The Power of No

The Power of No

Because One Little Word Can Bring

Health, Abundance and Happiness

James Altucher and Claudia Azula Altucher

The authors in this remarkable book cogently assert that we have the right to say no to anything that is hurting us, to standards that no longer serve us, to people who drain us of our energy and to beliefs that are not true to us

We have all been in the situation where someone asks us for something, and although we know that we should decline, we can’t. Learning how to take hold of a moment and just say “no” is one of the greatest feelings imaginable!

It’s not just about saying no to a particular situation, it’s about saying no to the things that harm you. By learning how to say no, we’ll find it easier to say yes to ourselves.

Saying no to bad relationships leads to health and true love

We often get pulled into situations where we would rather avoid or ignore your well-being than to choose what we really want. But if you want to get the most out of life, you should choose life. Choosing life means not pursuing habits that quite literally cause you to die. By abstaining from harmful food and smoking, you are less likely to die from heart disease or lung cancer.

Another way to choose life is by ridding yourself of negative and abusive people. Say no to the people who drain your positive energy, it frees up resources, like time and energy, that can be directed towards your inner circle. But how do we know who belongs in your inner circle? This exercise might help:

List all the people you engage with at least five times per week. Then rate how these encounters make you feel on a scale from one to ten. Start focusing on the people you’ve ranked higher by spending more time with them. Spend less time with everyone else, and distance yourself even farther from those ranked lower.

Saying no to other people’s expectations empowers us to follow our own dreams. We have to stop doing things we don’t want to do by using our assertive no. If we don’t say no, we may begin disliking the person we’re trying to please. Assertive no helps us to avoid the unpleasantness of doing tasks we don’t care for.

We don’t have to conform to other peoples’ expectations.

You are unique; choose a lifestyle that fits your unique wants and needs. Follow your passions and forge your own path. One way to figure out that path is to go to a bookshop and discover which books one is interested in. It can tell a lot about one’s interests and skills.

When we listen to these personal inclinations and start exploring your interests, we’ll increase your mental muscle as well as your appeal to other people.

Nowadays, everyone wants more of everything. Earlier, that desire was fuelled by a real scarcity of resources. Today resources aren’t scarce, yet we suffer from the scarcity complex. Saying no to scarcity means shifting our attention from what’s missing, to the abundance around us. One way to focus on abundance is to count the blessings in your life. By focusing on abundance, we enrich our life

You should also say no to noise, i.e., everything that stops you from being at peace with yourself and the universe. The idea is to replace noise with silence. In addition to allowing for a more peaceful state of mind, silence also allows one to listen with an open heart.

Learning to say no allows you to say yes. Saying no to the right things could drastically improve one’s life.

As we’ve seen, this power of no is derived from three elements: discernment (the ability to perceive the abundance in your life), compassion (the basis for listening with an open heart) and health (abstaining from the things that harm you).

But implementing these elements can be difficult. Thankfully, expressing gratitude can help. Go on a gratitude diet: Start each day by thinking about ten things you are thankful for. This will help you focus more on the good in your life and say no to the bad.

To get the most from the Power of No, we need to involve all four “bodies”: the physical, the emotional, the mental and the spiritual. We need to serve and care for all of them.

In the end, using the Power of No, you’ll be better equipped to Say Yes to Life.

Ruchika Verma

You can purchase this wonderful book from Amazon