Why am I stressing so ferociously this ideal of a rigorous, internally-generated and internally-sustained warrior-like self-awareness and self-discipline?
Because we are in a war, you and I. The enemy is inside each of us.
Here’s a quote from my rabbi, Mordecai Finley, from a conversation that I taped on the Fourth of July a few years ago. Rabbi Finley and I were talking over breakfast about the true nature of the human psyche.
Here’s what he said:
“There is a second self inside you—an inner, shadow Self. This self doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t love you. It has its own agenda, and it will kill you. It will kill you like cancer. It will kill you to achieve its agenda, which is to prevent you from actualizing your Self, from becoming who you really are. This shadow self is called, in the Kabbalistic lexicon, the yetzer hara. The yetzer hara, Steve, is what you would call Resistance.”
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
Patronu aradığında sürekli hasta olduğunu söyleyerek iş yerine yalan söylüyor
porno hikaye Patronu artık bu kadarının gerçek olamayacağını ve rapor görmek istediğini dile getirip telefonu kapatıyor
türbanlı Olgun kadın hemen bilgisayarının başına geçip özel bir doktor buluyor ve onu arayarak evine davet ediyor
porno Muayene için eve gelen doktor olgun kadını muayene ediyor ve hiç bir sıkıntı olmadığını söylüyor
brazzers porno Sarışın ablamız ise iş yerine rapor götürmesi gerektiğini bu yüzden rapor yazmasını istiyor
brazzers porno fakat doktor bunun pek mümkün olmadığını dile getiriyor
sex hikayeleri Daha sonra evli olan bu kahpe doktora iş atarak ona yavşıyor ve istediğini alana kadar durmuyor
Porno İzle Karılarını takas etmek isteyen elemanlar hep birlikte evde buluşuyor
türkçe porno Güzel vakit geçirdikten sonra kızlara isteklerini iletiyorlar ve hatunlarda kocalarının bu isteklerini kabul ediyorlar
seks hikayeleri Hemen ellerine telefonları alan elemanlar karılarına video eşliğinde sakso çektiriyorlar
porno izle Hiç beklemeden sikişe geçen elemanlar hatunları değiştire değiştire sikmeye başlıyorlar.
Patronu aradığında sürekli hasta olduğunu söyleyerek iş yerine yalan söylüyor
porno hikaye Patronu artık bu kadarının gerçek olamayacağını ve rapor görmek istediğini dile getirip telefonu kapatıyor
türbanlı Olgun kadın hemen bilgisayarının başına geçip özel bir doktor buluyor ve onu arayarak evine davet ediyor
porno Muayene için eve gelen doktor olgun kadını muayene ediyor ve hiç bir sıkıntı olmadığını söylüyor
brazzers porno Sarışın ablamız ise iş yerine rapor götürmesi gerektiğini bu yüzden rapor yazmasını istiyor
brazzers porno fakat doktor bunun pek mümkün olmadığını dile getiriyor
sex hikayeleri Daha sonra evli olan bu kahpe doktora iş atarak ona yavşıyor ve istediğini alana kadar durmuyor
Porno İzle Karılarını takas etmek isteyen elemanlar hep birlikte evde buluşuyor
türkçe porno Güzel vakit geçirdikten sonra kızlara isteklerini iletiyorlar ve hatunlarda kocalarının bu isteklerini kabul ediyorlar
seks hikayeleri Hemen ellerine telefonları alan elemanlar karılarına video eşliğinde sakso çektiriyorlar
porno izle Hiç beklemeden sikişe geçen elemanlar hatunları değiştire değiştire sikmeye başlıyorlar.
The war within ourselves is a daily battle. Steve, thank you for the guidance.
I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but do a little search and find that (in this world of duality; light/dark, yin/yang, Shiva/Shakti), the yetzer hara has a counterpart: yetzer hatov. “Good intentions,” which balances the evil intents of yetzer hara.
Appreciate these Wednesday posts.
Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Psalm 4:4
In the realm of my own individual infighting, I found it useful to cast all my inner voices as members of a personal board of directors. Two memorable characters were The Artist and Fear, amongst many others. I first recognized that The Artist had taken a back seat. For most of my life he had no say at all as to how I’d spend my time. Mr. Responsibility had the head seat at the table, and he was loud. Fear echoed most of what he had to say, so there wasn’t much room for anyone else. Pleasure was pissed at most of the meetings, and he pretty much didn’t give a shit what anyone else had to say. He was going to do what he was going to do when he wanted to do it. He was smart enough to let the others perform their tasks during most days so he could have his time later. When I awoke to the reality of the Board, I immediately recognized that a voice I loved wasn’t getting any air time. The Artist was neglected. And worse, completely ignored.
It took seeing that to make the necessary changes for me to flourish artistically. Imagining The Board is one of many ways a person can interact with themselves in a healthy and sometimes fun way. Since giving The Artist an equal say in my life, I’ve made music and writing a regular part of life, unapologetically. He’s created boundaries that those in my most intimate circle have no power to cross, if they were so tempted. And he has led me to most of my favorite moments in life.
Life began to feel better, so I stopped holding the meetings. I hadn’t yet learned not to let an epiphany lose its reiterative effects and that “truth is not continuous…it can be seen only from moment to moment…Truth is always new, therefore timeless. (Krishnamurti). I took years to notice that The Artist was not the only neglected voice. Once he got his way, he was content and didn’t feel the need to assert himself as much. A toxic balance set in as if all were well, and the decline began. Fear and Mr. Responsibility adapted to the larger say of The. Artist, but others remained in the shadows – Others like Mr. Quality-of-Life, Mr. Common Sense and Mr. Practical. And so another iteration began with questions.
Why do I work from that location?
Why do I spend time doing this when I can be doing that?
How is this decision effecting my spirit, mind and body?
And so on…
Those intentional board meetings changed the way I made choices. It lead to harmony moment to moment, in place of the stagnation, purposelessness and those “fuck-it” moments I’d often cave to when Mr. Soothe-me screamed the loudest.
For what it’s worth, this is one way to commune with your own heart. And I’m sure the psalmist wouldn’t mind if you did it on a hike or in a coffee shop rather than on your bed.
In the christian tradition, John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. KJV There was a guy in the Bible named Legion who had a 1000 demons, he was bat shi’t crazy and Jesus prayed and the demons attached themselves to a bunch of pigs and they were cast into the ocean. He was totally restored. Bottom line, if we believe in Jesus we have the authority to cast demons out.
Praise Yah
Down with the Yetzer Harra.
Glad to have one more name for it.
It is an ancient enemy, known by many names.
Thanks for the continued inspiration on Wednesdays, Steve! It matters more than you might know.
Thank you so much dear Steve.
I would so much like the warrior within to be a mix of Maximus (Russell Crowe) from Gladiator, who was both relentless and believed in great ideals, and Ghandhi perhaps, or such a caring figure who would fight in other ways of light. And in the hard times – no, better said, against the bad folks out there (inside us I consider all ourselves a mix, not plain bad, even good if well guided or appropriately used by us, so I wouldn’t send Odysseus with his stiff-necked ways against those fragile bad-asses), I would also like that avatar to be Odysseus who was uncunningly resourceful but in hammering ways, destroying whole cities with a thought.
Shadows and dust <3
Yasher Koach, let’s roll!
❤️
(you have helped me on so many occasions—thank you for this blog as well)