The Space Between Thoughts: Finding Peace Beyond Body Image Battles

“Resistance is futile.”

It sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? Like something from a film where the hero battles against dark forces. But what happens when those “forces” aren’t out there in the world — they’re in your own mind?

What if the real battle isn’t against people or circumstances… but against your own thoughts?

For years, I lived in that fight. My mind constantly threw harsh, painful thoughts about my appearance — particularly about my nose. I remember trying everything to resist them. I’d tell myself to stop thinking that way, to focus on something else, to be stronger. But the harder I tried to silence those thoughts, the louder they became.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it? That endless cycle of fighting with your own mind. You think, “If I can just resist the bad thoughts, maybe I’ll finally feel at peace.”
But that’s the trap — because resistance gives those thoughts power.

The truth is, thoughts are not the enemy. They are energy passing through us, moment to moment. They only become heavy and painful when we hold on to them, argue with them, or believe they’re real. When we see a thought as dangerous — something to get rid of — we start living inside its story. And in that story, there’s always something wrong with us.

For me, that story was: “My nose is ugly. It ruins my face. People are staring.”
I believed it so deeply that it shaped my entire experience of life. Every mirror, every photograph, every social situation felt like proof of that painful thought. And yet, that thought was never the truth — it was just a passing cloud I’d mistaken for the sky.

Carl Jung once said, “What you resist persists.” I see now what he meant. When we resist, we feed the illusion. We make a simple thought look solid and powerful — like a shadow that grows larger the more we stare at it.

When I stopped fighting my thoughts and started seeing them for what they were — just thoughts — something gentle began to shift. I realised that I wasn’t the problem. My mind was simply doing what minds do: creating images, memories, and fears, then replaying them when I felt low.

The freedom came not from controlling those thoughts, but from recognising their harmless nature.

When we allow thoughts to flow — without judging or engaging — the mind begins to quieten naturally. From that quiet space, we can see ourselves more clearly. Not as the distorted image our thinking creates, but as the wholeness underneath it.

The human mind is far more resilient than we think. It can never truly “break” under thought — it just gets caught up in believing illusions. When we see that, the vice loosens. The pressure lifts. And what’s left is something peaceful, untouched, and whole.

So the next time your mind starts whispering cruel stories about your body or appearance, remember this:
There’s nothing to fight.
There’s nothing to resist.
The thoughts will come — and they will pass — but you remain, beautifully unbroken.