A few weeks ago I wrote a well received blog called “The Power of No.” Yes, there is great power in standing in your integrity and saying no to someone who wants something from you which you are unwilling or unable to provide. But let’s take a step back and find out why that word NO can be so sticky to us day-to-day.
Our first association with words was probably the word NO. We were told NO repeatedly; mostly to keep us safe and protected (usually.) That was when we were toddlers, infants and children. NO, don’t climb on the table, NO, don’t eat that! NO, don’t pull on that.
Dear ones; we are no longer infants, toddlers and children. In the book It’s All About Me I explore how how old teachings still control our experience. If the way we were taught the word NO has left lasting scars in our hearts, hearing NO today reawakens that pain as fresh as it was when we were children, so hearing NO brings us back to being Infants, Toddlers and Children. We immediately go back to feeling disempowered, under someone else’s control, so it gets sticky.
“When I was a child I thought as a child” the old proverb goes. It is time to stop being children and hear the word no for what it is, simply another two letter word rather than a hot button which brings up old pain.
Being child like is wonderful, it is freeing and helps us see the glory of the world around us. Being childish is quite the opposite. It is time to put away childish things, what served us well as children only holds us back as big people.
