Just Say No

The first word that most human say is the word “no”. It seems to be the first evidence of the human spirit declaring itself independent from others. When my kids first said no to me, my immediate response was to say, “don’t say no to me”. In saying that, I was teaching my children that the word no was a negative word, when in actuality it is a positive word. However, it seems that Americans have forgotten how to say no. We have forgotten how to say no to our spending, appetites and passions. We even have a political party that feel that they can score points if they can convince people that the opposite party is the party of no. Yet our nation is in financial trouble for not saying no and we have millions of individuals that are in financial trouble because they never learned how to say no. The truth is that the word no is a positive word that is actually a liberating word that leads to freedom. It is the word that liberates us from our negative self. The self that wants to say yes to its passions, attachments, addictions, and its rebel emotions. The art of saying “no” frees us to be truly human and empowers us to say no to the things which pull us down into our lower nature. As human beings we can even say no to our genes. In fact, we are the only creature that can say no. This ability to say no to our genes and lower nature sets us apart from all other creatures and is a reflection of the God that created us in his image. Maybe you have forgotten how to say no to your spending, appetites, and passions. Well, the answer is this, you need to practice. My mother once told me that practice makes perfect. Let me suggest that tomorrow morning, in fact every morning until you get it down, that you look in the mirror, kind of pucker up your lips and say “no” to the self which you see in the mirror, continual to do this until it feels normal.  By the way make sure you’re alone. Lyle