Gratitude for the Sources of Your Resistance

Practice of the Week
Give Thanks to the Someone for Your Resistance

First, in your life, what have you resisted that you're now glad or proud you resisted?

• bad advice about how you should live your life
• social or peer pressures to do or be what wasn't right (at least not for you)
• a stultifying pattern, job, or relationship
• a social injustice

Second, recall some particular person or people who made resistance possible for you. Someone

• stood beside you as you stood against the status quo
• helped remind you that the arc really can be bent
• invited you into a vision of an entirely new day
• made you feel like a one of a kind rather than a misfit
• helped you resist the pressures to follow the herd
• picked you up for the protests
• taught the class that opened your eyes
• wrote the poem that inspired you
• made a sacrifice that moved your heart
• showed courage that rubbed off on you
• told you that you were precious
• made you feel like you weren’t in the fight alone

Thank them! That’s it. This week's practice is to find a way to thank them and tell them how they made your resistance possible. Let them know what a gift it was.

By expressing gratitude for the help we had in past resistance, we prepare the way for further resistance:

• against new pressures that aren't right, 
• against deadening patterns that remain or recur
• at a higher level against social injustice.
• to help others find the strength to resist what needs resisting

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