To say YES to everything creates an onward movement, a momentum which is indeed very helpful in the creation of a full and satisfying life. But surely the key to life is knowing when to say NO.
To restrict that momentum and choosing NO so that there is time and space to enjoy the journey. Saying YES to everything without discrimination makes for a wonderful roller coaster ride and certainly gets things going but without the natural break of NO, YES unlimited, brings Life to us with capital L but without discrimination and at a breakneck speed. Perhaps one of the most important things in life is to know when to say NO. That is, is it always a good thing to say YES?
I don’t think so NO!
Taking time to connect decisions to our individual inner compass means that sometimes saying NO to an opportunity allows space and time to focus on and to enjoy the journey. To give the appropriate time and consideration to the undertakings and commitments we really want to be involved in as well as having time to recover and recoup. Discrimination is not a dirty word when it comes to decision making, but an essential part of our humanness, our gift for self-determination.
YES is a wonderful tool to achieve momentum but to stay “on the rails” and safe on the journey to success we all need a balance. In a YES world that balance comes from NO and knowing when to say NO.
Often, when we are propelled breakneck speed along our path of life through a series of indiscriminate YES decisions, our life becomes filled with commitment and often there is not time or inclination to “take time” or “take care”. Time and care are required to maintain and nurture our equilibrium.
Without NO it’s easy to plunge headlong into a life filled with doing rather than being. It is assured that we will all get to our destination but who will remember the journey?
If we are naturally more inclined to be YES people then saying NO and cultivating the discrimination and awareness of using NO as a natural break to the accelerator that is YES is surely something to be recommended.
If we have a more natural inclination to be a NO person, then the opposite is true and we need to trust and step on the gas of YES at regular intervals.
Opportunities for these checks and balances seem to happen automatically in life, for example Jennifer, a lazy NO person stuck in a rut who finally said YES to an opportunity to take lessons in Burlesque which sparked her motivation and propelled her headlong toward her purpose.
In contrast, because of the speed and momentum created by an indiscriminate YES, people can easily crash off the rails and often have no idea why because they never have time to consider the possibilities. Often spreading themselves too thin and moving on too fast to appreciate the consequences of their wake.
Life generally has a way of slowing YES down and it often comes as a huge jolt to the system, creating shock waves to all around.
Success is not automatically a YES thing, it is always important to listen to subtle signals to self and say NO sometimes in order for a new direction of YES to form and manifest itself, it surely will.
There is of course “I don’t know”, but that’s another story!
© Copyright 2021 Sue Shattock – All Rights Reserved
