The Cost of Resistance
Raise your hand if one (or both) of the below applies to you:
I want what I want when I want it.
I want things to make sense to me.
Welcome to being human!
These statements make sense in terms of the motivational triad (avoid pain, conserve energy, seek pleasure) which helped us survive as a species. When hungry, we want to find food and eat; we also want the pleasure of sweet tasting fruit, not the dried up bitter ones. Additionally, our brains needed to make sense of which direction the hungry tiger was coming from in order to avoid pain (being eaten) in order to plan an escape route or decide to fight. The primal fight, flight, or freeze programmed us to make sense of things and reject the unknown.
In this modern world where most of us are fortunate enough not to live in fight or flight, many still spend their time worrying…… particularly about things over which we have no control or impact. Learning to stop resisting reality leads to more peace, greater energy, increased creativity, more better relationships, and more and deeper sleep. As Oprah says “All stress comes from resisting what is”.