Slow Sunday: Work Comes Before Inspiration
Resistance's greatest hits and more lessons I learned from The Silent Writing Retreat with Steven Pressfield and Roda Ahmed
The rules were simple for The Silent Writing Retreat: no phones, no speaking.
“Please arrive in silence: This experience begins the moment you walk through the door. We ask that you arrive in silence to protect the space we’re creating together.” The reminder email was clear. “This is a device-free experience. You will be invited to power down your phone upon arrival and place it in a safe, designated area for the duration of the session.”
I found my people.
As someone who designs spaces for depth and connection, it was a rare gift to shift from active host to active participant. To step into a container held with the same care that I often give.
The sun was beginning to set over Santa Monica, peeking through the clouds as I drove west. By the time I arrived at 6:15PM, a line was already forming: couples, boomers, millennials, most carrying a journal and pen in hand. Emptying out their vocal cords before stepping through the retreat portal.
At check-in, I gave them my name and my phone. No awkward fidgeting, no useless scrolling, no anxious chatter. Just a smile and a little internal dialogue.
Inside, the room was arranged classroom-style. The atmosphere was calm. I sank into the stillness, feet grounded, fully present.
Our host, New York Times bestselling author Roda Ahmed, opened the evening with breathwork and gratitude, then introduced our teacher Mr. Steven Pressfield (also a New York Times bestselling author). For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t leading, I was listening deeply.
As I closed my eyes and drifted inward, I reflected on the connectedness of the moment.
The month prior, I had wrapped season 3 of No Small Talk, the conversation club I co-lead with Miriam Tinberg. This season’s theme: “The Art of Endurance: Cultivating Creative Resilience in Uncertain Times.” Each gathering was its own kind of compass, guiding us through the tensions between imagination and interruption, discipline and doubt.
In week two, we zoomed in on resistance. Not as a roadblock, but a mirror. We asked: When does resistance show up? How can you integrate your creativity into the real world and your real life? How can you use constraints as inspiration? We explored the shadow of creativity (procrastination, paralysis, perfectionism) and began the work of becoming an alchemist in our own lives.
When preparing that session, I added this excerpt from Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, at the last minute.
Fast forward three weeks, finding myself in a room with the author, an octogenarian sage offering truths that extended well beyond the pages of his book, was a wink from God.
I’ve been wrestling with my own resistance, stuck in a writing block that has left this space untouched for longer than I care to admit. This gathering wasn’t just another night out, it was the answer to a fervent prayer for breakthrough.
I smiled when Pressfield began, “Start each day with a prayer. Invocation is key”, sharing wisdom passed down from a mentor. He spoke with a calm conviction, evident of someone who’s walked through the fire and come out clearer.
“When it comes to bringing forth ideas,” he said, “it’s not about us.” Then, echoing his mentor once more, “I’m not bringing this forth myself. Spirit is bringing it forth through me.”
I was having déjà vu. I felt the block shifting, and a flow beginning to return.
The class unfolded in three parts:
Invocation
The Goddess is a Working Girl
Principles of Resistance
Each section was paired with a prompt and more silence, a chance to pause, reflect and write. By the end, I had notes, a shifted perspective and a renewed desire to meet the blank page again.
In the spirit of a mantra I live by, Maya Angelou’s “When you get, give. When you learn, teach” I’m sharing the refined version of the notes I scribbled down. I’ve returned to them often as I find my way through this season of resistance.
Save it. Share it. And if The Silent Writing Retreat ever crosses your path, go.
My biggest takeaway from these lessons? Show up. For life, for inspiration, for the divine to meet your doing. The muse will follow your motion.
As always, I pray this blesses who it’s for.
With love and gratitude,
Jennifer Pauline
PART 1: INVOCATION + SPIRITUAL GROUNDING
Begin each day with a prayer. Not to manifest from ego, but to channel something higher.
"I'm not bringing this forth myself, bring it forth through me."
This idea is echoed in Homer's Odyssey, invoking the muse. Whether you call it God, Spirit, or Source, invitation is essential. The creative force needs to be welcomed. As Bob Dylan told Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, inspiration isn't manufactured, it's received.
A short prayer I use: God, what do I need to surrender and what seeds do I need to sow today?
Three Planes of Existence:
1. Material: fear, ego, power, mortal, time-bound, individual (lower)
2. Resistance: the space between (middle)
3. Spiritual: love, soul, empathy, immortal, timeless, collective (upper)
The artist's role is to open the pipeline between the spiritual and material.
Tools to Enter a Spiritual Communication Mindset
Invite spirit in
Start with a ritual: it’s not about the movement or the act, it’s about the commitment (book reference, Twyla Tharp, Creative Habit)
Identify and design your sacred spaces where you can invoke spirit and engage with your ideas/creativity. The goal is to leave your ego behind and step into Self (with a capital S)
This can look like starting with a prayer, practicing gentle breathwork, reading a sacred text, slow movement, limiting sensory stimulation, journaling and reciting mantras.
Prompt: If you could make your own sacred space right now, where would it be-and what time could you commit to showing up?
PART 2: THE GODDESS IS A WORKING GIRL
Robert Greene calls this the “witness brain,” the ability to observe self without becoming ego. Inspiration comes after the work, not before it. You must wear the ego out. Discipline is the door to the muse.
"We all have places in our psyche that we didn't know existed." - Steven Pressfield
From Zen and the Art of Archery, the focus is surrender. True artists learn to show up without attachment.
Amateur vs. Professional:
Amateur: impatient, needs validation, operates from ego ('I don't feel like it')
Professional: patient, secure, process-oriented, self-contained, shows up anyway ('I don't care how I feel,I'm doing it')
Success is the work itself, not the reward.
Prompt: What rituals can help you with stepping into turning pro?
PART 3: RESISTANCE
Steven Pressfield calls it The War of Art (same title as his book). Resistance is the shadow self, an internal saboteur willing to destroy you to survive.
"Resistance is the force that stops us from doing what we ought to do."
It shows up as: procrastination, self-doubt, arrogance, fear, laziness, distraction.
"Massive resistance is a sign of a massive dream unfolding."
Resistance vs. The Muse:
The Muse calls you to create.
Resistance blocks the signal and clogs the body with unexpressed creativity.
Resistance is a function of ego, while creation is a function of self.
Ego: vain, self-obsessed, lazy, corrupt, competitive
Self: loving, brave, kind, empathetic, fearless, irreverent
Mindset: humility, serves God, body is an instrument
Work without attachment is prayer.
"Resistance also gives you a buffet of options that paralyze you-ask yourself: What am I most afraid of?" Whatever your answer is, do that.
Blocked creativity turns into a malignant channel in your body.
We all have a cosmic radio station only tuned to us.
Prompt: How is resistance showing up in my life right now?
External Sources
“Dry Clay Head” by Mark Manders, via Artnet
Bob Dylan Interview with Ed Bradley, 60 Minutes, CBS News
Steven Pressfield, The Amateur vs. The Professional, via Individual Portal
“The Truth About Overcoming Resistance”, Interview with Steven Pressfield, Marie Forleo