CoffeeDrinker
Bluelighter
I just started reading this book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and it's directed towards creative types who suffer from a seemingly endless supply of self-doubt and block. But I realized as I was reading this that it could easily apply to anyone trying to achieve a greater place in life. He delves deep into the mind sets that people with these problems have. How the enemy, whom he calls "The Resistance," is a tireless force of nature basically, and it doesn't care who you are, or what you want to do, all it wants to do is defeat you and create chaos. It's not necessarily evil, and it's nothing personal, it's just an opposing force that every human must face down every time they try to go from a lower road to a higher road.
Here's a few excerpts that I think could easily apply to the addict's mindset:
It talks about how "Resistance" comes in many different forms, but it always has one goal, to prevent self-improvement. The seeking of support often is the most insidious form of this because instead of support for a person to get better, the support often acts validation that the problems are severe and that pity should be bestowed upon a person, no matter what form that support takes. The words of comfort could do more to block a person's progress than anything. They are like taking painkillers when you have a broken bone when you really need a person to reset the bone, suddenly and jarringly.
The thing I most like about this book is that it doesn't preach, and it doesn't focus on addiction at all. The whole goal of the book is to get you to better yourself and find your true calling in life as a creative person, whether it's writing, starting a business, doing art, sticking with a new diet, staying in school, or any other form of delayed gratification. It brushes on addiction, but doesn't see addiction as the root of any problem. It simply sees addiction as one of many pitfalls that a person can go through in this life.
Here's a really crazy thing to think about:
It talks about how going from a low road to an even lower road is NEVER met with resistance. This is why it's so inevitable that once a person becomes desperately addicted to something they find it easier and easier to do increasingly under-handed things in order to fuel that addiction. "Resistance" only seems to act in one direction: going from low to high. And because of this fact, you can often tell which things in your life are the most worthwhile, and which things are the most worthless, by the amount of "resistance" you face in achieving them.
This book is very cheap, less than a dimebag. And you can even download a free copy of it through torrents. And it could be just the kick in the ass a struggling person needs. I only just started reading it but I immediately thought of The Dark Side, and wanted to share it with people. It comes from someone who not only has been there himself and came out successfully on the other side, but has seen first hand how this internal enemy has defeated many of his friends and colleagues. In my opinion what makes this book SO helpful for people in The Dark Side is its focus not on the dangers of addiction, or any of that crap, but on the most basic drive of ANY addict or person struggling: Instant gratification.
I didn't want to put this in Words, even if book recommendations have a thread there, because I wanted the majority of users of this site to see this thread and hear about this book.
Here's a few excerpts that I think could easily apply to the addict's mindset:
It talks about how "Resistance" comes in many different forms, but it always has one goal, to prevent self-improvement. The seeking of support often is the most insidious form of this because instead of support for a person to get better, the support often acts validation that the problems are severe and that pity should be bestowed upon a person, no matter what form that support takes. The words of comfort could do more to block a person's progress than anything. They are like taking painkillers when you have a broken bone when you really need a person to reset the bone, suddenly and jarringly.
The thing I most like about this book is that it doesn't preach, and it doesn't focus on addiction at all. The whole goal of the book is to get you to better yourself and find your true calling in life as a creative person, whether it's writing, starting a business, doing art, sticking with a new diet, staying in school, or any other form of delayed gratification. It brushes on addiction, but doesn't see addiction as the root of any problem. It simply sees addiction as one of many pitfalls that a person can go through in this life.
Here's a really crazy thing to think about:
It talks about how going from a low road to an even lower road is NEVER met with resistance. This is why it's so inevitable that once a person becomes desperately addicted to something they find it easier and easier to do increasingly under-handed things in order to fuel that addiction. "Resistance" only seems to act in one direction: going from low to high. And because of this fact, you can often tell which things in your life are the most worthwhile, and which things are the most worthless, by the amount of "resistance" you face in achieving them.
This book is very cheap, less than a dimebag. And you can even download a free copy of it through torrents. And it could be just the kick in the ass a struggling person needs. I only just started reading it but I immediately thought of The Dark Side, and wanted to share it with people. It comes from someone who not only has been there himself and came out successfully on the other side, but has seen first hand how this internal enemy has defeated many of his friends and colleagues. In my opinion what makes this book SO helpful for people in The Dark Side is its focus not on the dangers of addiction, or any of that crap, but on the most basic drive of ANY addict or person struggling: Instant gratification.
I didn't want to put this in Words, even if book recommendations have a thread there, because I wanted the majority of users of this site to see this thread and hear about this book.
The perfect spot to let people know about it- I wouldn't have known about it soon enough if it hadn't been threaded here!