Living A Life Of Gratitude: 14 Saying No

Learn why the Universe is always offering us situations, relationships, and experiences where the correct answer is "no". As we journey from life's beginning to a sacred end, we will experience both suffering and radical heart-opening. No matter what is happening in your life, when we focus on gratitude for every little thing—the good, the bad, the all of it—we can experience soul awakening.

Transcript

Welcome to Living a Life of Gratitude. I'm Sarah Wiseman. Saying no. One way to become free is by learning to say no. When we first start out on our path to consciousness, There's this emphasis on yes. We use positive affirmations, We do vision boards, We work with law of attraction, The secret. We hang on to the false belief that intention can only be expressed in positive language or certain doom will befall us. To be sure, These first steps of positivity are ways we learn to organize ourselves and our intentions. They're the first tools we use when we're learning to manifest and to that end it's all good. But once we're clear on how to manifest, Once we understand how to follow divine energy, A new challenge will emerge. We'll have too much abundance, Too many choices, And we'll have to learn to choose. It's almost as if the universe starts throwing a whole bunch of possibilities our way. Some will be great, Exactly what our heart desires, But many will only appear to be what we want, But in fact they will only be distractions, Temptations, Or worse. It's our job to learn how to discern, How to sort the wheat from the shaft, How to see the diamond from the stone. Jesus was offered the world by the devil during his 40 days in the desert. During this time he learned how to step into who he really was by saying yes to the destiny that was before him. He also learned how to say no to what was not his destiny, What was not his true purpose in the world. All the riches, All the treasures, All the power was presented to him and he denied it all. I am most certainly not Jesus, But I have found that once I learned the trick of manifesting by saying yes, That the lesson of no immediately arrived. In the beginning when my work was new, Nobody paid me any mind, But later offers began to trickle in. Did I want to be in this joint venture? Did I want to write for this newsletter? Did I want to travel, Do a tour, A conference? Opportunities began to arrive and not all of them were in my best interest. At first I did many of these things the first few years. In fact one year I did a hundred and seventy two events. This wasn't a good thing. It didn't fit my personality or my deep need for privacy, Quiet, And stillness. In fact I'm not a very good traveler. I like to keep things really simple in my life. I am happiest at home. This jacked up schedule made me anxious, Tired, And unhappy. As these things happened, The more full my schedule became, The more offers came in. Many of them having nothing whatsoever to do with anything spiritual or enlightening at all. After that year of insanity, I took a month off for reflection. During that month I did nothing. I did not write. I did not see many clients. I mostly sat out under the trees, Went for walks, And stayed at home. I meditated. I wrote in my journal. I began to relax, To enjoy life again, And I saw how far I'd moved away from my true self by saying yes to everything. I began to say no to everything that was not truly me and began to say yes to only what I truly loved. In a world where everyone seems to want to be richer, More powerful, Or more popular, It can be hard to say no. Yet if we are to be our true selves, We must first say yes to all that is us and no to what we are not. In discernment we do not limit ourselves. In discernment we become free. What do you need to say no to in your life? What do you need to stop, Resist, End, Or let go of in order to be your true self? What distractions block you from your true path? Hold these considerations in your mind today. Allow yourself to say no to anything that is not your true self, Your true path.