Magick of Thought

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It’s Wednesday, 8:56 am.

Last night, I was looking forward to today’s training. This morning, I woke before 8 without an alarm, ate breakfast, and made sure I was ready to go by 9. And I am.

Except that I’m here, writing this post, instead of training.

I tried to start the training, got my notes in order and everything. Then I stopped. I’d encountered resistance.

I almost started playing video games. But instead, I’m writing this, which is at least a little productive (blog posts count, right?), and with any luck, will help me overcome this resistance.

Looking back in my notes, it’s been about a month since I did serious, focused training, and several months since I had a solid week of training. So, I’m trying to re-start an important but difficult habit that’s seriously fallen off, and I shouldn’t be surprised by resistance.

Let’s plan the session. Often, imagining the entire action will make it easier to do, because when you see that no single step is particularly hard, the project becomes non-threatening. Well, I would call my mentor, ask him to put me in touch with the communication trainers, and ask them to teach me level 2 communication. And that’s where my imagination stops: I have exactly zero idea what’s involved in that. And I feel the resistance rising again.

OK, another approach: I know I can do those first few steps, to contact the communication trainers. So, I’ll ask them what’s involved in learning this, and I’ll give myself permission to pause the training if it’s too much, so I can plan sessions and break the training into manageable bites.

I like this plan. Particularly because I know, from past experience, that I’m unlikely to actually call off the training. But having that option smooths out the resistance, which is what matters most right now. So, now, it’s 9:06 on Wednesday morning, and I’m going to get to work.

Also: Writing a blog post is now on my list of resistance-elimination techniques.

Update, 10:47 am: Having done 2 of my 3 planned training sessions today, I’m enjoying training again. Also, level 2 communication is pretty easy. I’m making a chart of what’s involved in each communication level, and will post that when it’s done.

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Tags: Learning, Resistance

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2012 at 11:29 AM and is filed under Learning Magick. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.