From Resistance to Flow
- Julian x
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
Monday, 8th December 2025
Intention: When I stop fighting the current, I find my peace.
Have you ever watched a river?
I mean really watched one. Not just glanced at it on a walk or driven past it on your way somewhere else. But sat there, perhaps on a cold morning when the mist is still lifting, and just observed how the water moves.
The water doesn't ask permission to flow. It doesn't wonder if it's doing it right. It doesn't stop to check if the rocks ahead might be difficult or if the bend in the river might be uncomfortable. It simply moves. It finds its way around obstacles, over them, through them. And in doing so, it becomes one of the most powerful forces in nature.
Now here's the question I want you to sit with today: When did you stop flowing?
"We come from Spirit and we go back to Spirit. We come from love and we go back to love. And everything in between is this rollercoaster of a human experience."
The Grip We Don't Know We're Holding
Resistance is a funny thing. It rarely announces itself. It doesn't tap you on the shoulder and say, "Hello, I'm here to make your life harder today." No, resistance is far more subtle than that. It shows up as tension in your shoulders that you've stopped noticing. As the way you hold your breath when you check your emails. As the tightness in your jaw when things don't go according to plan.
I learned this the hard way. Years ago, when I was still in the corporate world, I thought resistance was a virtue. I called it determination. Drive. Ambition. I would push through exhaustion, push through illness, push through every signal my body and soul were sending me that something needed to change. And where did it get me? Collapsed in a boardroom having a panic attack, convinced I was dying.
That moment taught me something profound: we cannot fight our way to peace. We cannot resist our way to freedom. The very act of gripping tighter is what keeps us stuck.
Think about it. When you're in water and you panic, what happens? You thrash. You fight. You exhaust yourself. But if you relax, if you trust, if you let go—you float. Your body knows what to do. It's your mind, with all its fear and need for control, that gets in the way.
"Thoughts are real, but they are not true. We are not our thoughts."
Why We Resist
Here's what I've come to understand through years of sitting with myself and with Spirit: resistance is just fear wearing a different costume.
We resist because we're afraid. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of what might happen if we loosen our grip. Afraid that if we stop controlling everything, everything will fall apart. And so we white-knuckle our way through life, exhausting ourselves in the process, wondering why peace feels so elusive.
But here's what fear doesn't want you to know: most of what you're afraid of isn't even real. It hasn't happened. It may never happen. Your mind is thinking about it, yes, but thinking about something doesn't make it reality.
I remember sitting with my psychologist after my father passed, drowning in grief and fear and anxiety. She introduced me to a quote that changed everything for me: "Thousands of things have happened in my life, and some of them actually have." Those words from Jon Kabat-Zinn cracked something open in me. How much of my suffering was happening in my head rather than in reality?
When we recognise that fear is just a thought—powerful, yes, but still just a thought—we begin to see that we have a choice. We can continue to be dragged by our fears, or we can take our attention away from them. We can acknowledge them, hold them gently, and then let them go.
"How could I expect to love others if I could not love myself? To forgive others when I could not forgive myself? How could I even begin to heal others if I did not stop and put myself back together first?"
The Difference Between Giving Up and Letting Go
I need to be clear about something here, because this is where people often get confused. Surrender is not the same as giving up. They might look similar from the outside, but they come from completely different places.
Giving up comes from defeat. From hopelessness. From believing that nothing will ever change so why bother trying.
Surrender comes from trust. From wisdom. From understanding that you are not in control of the universe—and that this is actually good news. Surrender is releasing your grip on how you think things should be, so that you can receive how they actually are.
When I finally surrendered my corporate life and committed fully to working with Spirit, I wasn't giving up on anything. I was letting go of the life that wasn't meant for me, so I could step into the one that was. And let me tell you, that took more courage than any boardroom battle ever did.
"You can never truly surrender if you can't let go of fear. And you cannot fully trust if you have doubts. I invite you to bathe in the beautiful uncertainty of your life."
Trust the Current
Here's what I know to be true: there is a divine plan. Your path is already marked out, even when you can't see where it's leading. Spirit is always guiding you, always supporting you, even—especially—when things feel uncertain.
The question isn't whether you're on the right path. You are. You are here now, reading these words, because you are meant to be here. The question is whether you're going to fight every step of the way, or whether you're going to trust the current and let it carry you where you need to go.
I'm not saying it's easy. Trust me, I know it's not. I've spent enough of my life gripping and controlling and exhausting myself to know how hard it can be to let go. But I've also experienced what happens when we do surrender. When we stop fighting and start flowing. When we hand ourselves over to something greater than our fears.
That's when the magic happens.
"When we let go, we rise."
Questions for Reflection
Before we move into our practice, I want to offer some questions to sit with. Don't rush to answer them. Let them percolate. Let them find their way into your quiet moments.
Where in your life are you resisting what is? What situation or circumstance are you fighting against, wishing it were different?
What would it feel like to accept this moment exactly as it is? Not to give up, but to stop fighting against reality.
What are you afraid might happen if you loosened your grip? And is that fear based in reality, or in thought?
"We breathe through what we cannot walk around."
A Practice: From Resistance to Flow
Now I want to guide you through a simple practice. This is how we begin to release resistance—not by fighting it, but by breathing through it. You can do this wherever you are right now. Give yourself permission to pause.
Close your eyes and sit comfortably.
Place your feet flat on the floor and feel them grounded beneath you.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
As you breathe in, imagine you are inhaling love.
Now exhale slowly through your mouth.
As you breathe out, imagine you are releasing fear.
Inhale love. Exhale fear.
Continue this rhythm for a few breaths.
Now, as you breathe, I want you to notice where you're holding tension. Perhaps it's in your shoulders. Your jaw. Your stomach. Wherever it is, don't judge it. Just notice it. Acknowledge it. And with your next exhale, imagine breathing that tension out of your body.
Breathing in, I acknowledge what I am holding.
Breathing out, I release what no longer serves me.
Now I want you to bring to mind something you've been resisting. A situation. A change. A truth you've been fighting against. Don't force it—let it arise naturally.
Breathing in, I accept this moment as it is.
Breathing out, I surrender my need to control.
Breathing in, I trust the flow of my life.
Breathing out, I find my peace.
Stay here for as long as you need. When you're ready, gently open your eyes and return to the room, carrying this sense of flow with you.
"Be love and give love."
A Final Thought
My dear friends, life is not meant to be a constant battle against the current. You were not put here to exhaust yourself fighting against the natural flow of things. You are here to experience, to grow, to learn, to love.
And sometimes, the most powerful thing you can do is simply stop fighting.
This is not the end. It is only the beginning.
With love,
Julian x
