There is a great ocean of possibilities in every life. We make choices every day that affect who we are, what we do and where we go. Open to every opportunity and then make a choice. This is what we call leading a full-spectrum life. You begin with opening, and then you limit. Some call this the ‘dance of yes and no.’ For many, it’s easy to say ‘yes.’ It feels good. We open our arms to the sky and take in the full range of possibilities. We imagine the whole world shining with potential. And we’d be right. There is all that in the clear blue sky. And all that mirrored in the perfect melt of our spacious, beautiful hearts.
It feels good to say ‘yes.’ Again and again, yes! Open and always free. It feels good. Our heart sings and we know the truth of our spirit. We listen. We listen to its call for freedom and we answer with ‘yes.’
And then we make the coffee, fill the gas tank, take out the garbage, cook dinner and get to work. We choose how we drink our coffee, and for the most part, where we work and what goes in our garbage cans.
We make choices. We say, ‘no’. Just as we lift our arms to say ‘yes’, we must also bring them to our heart, make a choice and say, ‘no’ to some things. With each discerning choice we are carving out our individuality. We are choosing who we are, and how we are being on this planet.
In this world you were given powers of discernment, you were given individual preferences. In fact, this is the world of our ego. And that is not a bad thing. An ego decides whether you prefer your eggs scrambled or over easy or not at all. An ego chooses your favorite colors, your style of dress, and your preferred dance music. Each ‘no’ defines our river banks. Say ‘no’ and you flow in one direction and not another. Say ‘yes’ to everything lands you in the ocean. Saying ‘no’ gives you flow and a path.
Skillful application of ‘yes and no’ actually provides the most freedom. It’s interesting isn’t it? We draw our greatest creative juice from the ocean of all possibilities – from starting with an enthusiastic, ‘yes.’ But it is the ego, the chooser who eventually, out of all the possibilities of color and form, chooses red or blue; a circle or square. If you say yes to every color and every form at the same time, what do you have? A dark, unformed mess. And that could be labeled art I guess as much as art reflects the possibilities of all things.
As yogis we are interested in mindful choices. We appreciate and discover how easy or how hard choices are for us. We practice with the easy ones: We choose our eggs with enthusiasm. Even if you don’t care how your eggs are prepared. This week, choose scrambled. Or choose over easy. Or eat oatmeal. Just choose and exercise your individual ‘no.’ You may find that the ‘ocean of possibilities’ is the greatest teacher of limitations. A proverbial warehouse of everything awaits you. Stand steady and pick one. Try it on, taste it, whirl around and see how it fits.
And here’s the thing. Even after you choose, you can still say, ‘no’: you changed you mind, the color just wasn’t’ right, your tastes have changed. Ever-evolving, you are free to choose. Getting better and better at your choices takes skill and time. It also requires that you try new things to continue to evolve. And there we go again. Back into the ocean, back into the yes, hands up to the sky, open to all possibilities; hands at the heart; a new choice made. Do you like it? Does it fit? Yes and No – these are two of your most powerful allies.
