Saying YES to one thing means saying NO to something else

Saying Yes to stillness, says NO to chaos

It astonishes me that I learned a life changing fact from my 7 year daughter with Aspergers. I have been saying NO to different things since she was 3 yrs old because I knew she could not handle loud places, crowds, too many activities in one day, social interactions, new places and changing plans or not planning. In all of this I never noticed an important FACT about life, a FACT we all live by,  

When we say YES to anything in life it means we say NO to something else.

It may seem simple and you may be thinking no duh! But really when I began thinking EVERY time I said yes, what was I saying NO too. It shocked me how different my life could be or would be when I started looking at what I was saying NO to on a regular basis. It is like a railroad track constantly a parallel. So when we say YES we also are saying NO at the same time!

Think with me for a minute, you wake up and if you say YES to laying in bed 15 extra minutes you say NO to what? (relaxed time getting ready, time to read a devotional, time to shower, time to write a little note to your child) the list could go on and on. 

We say Yes to looking at some form of media (computer, FB, TV, IPhone) catching up on life, well... this says NO to quiet time to recharge brain, NO to talking to your partner, NO to the pet that needs love. 

When I decided to say NO to living in anger every day, I said YES to being free to experience joy. When we we all decide to say YES to forgiving someone who caused us pain we say NO to bitterness. 

Then let's just say you have time to say YES to stopping at Starbucks, well you now said NO to donating that $6 to the homeless, No to saving money, NO to getting out of debt, No to saving those extra calories..... But YES to a caffeine high!!! I still need to work on this one.

Are you starting to understand how different just thinking about what we are saying NO to when we say YES could make in our life. I have spent so many years making bad choices, that I am beginning on a path of hopefully having less regrets and this is my next step.  

OK! SO now I have said YES to using my last couple hours of the day to write in my blog but have said NO to watching a movie with my husband, I am not off to a good start of no regrets. BOO!

Saying yes to overworking says NO to sooooo many things. I think the point is that when I dig deep and think about what I am giving up to say YES or NO, it may help me make better choice's. 

As a mom I do not want my kids remembering that I said NO to them because I said YES to everything or everyone else. 

                                                

                                                        Saying NO to all the little things that don't really matter means I say YES to what matters 

MOST! 

I would love to hear all the ways you say YES and NO or how thinking about it helped change some or your answers. Share so we all learn!