2009 07 26

There are types of Attention.

Step into (or out of) the land of the Imagined Resistance. A scary place, believed to be real, hidden in a fog of unknown fear.

            Fear of something unknown? How can there be fear in an area that by definition I don’t know?

Fear of something? Fear of nothing?

            Garden-variety fear. Free floating, it’s in the air, caught it from a toilet seat, came off a doorknob fear.

More important than a goal, a project, happiness, compassion, or success fear.

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound fear.

            Fear of being stupid and wrong.

            Fear of embarrassment.

            This is the unslewable Dragon.

            This is the I can never win, never change, Never, Neverland of Captain Hook entrapping my friends to endure my suffering.

            For God’s sake USE your imagination!

            It’s Don Quixote waving at windmills, while Poncho is TOO BUSY to help his partner.

            It’s the great obsessive-compulsive, bi-polar behavior of the 21^st century, the ‘I’m stuck’, then ‘great release’ slingshot epiphany of the savior insight.

The seminar junkie’s delight. The I’m a sinner, no a saint, no a sinner, no a saint, it ain’t me-‘isms’.

            Here’s a recipe for concocting Imagined Resistance into a happiness destroying, enlightenment stopping fear. You’ll need the following ingredients; a mishmash of beliefs about time-usually lack of, energy-usually lack of, borrow some laziness-because I’m not lazy, get a large vat of ‘whatever’, season with blame, excuses, because(s), why not(s), I can’t(s), add your favorite addictions-TV, drugs, alcohol, sex, sports, politics, drama, being right, then find a large oven, with a very heavy door and climb in like Hansel or Gretel, close your eyes, and imagine the worst, and then resist the cooking of your own creation.

            One antidote to imagined resistance is real resistance. Show up, step up, call, knock, ask, or just do it-come on you can do it-it’s not gonna kill ya. After all what is the worst that can happen?

            Another antidote is not believing in resistance. If you must believe, and I love it when my attention is so FREE I don’t need to create beliefs, but what about the belief, no resistance, only feedback? Mere bumps on the freeway of life.

            What about upgrading imagining into a useful tool toward the goal.

I can imagine that everyone is on my side.

I can imagine I have the patience to complete.

I can imagine I have all the _______________________ I need to succeed.

I can imagine miracles.

For God’s sake USE your imagination!

So visit The Checking Inn, get a room with a view, and see what’s outside the window.