When someone tells you NO, most of the time it is neither a rejection nor an insult. It is a sign that your route is being redirected, like a GPS. They are telling you that this is not the right time, the right place, or the right person.
We need to know how to listen to the NOs we receive in life. Our ego ignores those two simple letters, which have the power to take us into the deepest pit if we let our ego lead us.
When someone tells us NO, they are sending a signal that there is something better for us at this moment, but we are unable to see it because we are caught up in what we have in mind.
When someone tells us NO, they are helping us consider other options we had not thought of at first.
When someone tells us NO, they are inviting us to be creative and look for other ways to achieve our goals.
Sometimes life says NO to certain paths we take, certain people we choose, certain plans we make. It is a very subtle way of saying: we have something better for you, we know you deserve better, but you have to believe it to see NO as an opportunity rather than a frustration.
When you are driving and come across a blocked street with a roadworks sign and a diversion, are you going to insist on continuing down the closed street? No, right? Do not insist on pushing past the NOs you meet along the way. There is surely a danger ahead that you are being warned about, one you cannot see from where you are now. And this is just one small example of how NOs work.
Let us learn to hear NO as an opportunity, as the beginning of an adventure, as a spark to stimulate our creativity. The NOs you accept willingly will keep you away from the setbacks that the NOs you selfishly refuse to accept will bring.
“What you accept transforms you; what you deny subjugates you.”
Carl Jung