeleteYou are opperating on the principle that human beings are naturally good, happy, and capable. I'm not going to argue with this, but I am going to suggest that there are some "boxes" it is incredibly advisable NOT to get yourself into. Because what happens when you discover that the big "if only" which you speak of is followed by a "I had never realized this". Sometimes there are problems which don't have solutions. That is because they aren't problems, they're reality. Distractions are good things. The "devil" is a tangible foe you can fight. Thinking the way you do is indeed the way to stay positive.
ReplyDelete