Due to the current state of the economy and some changes made by some of my clients, I have had to open my mind to thinking about different approaches to my business and work. And though I have often made major changes in my life often and eagerly, this time I have experienced a difficult degree of resistance.

Resistance is a particularly difficult feeling for me to deal with because it is an expression of fear and I have been very much working towards living my life without fear. I think I'm succeeding and then I find that there is this pocket of fear I haven't eliminated, merely suppressed and now it has escaped and bubbled up bigger and bolder in this form. And, even better, it doesn't just come up when I'm alone and gazing at my navel but in conversations with others about different subjects and I inexplicably turn into a blubbering or angry nonsensical babbler. Fun!

But as is often the case, what works is to go back to basics and recognize my crazy for what it is, let it go and then go myself. Change may be scary but change I must and changing I have been with positive results. I have found a couple of approaches helpful to resisting resistance. First imagine all the horrible worst case scenarios that could happen if you did whatever it is that you are resisting. Let your mind and imagination go as wild as possible but writing it down helps it seem as absurd as these fears often are. Next, brainstorm every idea you can come up with for how you can make the change and how you can avoid or minimize any realistic fears.

Thinking about my experience of resistance reminds me that I am unlikely to be alone in feeling this and sure enough, I found several bloggers talking about how they are recognizing and working through resistance.

Jennifer at Ginger Lime observes:

So day by day I'm challenging my resistance to change...my resistance to being fully alive and the vunerability that comes with not hiding behind facades and pretenses. I'll stop there, but with such a heavy thought process I feel I owe whoever reads this some ninjas and chuckie tennis shoes

Julia of Ffynnonweb guest posts at Corvida's blog, SheGeeks, about "Resistance To Change Online And Techniques To Overcome It"

A recent case study that I undertook as part of my social media research project, provided evidence to back up the suggestion that resistance to change is by no means confined to employees within business organizations. Although much of the literature related to change and the successful management thereof, is primarily focused upon organizational change, many of the lessons and implications can be equally well applied to changes in all aspects of life including that of online communication.

Trisha of Ideas For Women News Blog is reviewing the book Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny. In Part 7 Trisha writes:

Fear has always been my biggest problem with everything.

Barbara says “feel the fear, endure the discomfort, observe the resistance, and go for it anyway”.

I’ve been trying that, but it isn’t always easy.

Your Magic Wanda has this reassuring advice:

Resistance just seems to happen. You don’t consciously decide to resist. It’s just that unconsciously you are trying to control everything. When you stop trying to control resistance, it will go away.

1. Notice how you feel, it’s your emotions, your feelings that tell you whether or not you’re walking the right path.
2. Let it be okay-the resistance is a learned behavior, you can unlearn it. Allow whatever is going to happen, happen. Allowing is one of the rules of the Law of Attraction.

Changes in your growth are part of life. Look for the gift on the other side of upheaval. It’s there.

As Wanda also notes in her post, resistance is something we learn young. Stacey at Home and Family also finds that resistance can manifest in childhood with toilet training.

Michele Bergh at More Reflections from Infinite Light finds that resistance can manifest in physical pain:

There's a fear that comes up about the unknown. Sometimes it feels safer to stick with what we know even though it's uncomfortable. Because of this, resistance often creeps up. It shows its ugly head in a variety of ways. For me, I've developed a really bad headache, and although it was real and hurt like heck, I knew that was because I was resistant to something coming up. I've also felt like I'm too busy and I just don't have time to do something. In reality we always make time for things that we're open to.

Pam Slim at Escape from Cubicle Nation asks "How do you know which of your inner voices to trust?" In the post she wonders "Why do we get so anxious when we are headed in the right direction?" To answer this question she quotes author Steven Pressfield and his book The War of Art:

Remember our rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.

Jackie Young at Jackie Young Writes is evolving and taking the path of most resistance (yes, you read that correctly - I'll let her explain):

Sometimes it’s the right thing to do but lately, I’ve been challenging my “path of least resistance” mentality. And I realize that, in some instances, in order for me to truly make progress, to be successful in reaching my goals, I have to take “the path of MOST resistance”. The one that has the obstacles - real or imagined.

I’ve learned that my “comfort zones” can sometimes get TOO comfortable. That in order to really reach my highest intention in this life, I have to be willing to be uncomfortable — “COMFORTABLY UNCOMFORTABLE” ....

Bottom line? It’s a risk. This “thing” I’m resisting. It’s a very risky situation. But life itself is a risk. And there are no guarantees so I can either chuck my resistance, my fears, my “comfort zone” mentality, dive into the situation up to my neck and trust that things will work out just as they’re supposed to. OR…I can continue to give my time, energy and focus to what I DON’T want, fight against myself and live to regret not having taken a chance at what I really want.

Do you struggle with resistance? Have you found strategies for overcoming this fear? Please share with us in the comments.

BlogHer CE Maria Niles channels her inner Effie and sings "I Am Changing" at her blog (where she isn't really) Beyond Help.