Customer Reviews

Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Many of us realize that our lives are driven by certain learned patterns of behavior and thinking. This little treasure helps us to identify those patterns that we fall into unconsciously on a daily basis. It brings them into consciousness, where we can alter them and transform our lives. These old patterns form deep groves into our minds (the path of least resistance), which we too easily fall back into--unless something comes along to form a new, powerful and more effective pattern. Examples and analogies abound here, from the creation of musical compositions to manifesting the ideal job for you. It is practical and yet touches something at a deeply spiritual and creative level.

This book is not for the feeble-minded. Read it slowly and let your psyche absorb it with pleasure. If you have the resources to commit to reading and comprehending it, it will change your life. Are you concerned about the environment? Are you worried about something else going on in the world or in your life? Listen to me-- after you read this book you will view and be able to act upon ANY global or personal "problem" in a new and more powerful way! I'm not kidding. Our thoughts and words have so much power! Our patterns of thoughts and words can create a world we only dreamed about before. This book is magical. This book shows us how to be responsible for the state of our lives and the condition of the world around us. It teaches us how to own our personal power.

Robert Fritz's Path of Least Resistance is an empowering guide to creating a life that reflects your abilities and passions. It's not a New Age book, in that the author does not teach that everything that happens to us stems from our conscious attitudes and intentions. He presents very good evidence as to why affirmations and will power don't work. His thesis is that you cannot create what you desire in life until you change the underlying structures that make your life what it currently is. Changing those structures does not have to do with problem solving either. It has to do with figuring out what you do want (harder than it sounds) and then using the creative process to set in motion the forces to accomplish whatever that is.

Fritz is a professional musician with a clear understanding of the artistic process. However, he takes this process well beyond the arts and applies it to life in general. He has worked with groups who have used these principles in foreign aid projects and business; he's also worked with individuals who have changed their personal and professional lives for the better. The point is that creativity is not just for artists--it's a human concern. If we all understood how to create rather than to just react to what life throws at us, the world would be a happier place. This is a hopeful, inspiring which should benefit anyone wanting to live a well-crafted life.

The Path of Least Resistance is an awesome piece of work. It's a "manual" that belongs to the product of YOU the instant you learn how to read.
We do exist to create, you know. In one of his books, inspirational author Alan Cohen has a chapter named: Create or Die.

If you think this is just a specifically focused book of techniques for artists on ways of being "creative", such as brainstorming and doesn't apply to your life as a bus driver, or a waitress, or a doctor, you're wrong. We ALL create, everything from good relationships, to successful meeting outcomes, to careers, and yes... music and paintings and inventions and sculptures and books. As a matter of fact, Fritz eschews the notion of brainstorming and you'll see why in this book.

Basically, the first thought that'll crowd your mind as you complete the first chapter and then the second chatper, is that you have to read this repeatedly, because you want to soak these very profound, life-changing ideas into your psyche. It was hard for me to concentrate on the rest of the book during my first reading, because I was so excited about the implications of my expected change in thinking, and how I would tell others. What you'll learn is that being a reacter to problems doesn't result in peace of mind or success long-term. There are actual laws that he cites which explain the Structure of Tension which causes you to let go of all struggle and be powerfully pullled toward completion of ANYthing you want to accomplish.

In this book, he tells when you think of a goal, that you need to separate what your brainwashed mind think what is impossible, from what you reallly want. You'll see that the stress of repeatedly lying to yourself throughout your life about what you want can slowly but surely impact your health even! If you set goals that are based on what your fears tell you that you are limited to, but not what you *really want*, this wears on you physically.

Forget what your current environment or conditions tell you. THOSE DON'T MATTER! Just change to another "Structure" which leads to creation, not one that will swing you back and forth between struggles to fixing a problem, then...aaallllllmost getting there, but then the rubber band of the "Reactive" Structure pulls you back toward giving up on your faulty "fix-your-exterior" behaviors.

Fritz mentions that he studied Metaphysics in his life, but wasn't much interested in them; however, this topic can't avoided, and you'll see how when you are in the correct Structure of Creating, and you simply make a decision to create something, that this sets powerful acts of force in your favor. Between sessions of actually working on your project, like walking the dog or taking a shower, your subsconscious goes to work and pulls from the collective conscious of Man EXACTLY what you need to create what you decided to create. He includes this in the examples, but not in the way I'm describing it. Don't worry, he doesn't write with the scatter-brained style of this review. You'll get it, and you'll be grateful for his simple four-step guide to Creating

One more thing: Fritz discounts all self-help techniques such as affirmations or long term therapies. Personally, things like EFT and the Release Technique have been a godsend to my ability to function in interviews lately, and to eliminate strong negative emotions in some encounters.
But I see what he's talking about with respect to focusing more on just being the Creative Being that you were meant to be, rather then making your life into one long Saga of long term therapy-seeking and inner-child healing.

I treasure this book. I first read this book when it came out 10 years ago. I have read it a total of 4 times now. It is a truly remarkable book because it relates the creative process to the physical laws of nature to which we are all subject. This is the path of least resistance, along which all energy including creative energy will flow. It takes a while to understand the writing. It is not a self help or quick fix book. It is not a book on descipline or willpower. It is a book that explains how to change the underlying structure of your life to create the life you want. It must be understood both intellectually and experientially as you practice examining your current situation at the same time you hold the vision you want to create. Robert Fritz does a wonderful job of using very simple examples to demonstrate the dynamics of the "least resistance" principle.

