As westerners pretty well have the motto down pat – just say no. There’s so much to say no to: war, drugs, drunk driving, hunger, high gas prices, oil spill delays, trashing the planet, texting while driving, etc. When I was in Australia many years ago I saw prominent signs all over. Just say YES. I liked it immediately.

Having raised 5 children, I was good at saying no. No to late nights, no to driving inattentively, no to drinking in my house, no to parties when I wasn’t home. Finally I decided to stop saying no (does that constitute a double no?). I decided to say YES to their freedom and to mine. I wanted them to have freedom, but it is earned by being responsible and honest with me, and transparent about their values. It’s easy to say no, but I’ve noticed the kids will comply but then hide and lie to get their freedom. I couldn’t raise children who had to be dishonest to get what they wanted. So, I said YES to their freedom, responsibly earned, of course.

When I just say YES to whatever happens in my life, I’ve discovered so much more freedom. Yes, the divorce happened because it was time. I struggled when I thought it shouldn’t have happened until I could actually say YES, this is happening for some good reason. I stopped fighting my life and found freedom in being present with whatever came my way. I never know what will arise from those moments. So far, I’m a much more resilient person because of my YES.

Where can you flip the coin and do the opposite. Just say YES and see what happens?

Oh, the stories I could tell …. You know that beginning. You know you are in for reminiscing. My grandparents and aunts used to tell stories about the family. It did keep our history strong and was the glue of our belonging. What would happen if you didn’t tell stories of what was? Would you lose your sense of connection or belonging to your life? The other question this provokes is, why keep reinforcing who you were yesterday; who others were yesterday?

What if you could have any story you wanted about what you might become, have or do? What story would you tell then? For a long time we told the story of human dominance in the scheme of life. We were the ones with imagination. We were the ones who could innovate something new. We are the ones that invented weapons, factories, cars. We became careless. In that story we didn’t feel connected to our home planet, Earth. We began to tell a new story of being mindful of our environment. We now tell the story of how we are helping our mother earth by cleaning up streams and rivers to have pure drinking water, we monitor the trees that are felled in areas so we don’t continue to lose our natural rain forests, and we preserve our wetlands so we can enjoy the water fowls. We are changing our stories of what was. We are creating new stories of how we want to live.

What stories do you tell yourself? How many of them are rooted in past identifications? What is the story of your life, starting now?

No, I’m not talking about the retirement phase of your life! Why is it we think we have to wait for our pleasure and play? Why do we have to put these two concepts in competition with each other? I have to get my work done, and then I can play. Does this remind you of your early childhood experiences? Why do you have to work hard to get what you want? In our fast paced world filled with financial issues in the economy play seems frivolous in the face of such chaos.

What if there was only play? Innovative companies like 3M and others utilize play as a very important step in the creative process. They don’t say, go sit in your cubicle and work really hard and come up with a new idea. They grant themselves the right to play for new ideas. Once the idea is accepted, then they apply effort, put things in motion, and find a plan that will support the joy of their idea. Sounds a bit like listening to and following your heart first, then engaging your mind to make it real. The word work has morphed in our culture into a have to, hard, gotta just suck it up and get it done meaning. Too bad. Work used to be something we looked forward to because we wanted the fruits of our labor. Work just became the process part of the formula. The doing pieces of our passion. Effort is not to be confused with work.

So for one day this week, what if you simply enjoyed your work. Play with whatever is there for you today. Keep it simple, put in the effort but enjoy it more as play – like you GET to do this!

Change starts with even the smallest thing, like deciding to put the cap on the toothpaste tube from now on. This one small decision opens the energy for other similar changes to happen like a Change Reaction. One thing causes another thing to emerge as part of that same theme. Perhaps you didn’t realize it was that decision that led to you organizing the dining area, which may have led to your cleaning and buffing up your car. Change reactions happen.

Have you noticed that once Oprah became sensitive to the death rate from texting while driving, she started asking those in her immediate circle to stop texting while driving. From there, the Change Reaction took the form of No Phone Zone for the car. It came about because it was time for it to come into our awareness. It began to take hold as she shared it with the world and asked others to take a pledge. Gandhi was the change reaction for non-violent protest.

Where can you naturally be the Change Reaction? Can you be the Change Reaction for listening without an agenda? Perhaps you become a Change Reaction for raw foods? Change Reactions start when you do what you love, what is important to you, and what you feel strongly about. But you do it for you first, like putting the cap on the toothpaste tube.

Welcome to my blog. I am Nichole Carrington, the founder of Spirit’s Wisdom, Inc. Published in my blog you will find short and effective self-improvement techniques and inspirational messages. Please explore my blog and my website. I offer many great services to help you become the person that you always dreamed possible.