Working regularly with (not struggling against) the resistance of your mind builds inner strength.  At the same time you are also developing patience and practicing being non-judgemental.

Letting Everything
Become Your Teacher
100 Lessons in Mindfulness
Page 60
Jon Kabat-Zinn

Do NOT struggle.  It is when you struggle, when you resist that you find yourself growing weak, tired, angry.  Life is not meant to wear you down.  Life should be a joyful experience.  How do you work WITH the resistance of your mind? Isn’t that a contradiction?  How do you work WITH resistance?  Isn’t the idea to rid your mind of resistance?  Now someone is telling us to work with it?  Initially, I felt a bit put off by this too.

After giving it some thought however, I realize that the ONLY way to discard the resistance you’re feeling is to embrace it then let it go.  And it is important that every time you feel as if you’re resisting something, stop and focus on what the challenge is that is causing you to resist.  If you can, gather the resistance up and REALLY look at it in a heartfelt manner, then turn it over to the Divine, To God To Source.  Let it go.  That’s how you build strength.

You don’t build strength by fighting the challenge.
You don’t build strength by continuing to resist.
You don’t build strength by struggling.

You build strength by letting go.
You build strength by being compassionate.
You build strength by listening to your heart.

Remember Wayne Dyer’s mantra:
Row your boat DOWN the stream.

Stop resisting and start letting go.

How does this develop patience?
If you realize that when you’re struggling, when you’re resisting, it is only causing inner turmoil and if you can pivot, and make the decision to change your reaction to the particular event that is causing the stress, and if you understand that you can’t do anything to change that the event is happening, then you can eventually see that it is your reaction to the event, NOT the event itself that is the root of your stress.  Hopefully, the NEXT time or MAYBE the NEXT time AFTER the NEXT time you’re in the middle of a storm you can say:
Ahhhh, I’ve been here before.  Now I know how to change my reaction.

If you can change course in the middle of whatever is happening, you’ll develop that patience, realizing that you won’t be in the storm forever.  Everything changes.  That is where the patience comes from, understanding that change happens and being able to ride out whatever is occurring at a particular time in your life.

There is no right or wrong.
There is no good or bad.

What’s happening is merely change.
Change doesn’t know good from bad or right from wrong.

The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can move forward.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris