Try as we may to go with the flow, be open to change, look on the bright side of things and “just keep swimming” we are still human and, as such, likely to find ourselves mired in resistance at various times in our life. As with any experience in life, there are both positive and negative aspects of resistance. Recognizing when that force is beneficial or not is the key to using it when necessary and letting go when it is holding you back.

Resistance can be a tremendous asset when needed to help your physical body fight off and overcome detrimental bacteria, viruses or challenges to the autoimmune system. Resistance plays an important role in strength training and building muscle.

Resistance can also be a powerful communication tool between spirit and body when recognized as such. When the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and you instantly resist the advances of someone, this can be an intuitive read of the less than positive intentions of that individual.

However, this communication tool can be hindered or interfered with when your intuition is negated or invalidated and you are told that you are wrong, that there is nothing negative about this energy being put in your space to help guide you in the “correct” direction, that it’s being given to you for your own good.

We have all experienced this at some time or other and the effect of this kind of untruth that is counter-intuitive to your information ranges from mild – “Eat your broccoli, it’s good for you” – to severe “You made me angry so it’s your fault that I hit you”.

When something that doesn’t resonate with you, or is not true for you is put in your space with the picture that it is THE truth, that energy creates confusion in your ability to trust your intuition and the instinct to resist and fight off or reject that lie becomes stuck in your space.

Someone attempting to be senior to you, have authority over you and control your path will wish to convince you that resistance is futile, that it will only serve to hurt you in the long run – just concede and you will be OK.

This is when, instead of speaking up, saying no, taking a stand, changing direction or running for the hills, you become frozen.

The confusion created by energy in one form or another superseding your own information, scrambles your intuition and can result in you resisting something or someone when you don’t need to, or not resisting when it would be beneficial to you.

Similarly, when illness or injury are seen as negatives as is the current trend in our culture, there is a tendency to resist when we have to stop for a moment. We fight against being ill or injured and get angry with ourselves because we have succumbed to the virus that is going around, or because we fell and injured a part of our body.  This can actually interfere with your body’s natural healing process.

So many scenarios put resistance in a negative light, something you have to get out of as soon as possible, and this can take away from or invalidate the positive aspects of resistance necessary for your health and wellbeing.

The next time you find yourself in resistance to someone or something, stop for a moment and consider what or who is the source of that resistance and whether it is beneficial for you to resist or whether you would be better off letting it go.

You might be surprised at what you learn. At the very least, you will be opening the door to clearer communication with your body – that in itself is a positive step towards self-healing.