Don't resist, just accept.
Powerful Carl Jung Philosophy
Have you ever noticed that the more you resist something, the bigger it becomes? Whether it's a bad habit, a negative thought, or a looming deadline, resistance often seems to amplify the very thing you want to avoid.
When you push against these unwanted feelings or behaviors, trying to ignore or suppress them, they don't just disappear. Instead, they gain power and persist, much like the "Red Car" effect. The harder you try to forget a Red Car, the more you think about it. Resistance keeps unwanted thoughts at the forefront of your mind.
Carl Jung, the influential psychologist, famously said,
“What you resist not only persists but will grow in size.”
In other words, resistance creates tension and keeps your focus locked on what you want to avoid, making it seem bigger and more powerful than it truly is.
Think of your mind as an iceberg. The conscious part above the surface is where you make choices and control your thoughts. Below the surface lies the vast unconscious, filled with emotions, memories, and primal urges. When you resist something, you push it down into the unconscious, where it doesn't just vanish—it festers and grows.
The unconscious mind doesn’t understand denial. When you resist something, you're actually giving it more power in your unconscious mind.
What to do, then?
So, what's the alternative to this losing battle of resistance? Jung suggests acceptance. Acknowledge your feelings, thoughts, and experiences without judgment. Let them roll in, observe them calmly, and let them recede. By doing so, you detach your emotional energy from them.
With acceptance, you gain clarity and control. You can observe your resistance, understand why it's there, and choose to move on. The resistance might still exist, but it no longer drives you.
Letting Go…
Ignoring emotional distress or anxiety only makes it worse. It lingers and grows until you're forced to confront it. Suppressing what you need to express leads to tension that eventually explodes. Instead, make time for those difficult conversations and speak your truth. This can heal relationships or bring closure, but resisting only prolongs the inevitable.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate,” - Jung
Accepting and exploring the darkness within allows you to understand its source and transform it.
When you stop resisting, you free up mental space for things that truly matter. You become proactive instead of reactive, seeing things for what they are, not what you fear them to be. This shift empowers you to choose action over avoidance and opens up new possibilities.
Next time you feel the urge to resist, ask yourself, “Is this helping or hindering?” and “What can I do about this?” Move with the flow, not against it, and you might be surprised by how much smoother life becomes.
Jung wisely noted, “I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”
With that thought, I hope this write up helps you. Thanks for reading! This is Avdhoot, aka Read Travel Become