Was watching Super Soul Sunday this morning. Great program on Sunday mornings showcasing critical thinkers, motivators and people who speak from the soul.
Today's show presented The War Of Art author Steven Pressfield.
He has a theory about resistance. Maybe I should capitalize it; RESTISTANCE because he says it's big.
He states that every dream has a shadow, Much like the pepper tree he and Oprah were sitting under. To get to your dream or your goal, your individual Art, (the pepper tree) one must get through the shadow of resistance.
He compares it to St. George slaying the dragon.
I am very familiar with this shadow. Procrastination...doubt....fear....laziness are some of my less desirable companions in the shadows of my dreams.
I have promised to write 10 paragraphs a day towards a book I am writing. I found that it was easy to write more than 10 paragraphs daily so I upped the minimum to two hours of writing each day. I am pretty good about it most days but there are those days where it seems the shadow around the keyboard is very thick and murky; getting through it is almost impossible. Not that I try (being honest here!).
When Pressfiled mentioned St George slaying the dragon I was thinking how much time I spend slaying the dragon. I can be in the living room thinking I need to go back to the compute and write but then I see that the rugs need vacuuming. Then I think, time to write; "oh look, the vacuuming has raised dust, I need to polish the furniture. Okay, okay, I'll write as soon as Rex (Border Collie) and I return from a walk.
On the other hand...when my goal is to exercise and take Rex for a walk, I remember that the dishwasher needs to be emptied or how nice it would be to sit in with my feet in the shady side of the pool and read.
Hey, I live in Redding; we live for shade when it is 110 outside.
What if we skip St. George and his over exuberance of manly testosterone and desire for slaying and mayhem and approach the shadow with St. Martha in mind. She befriended the dragon, they became pals.
Tomorrow, when 9:00 a.m. rolls around and I'm rinsing out my raisin bran bowl, stirring my tea, I'll be thinking I need to crank up Word and get back to the book. As I head back down the hall and the Shadow Dragon of Procrastination steps out of the closet, I am going to wrap an arm around her shoulders, let her sip some of tea and invite her to sit next to me while I type. I'll even propose that if she has any ideas about plot or sentence structure she should speak up. I'll promise any idea will be considered, unless the idea includes leaving the seat in front of the computer until at least 11:00 a.m.
I might even ask her if she would like the name Shadow, which I think isn't so bad for a dragon.
Today's show presented The War Of Art author Steven Pressfield.
He has a theory about resistance. Maybe I should capitalize it; RESTISTANCE because he says it's big.
He states that every dream has a shadow, Much like the pepper tree he and Oprah were sitting under. To get to your dream or your goal, your individual Art, (the pepper tree) one must get through the shadow of resistance.
He compares it to St. George slaying the dragon.
I am very familiar with this shadow. Procrastination...doubt....fear....laziness are some of my less desirable companions in the shadows of my dreams.
I have promised to write 10 paragraphs a day towards a book I am writing. I found that it was easy to write more than 10 paragraphs daily so I upped the minimum to two hours of writing each day. I am pretty good about it most days but there are those days where it seems the shadow around the keyboard is very thick and murky; getting through it is almost impossible. Not that I try (being honest here!).
When Pressfiled mentioned St George slaying the dragon I was thinking how much time I spend slaying the dragon. I can be in the living room thinking I need to go back to the compute and write but then I see that the rugs need vacuuming. Then I think, time to write; "oh look, the vacuuming has raised dust, I need to polish the furniture. Okay, okay, I'll write as soon as Rex (Border Collie) and I return from a walk.
On the other hand...when my goal is to exercise and take Rex for a walk, I remember that the dishwasher needs to be emptied or how nice it would be to sit in with my feet in the shady side of the pool and read.
Hey, I live in Redding; we live for shade when it is 110 outside.
What if we skip St. George and his over exuberance of manly testosterone and desire for slaying and mayhem and approach the shadow with St. Martha in mind. She befriended the dragon, they became pals.
Tomorrow, when 9:00 a.m. rolls around and I'm rinsing out my raisin bran bowl, stirring my tea, I'll be thinking I need to crank up Word and get back to the book. As I head back down the hall and the Shadow Dragon of Procrastination steps out of the closet, I am going to wrap an arm around her shoulders, let her sip some of tea and invite her to sit next to me while I type. I'll even propose that if she has any ideas about plot or sentence structure she should speak up. I'll promise any idea will be considered, unless the idea includes leaving the seat in front of the computer until at least 11:00 a.m.
I might even ask her if she would like the name Shadow, which I think isn't so bad for a dragon.
 | ||
| Illustration courtesy of Deviant Art |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment Please but Play Nice!