I’d like to think if I’d been born in the right place and time, I would have been part of the French Resistance. These comrades fought against the Nazi German occupation of France to help Allied forces and people in need.
Partially because of this idea of resistance, I’ve often thought of resistance as a good thing. So as I’ve encountered the word ‘resistance’ in my own life, it’s been an adjustment to realize resistance is not always something I want to join!
To understand resistance, it helps to first explore what reality is. Reality = people and situations as they are… It is what it is! Sometimes I think I know what reality is, but I delude myself. Meditation, prayer, and therapy are all ways to help explore ‘what is reality?’ A lot of our venting, lamenting and emotionality are really just resistance to reality.
So resistance would be ignoring reality. This is when we want things to be different than they are. Good physical health is enhanced by practicing certain choices and not making others. Eating more non-processed, organic and healthy foods, drinking filtered water, exercising, not smoking, addressing addictions are all choices to deal with the reality of taking care of our body.
Good emotional health is accepting people as they are, then deciding what to do about it. It’s being responsible for our own self and choosing people to be around that we enjoy and activities that we enjoy.
Good financial health is accepting the reality of what we make as income and living within that. Being responsible with what we do have makes life much easier. And, this reality might inspire us to return to school or make career changes.
The reality with our car and other possessions is that taking care of them will likely extend their life and value. You get the idea!!
So if there are realities related to our bodies, mental health, finances, etc, then resistance would be ignoring this. We would over eat, smoke, sit and veg a lot, get in debt, expect others to change so we will feel better. Hmm! Yes, I’m guessing we have all been part of this resistance movement at one time or another.
This doesn’t make anyone bad or good. It’s just that more skillful choices create less drama and problems and un-skillful or resistant choices create more drama and problems.
As a result, it’s much easier to dig ourselves out of a hole that’s smaller. The more we resist reality usually the bigger hole we dig. Then we lament how horrible the world is or how stupid we are. The idea of karma for me is that the more work you do to lead an uplifted, truthful life, the less karma (or baggage) you might have to carry. Sometimes we inherit the un-skillful choices from our family of origin or others close to us. But, the solution is the same: join the resistance to resistance.
Consider yourself a resistance fighter and wake up. Viva la revolution! When you resist resistance and make choices based on reality (or even begin to contemplate doing so), then good will triumph.
