Who are we being called to be at this time in history? What are we being called to do?
Many of us find ourselves swirling in a sea of confusion—deciding how to respond to all of the disturbing changes around us. Do I fight this (fill in the blank)? How do I hold a loving space for something new to emerge? What on earth do I do?
In a gathering years ago, a wise woman spoke the words “Your ‘yes’ is only as strong as your ‘no.’” Her saying served me personally and with life coaching clients, because it applies beautifully to setting healthy personal boundaries and not overcommitting. When we are able to say no when something depletes us and does not work for us, we can say yes to life-affirming things that do.
I see an expanded meaning of the saying “your yes is only as strong as your no.” When something really deserves a ‘no’ answer, such as, “shall we abandon elders, children, and the poor in our country?”—we benefit by adopting the phrase shared at the Women’s Congress for Future Generations: “I withhold my consent.” That is a strong ‘no.’Then our ‘yeses,’ all of them, are powerful in the creation of our new, loving, and inclusive world. That’s something we can say yes to.