This could become a habit. Read Hopeful Notes from Howie J and let his inspiration ignite my thinking to inspire my writing.

See, here’s the thing about my morning write. I do not generally come to the blank screen with a pre-conceived idea of what is going to fill the page. In fact, sometimes, I’ll be clearer on what I’m not going to write about than what I am going to write about — which always makes me smile when the ‘not’ turns into the very subject I’ve been resisting writing about.

Howie J calls it, “The Resistance Habit”. Our human tendency to resist anything that we perceive as uncomfortable, hard or irritating. Like paying bills, emptying the dishwasher, picking up the phone and calling that person you’ve been avoiding…

Avoidance strengthens fear.

Seriously. It’s true. When we avoid doing something we know we need to do, the little reptilian part of our brain says, “Whew! That avoidance feels good. Let’s do it again!” And so, when we go to do it, that little reptile guy says, “Oh no! Remember that feeling of relief you felt last time when you didn’t do that? It felt better not to do than to do so let’s feel better again. Let’s not do it!”

And being the path of least resistance beings that we are, (sometimes we even tell ourselves our survival depends upon it) we don’t do it. And the neural pathways of ‘not doing’ grow stronger. In fact, the brain secretes a chemical that actually re-enforces the feelings of ‘that felt good to not do’ thus intensifying our resistance and fear of doing!

Honest. It’s scientifically proven. Avoidance strengthens fear. And all our thinking in the world, won’t change our fear of doing what we fear. We must take action.

As the amazing Jodi Aman says in her blogpost, The Evolutionary Roots of Fear, we cannot think our way out of fear. We can act our way out of it though.

Which begs the question, Why don’t I just act out against fear instead of acting out — because I know acting out through avoidance also increases stress in my life!

Which always leads me to running around, making excuses, feeling less than, feeling harried as I run around, faster and faster, trying to catch balls dropping everywhere.

I am learning.

To avoid fear I must do the things I fear doing.

Otherwise, I’m thinking about what I fear more than what I’m doing — and living without being conscious of my doing is unhealthy for me.

Like most of us, I fear change. Yet, as a boss of mine long ago used to say, “Change is here to stay.”

I’m in this game of life for the long run. May as well embrace change and give up fearing it.

Or at least acknowledge my fear of change creates ripples of unease in my world when I let it lead me into avoiding doing the things I know I need to do to live this one wild and precious life in the rapture of now.

Like the small things of everyday living. When I avoid doing them, they become larger things on my horizon. My excuses grow and I become mired in the muddy waters of all my thinking telling me “I should”, I would if…, I can’t. I don’t have time. I don’t have the energy. I don’t….

If avoidance strengthens fear — Taking action strengthens my integrity.

Letting go of  my excuses, I breathe into my power to create more of what I want in my life. And in that place of possibility, skies clear and I become clearer on living up to my higher good, acting out from my highest intention, not my fears.

Taking action makes my dreams grow.

I get it. To weaken my Resistance Habit, I need to strengthen my capacity to take action by letting courage draw me out of my fears.

Cool. To live my dreams I must underfeed my fears through inviting courage to engage my body, mind and spirit in the action of living my dreams!

I like that circle of possibility!

Here’s to living today free of avoidance rising into fear.

Here’s to living my dreams!

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And in the spirit of taking action — check out my daily cleanse — I’m posting photos everyday of the things I’m clearing out of my home — KISS my life.

AND

I’m writing a poem a day to stretch my creative muscle. I’m also taking a photo a day on my iPhone to inspire my creativity and posting it on, The Poetry Affair.