3rd Invitation -- Resist Nothing

Reading and study – Setting Your Heart on Fire, p. 73-101 

When life doesn’t meet our expectations, we resist, helping lock unwanted circumstances more tightly in place.  Our mental resistance can pervade every waking hour, keeping us in shutdown mode.  Cushnir describes resistance and unconditional acceptance in pages 73-76.

Personal standards:  Reviewing our list of personal standards highlights the resistance they can cause.  Pages 79-81 show us how to look for self-created standards.  Create a list of your own top ten standards, then rank them in terms of importance and the role they play in your life.  Do you find value judgments?  Are value judgments as useful as valid self-criticism?

Resistant thoughts:  Resistant thoughts can’t survive without a fight; once we accept them, are robbed of their power.  Acceptance involves becoming aware of the thought and welcoming it completely.  As you read pages 82-84, bring to mind a recent resistant thought run amok.  Could acceptance have created a different feeling? 

Constructive self-assessment:  Harmful self-criticism can become helpful observation through refocusing, discussed on pages 85-87.  Do the exercise on page 86, using another example of resistant thinking.  Is this exercise helpful in learning to refocus without judgment?

Questioning our core beliefs:  Core beliefs hide beneath the beliefs and standards we’ve been examining; questioning them will lessen their power.  Review our “top ten” list to explore our motivating core beliefs.  Use the exercise on page 89 to see what you find.  Can you now accept yourself “at your worst” on the road to becoming your best?

Discernment vs. resistance:  Accepting things just as they are enables us to distinguish between resistance and discernment.  Pages 93-95 help us explore resistance to others. Try exploring the arena of your family and close friends; remember to give yourself total permission to let resistant thoughts appear.  Are there core beliefs to challenge?  Cushnir tells us resistance holds a negative charge while discernment carries little or no charge.  Can you think of instances you’ve used discernment, rather than resistance, to navigate through life?

Accepting the Third Invitation:

To the best of my current and evolving ability, I resolve to:

• Review my personal standards
• Accept resistant thoughts one at a time
• Refocus unconstructive self-criticism
• Subject my core beliefs to inquiry
• Embrace people just the way they are
• Release my resistance to the world
• Free myself from numbing ideas