Negative affirmations

I can’t. I won’t. I don’t like it. I don’t want to. It does not interest me. No.

The right to say no, and to have that ‘no’ heard and respected, is a key part of getting to be a functional human being. People who are only allowed to say yes, are not allowed to say anything at all. It doesn’t matter whether the pressure to be relentlessly positive comes from a belief system, or the demands of people, being denied the right not to want, not to like, not to participate, is to be denied a very large part of your self.

I am especially wary of spiritual positions that see anything negative as bad. We are finite beings. We really do have limits. While we occupy these bodies of ours, we have limited perceptions. We don’t know everything, we can’t do everything. Flesh boundaries us. Gravity inclines us…