It is not always easy to start on a new journey – in fact, the first step is usually the hardest. When it is a journey that many people would consider to be frivolous or pointless, it becomes even harder. We don’t always have someone who will support us through these moments and our own stuff can easily get in the way; whether this is wanting to fit in, feeling unworthy, or any number of a thousand other reasons we might tell ourselves.

We have a simple term for all these potential things added together – resistance. The lower, human parts of us do not much like change and will often do their best to sabotage any efforts we make to bring it about, usually without any sort of conscious direction from us. Whether because of fear, apathy, or simple laziness, the first challenge anyone faces on the road to self-mastery is exactly this – overcoming their resistance enough to take the first step.

Need to get to a class or meeting? “Whoops, forgot to fill the car up with petrol. Oh well, it’ll take too long and I’ll be late, I won’t bother going tonight, I’ll go next week…” And next week there is another excuse, “Oops, I forgot all about it!” Until we get to the point where we have given up on going at all. This is resistance at work, our subconscious working against us to cause us to fail before we even start.

It is, however, pointless to judge these parts of ourselves as being ‘bad’. The subconscious can only follow instructions, it is simply the case that in this instance the instructions it is following are not the most helpful. This is a big part of self-mastery – claiming sovereignty over all parts of ourselves and becoming aware of what’s going on within.

In the short term, it is important to simply be aware that these sorts of unconscious behaviours are likely to present a problem, and to affirm the course of action we intend to take. The simple act of acknowledging that resistance is going to present goes a long way towards reducing it’s impact on you, as you can then recognise it for what it is and move through it. This is the first true test on the road to mastering ourselves fully.

“There are many ways of moving forward, but only one way of standing still.” – Franklin D Roosevelt