Follow Your Bliss Fears?

Free-lance world photographer David duChemin on his Pixelated Images Blog last week posted a quote from Steven Pressfield in the book The War of Art. He introduced the quote:

Pressfield contends that the greater the fear the greater the indication that the thing of which you are afraid is in fact the thing you really MUST do. Here’s a quote, he’s talking about resistance, but if you assume that fear is often one of the greatest manifestations of resistance in the creative life, it’s a powerful thought:

“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North - meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it”

On Pressfield's website he describes the book

The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself.

From a psychological point of view, it does make some sense. Of course not all our fears are things that we need to do (i.e. spiders and snakes and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night). But if we feel resistance to a call or action or a call to action, it is probably true that our soul is in need.

And come to think of it, maybe we need to stop fearing those things that go bump in the night and allow our souls to shine light into the darkness.