Pushing through the Resistance

Do you know the feeling when you are tired physically and mentally and your body and mind are trying to convince you of all the reasons not to do something but your heart and your soul urge you to show up and to be disciplined and stay committed?

That feeling of overcoming the excuses, ignoring the tired, cop out complaints - powering through the depressed mind set because the joy of engagement is beyond the comparative suffering of anticipation or even the strain required, knowing once you get lost in the process, time and space become irrelative. This voice of resistance pipes up for me when I should be exercising more, journaling regularly & even getting myself to weekly band practice. It is not always trying to talk me out of things I don’t want to do, so very often it’s the “devil” on my shoulder trying to get me to sacrifice doing something I love. The greatest personal reward comes when you do what you set out to do you and ignore the temptations to quit. We push the boundaries of time and space with our creative intentions. It seems like you can lose track of time & even ease physical discomfort because your mind is free from its limits when you’re wrapped up in the act of creating and doing what you love.

Tonight is a night that I’m powering through and connecting to the euphoric pleasure, let’s call it Bliss; the extreme gratitude and delight that one gets from just showing up & when we can just Be. Despite feeling physically and mentally drained, I overrode my ego trying to derail me & drove through a severe weather storm warning, so we could work out our set for an open mic next Tuesday. Knowing if I just got myself there I would be glad I did. On the drive, I imagine my copilot is creative Muse “Marge” who takes charge & powers through, and Ganesha, backseat driving, Remover of all obstacles, always a welcome companion when needing to clear the way.

Thanks to Bob‘s innate musical genius and drive, with one guitar and a capo, he could play four of our songs (written in different keys) and we started working on a new one “Walking Bag Blues” it starts out by tapping into how I was feeling: “ain’t no rest for the weary, no safe port in a storm. Lord knows my burden is heavy. Lord come lighten my load.”

My load does feel slightly lighter just because I could lose myself in the creative process and get caught up in a melody. We worked on a version of a Stone’s tune in a new key that felt great to belt out & be reminded of too, “...can’t always get what you want but you get what you need.“.

Tonight I’m thankful for a heart that insists that I keep showing up, for Bob’s talent with all things with strings and for us always getting what we need.

What are you thankful for?