Today I attended Unity Church of Venice, my favorite spiritual church here in Venice. There are not a lot of messages I hear at a church service that inspire me to share, but Rev. Robin Reiter did just that today. The title of her message was "NO is My New Yes" and is the best incarnation into words of my philosophy "Healthy Selfishness". I will not say too much about it except to recommend you open the link below and see and hear for yourself. I could not say it better. Saying "No" was one of the most difficult things I had to learn in my quest to become a healthy person traveling through this world. Although saying "Yes" taught me a lot of what I didn't want in my life and not healthy for me, it was still very hard to say "No" to friends and loved ones when asked to say "Yes". And once you say "Yes" it is even more difficult to retract and bow gracefully out of "Yes" to a "No". Saying "No" is the truest way to create healthy boundaries in any relationship and is a "Healthy Selfishness" even in the face of being tagged as "Selfish". We all have a right to say "No" without explanation and to remember, as Rev. Robin reminds us, "No, is a complete sentence." Even when we might be confused, not knowing which answer is more healthy for us, "Yes" or "No", we still have our right to say "No". It is much easier to go from "No" to "Yes, than it is to go from "Yes" to "No".
http://www.veniceunity.org/media-library/video-archive/no-is-my-new-yes/
Feel free to fast-forward to the 20:35 mark where Rev. Robin begins the message, although the entire service is also fun and interesting.
Until Next Time...
Love Always,
Kevin