This book has changed my life. In a world where it's so damn easy to lose yourself to outside influences like alcohol, drugs, sex, materialism, etc., I've finally found the one book that has brought me back to my original purpose - creating my own life, rather than relying on circumstances to tell me what to do. It showed me HOW to find it again, and it's amazingly simple, as all things should be. It just requires making a choice to be the creator of your own life, as God intended. I'm still reading it, and I will always refer back to it when I lose inspiration. I'd like to give everyone a copy of this book, but of course, one has to be ready to receive it. This book is the difference between confusion and clarity, depression and happiness. I am back on track and full of ideas and inspiration, thanks to Robert Fritz's teachings.

The essence of the book is: decide for yourself what it is you want to CREATE in your life (work, family, lesure, etc.), objectively assess your current reality, and leverage the structural tension that comes from the discrepancy between your desired and current reality.
The Robert Fritz approach holds a lot of appeal: focus on what you want, or want to create, and frame it as a vision that ignores the extent to which it is actually possible to achieve the vision. In view of this, "I want to create a world in which everyone is well-fed" is a legitimate vision.
Another appealing aspect of thinking 'structurally' is that it urges us to think in what I would refer to as "constructive terms", without falling into the trap of being unduly optimistic, or blind to reality: for example, rather than adopting the vision of "I want to lose weight" or "I no longer want to smoke", Fritz invites us to say: "I want, and I choose, to have good health". In this way, the structures that hold us back are removed from our consciousness.

Structures elicit behaviour, in this model. Oscillating structures are those that cause us to vacillate between conflicting goals (e.g. oscillating between the desire to lose weight and the desire|need to eat), and usually get nowhere.

I see the Fritz approach as entailing the adoption of certain attitudes and practices. It is a matter of disciplining oneself to leverage one's innate desire to create, regardless of the way one earns a living. The book provides lots of examples of how artists create their work, but Fritz reminds us that the same principles can and should apply as well to, say, business managers and school teachers.

I am very glad to have read this book. I believe that it has already begun to influence how i see my future and my choices. Fritz offers a constructive way to draw out, shape and frame one's aspirations for one's life. The principles as laid out in the book are surprisingly simple and logical once they've had a few days to sink in, and yet so many of us allow ourselves to oscillate and prevaricate amid 'no-win' structures of which we are not even conscious.

At one time, only a select few people in the world were literate, but now most people in the world are literate.

Today, only a select few know the structure and processes of creation, but thanks to Bob Fritz that too will change, and maybe one day the world will be peopled by creators, which, in my view, is what God intended when he created us in his (or her) image. Creativity and the creative process used to be thought of in nebulous terms, as if it were always by happenstance, or the presence of some otherworldly muse, that gave rise to creative manifestations.

In the "Path of Least Resistance", Fritz cuts through all this, and shows us exactly how it is done. I have been manifesting visions ever since I read the book and took his seminar, which, I might add, was much more intense and meaningful than the other classes I was attending at Harvard, concurrently.

I am ebullient to see that he has written other books, and I will not hesitate to buy and study them all. I am also excited to see that he has collaborated with Peter Senge on some his works, and I'd love to see a collaboration with Haj Ross and Todd Siler in future, but will only toss that out, and try not to envision it too strongly, as I would not want to be guilty of what Fritz calls "manipulation"... which is where you include specific people in your visions -- which can thwart the outcome and actually have negative effects all around.

This book, and indeed Fritz' work, is a veritable bible, or how-to book for visionaries, seers, sages, creators, artists, musicians, students, and anyone who wants to finally get what they truly want in their lives.

Don't let vague processes impede your goals and visions. Buy this book and learn how to create the world you want... with the least resistance. I can think of no better place to start.

Dave Beckwith, Pres.

IdeaConsultants

CharlotteInternet.com

Finally, a book that cuts through all the misguided advice given in other self-help books and REALLY delivers on its promise:YOU WILL BECOME THE CREATIVE FORCE IN YOUR OWN LIFE - and stop making excuses. It isn't easy reading even though the principles are simple enough to understand - but it's worth the effort. The part about the reactive-responsive orientation helped me to understand why I had been sabotaging myself for so many years.

The basic message of this book is to create a vision and then just "do it." You may have read books with a similar message - but you're still here, looking for self-help books. Why is this book different? Because it shows you the pitfalls - the seemingly benign behaviors that get in the way of creating the life you want.

I'll bet you find in this book what has been tripping you up - like how you've been responding/reacting to circumstances, making decisions from fear or avoidance or denying what is real. And when you see them for what they are, you'll feel that initial rush of germination - the realization that you can create your life. From that point, you'll follow the creative cycle that Fritz describes to make that vision real - for good.

This book changed my life. I read it when it came out 10 years ago, and I have never quit reading it or giving it to people who I think will benefit from it. You see, this book isn't for people who are thinking about becoming creative -- looking for some prescription for creativity. NO. It is a deep analysis of what happens to you as you create. By raising your consciousness about such issues as tension and resolution (in writing and performing any of the arts) you become more aware of the process of flow, and how it applies to just about everything you do, everything you involve yourself in, and most importantly, everything you create. I was amused when I read his subsequent book, "Creating," because it's obviously a dumbed-down version of "The Path of Least Resistance." Do yourself a favor and dive into your processes more clearly and with more joy by understanding them - a la Fritz.