Being Aware of Resistance

Specific barriers exist to recovery and transformation. These barriers inhibit or even stop a person's healing and transformation from knowledge to wisdom. While resistance is a normal part of the change process, it can stop you from transforming your life unless understood adequately and appropriately. Resistance is primarily a psychological process whereby your unconscious program resists or attempts to prevent any new knowledge or information that differs from its inherent structure from being considered or accepted for implementation by the individual.

The first step in moving past your resistance to change is awareness. It is vital to your process and progress in transformation that you know that you are resisting change, resisting what you need to think and do to change, and, as a result, engaging in self-sabotage. Knowing how you resist change helps you move past your resistance and continue your recovery and transformation. When we adequately understand resistance, we can use it to help us continue to change and ensure the change is permanent.

Below are four prevalent, detrimental, and even harmful forms of resistance that can stop your efforts to change and transform your life. These forms of resistance are thought patterns that operate or function in your mind. However, they can be changed and transformed.

Impatience: Impatience is one of the most common and powerful forms of resistance. It occurs when a person wants the rewards or destination of the change process but wants to do something other than the specific work necessary to achieve a state of wisdom. Impatience is based on a solid allegiance to immediate or instant gratification as a way to live life. The solution is to practice patience in all of your daily affairs.

Not following Suggestions: Suggestions are ideas or thoughts from another person designed to assist you in your journey from knowledge to wisdom. Resistance occurs when you do not accept or openly refuse to consider the ideas and thoughts given by another individual to help you successfully travel the road from knowledge to wisdom. The solution is to follow all of the suggestions of your therapist and sponsor without question.

Procrastination: Procrastination is a powerful form of resistance in that the individual constantly puts off doing what he knows he needs to do for his well-being and transformation. Procrastination is continually avoiding the vital work necessary to change one's life. One place where procrastination has shown up is with the implementation of the Daily Health Plan. Procrastination is about believing that you do not deserve the change and transformation. The solution is to know or be aware that you are procrastinating but do what you resist anyway.

Creating Excuses: Excuses are seemingly compelling thoughts and ideas that stop a person from doing the work of transformation. Excuses will initially appear to the person as valid reasons to do or not do something another person has suggested to help them transform their lives. Excuses are used to stop a person from carrying out his Daily Health Plan. The solution is when you become aware of the excuse preventing you from doing what you initially planned, do what you had initially planned.

While it is essential to occasionally ask yourself if you are resisting change, if you think you might be resisting the work necessary to transform your life in a healthy way, it is equally important to ask another person. While it is essential to have this insight yourself, you may also want to ask your therapist or a trusted critic if they detect any resistance patterns you may be running or using to avoid change. Sometimes, another person can see our "blind spots" much better than we can and, in the process, help us to move past them.

Dr. Harry Henshaw