the WAR of ART

re-opened this book today

and it blew me away

it even helped my cardio sesh fly by!!!

the book will speak for itself

i would like to recommend it all to you as your creative bible........

by Steven Pressfield

the main focus is Resistance, in any part of our lives

we restist the things that matter the most, they things that we are most passionate about

we resist our destiny, because we want things to be easy

why is it that not everyone has the same opportunities or "breaks"

because most people arent willing to do the work

they are too busy with their life of procrastination they have created for themselves

HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE HIGHLIGHTS

RESISTANCE's goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill. Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give and that no one else has but us. When we fight it, we are in the war to the death.

PROCRASTINATION can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off until our deathbed. In this very moment we can change our lives. There was never a moment, & never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. In this second we can choose.

RESISTANCE & TROUBLE: We get ourselves into trouble because it is the cheap way to get attention. Trouble is a faux form of fame. It's easier to get busted in the bedroom with the faculty chairman's wife than it is to be admired for finishing that dissertation. Ill health is a form of trouble, as are alcoholism and drug addiction, proneness to accidents, all neurosis including compulsive screwing-up, and such seemingly benign foibles as jealousy, chronic lateness, and the blasting of rap music at 110 dB from your smoked glass '95 supra. Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain free or artificial means in a manifestation of Resistance.

RESISTANCE & UNHAPPINESS: Resistance first feels like unhappiness. We feel like hell. A low grade misery pervades everything. We're bored, we're restless. We can't get no satisfaction. There's guilt but we can't put our finger on the source. We want to go back to bed; we want to get up and party. We feel unloved and unlovable. We're disgusted. We hate our lives. We hate ourselves. Unalleviated, Resistance mounts to a pitch that becomes unendurable. At this point vices kick in. Dope, adultery, web surfing. Beyond that, Resistance becomes clinical. Depression, aggression, dysfunction. Then actual crime & physical self-destruction.

i dont know if everyone reaches this point, but i have. routinely i would revisit these feelings and let them get the best of me. until i took myself out of the equation. i changed the focus to my career, and what i can do to change other's perceptions of themselves. since then, i have been offered opportunity after opportunity and am happier than i have ever been. it isnt just about me anymore. it isnt about the fight. it is about the climb. cause i know i am going to get there, i dont care how hard it is. i know that when i get to the top i will celebrate & then it is on to the next. TRUST YOURSELF, KEEP YOUR EYES UP AND PUSH PUSH PUSH

CRITICISM: if you find yourself criticizing other people, you're probably doing it out of Resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own. Those who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement.

SUPPORT: Any support we get from persons of flesh & blood is like Monopoly money; it's not legal tender in that sphere where we have to do our work.

WE HAVE TO DO THE WORK, NO ONE CAN DO IT OR PUSH US TO DO IT. IF THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT FOR YOUR LIFE, IT IS YOUR LIFE TO LIVE.

"it's one thing to lie to ourselves. it is another thing to believe it."

dig deep to find your inner ALPHA and let the games begin

tomorrow i will read more, and be even more inspired......