I heard about a young man, a child really, in middle school, who went on a fieldtrip with his class to 6 flags over Texas. He attempted to get on a ride with his classmates but the barrier arm that drops down over the body to keep one from falling out of the ride wasn’t able to drop down over him…he was too big. But that day he made a decision, one that changed his life and the lives of his family members. He decided to lose weight…a lot of weight…because he weighed over 345 lbs. He said “no” to most of the foods he had eaten up to that point and “yes” to healthy options. His strong yeses and equally strong no’s saved his life.
Every single day when we wake-up we are faced with a barrage of choices. Those decisions or choices begin before we have really even opened our eyes yet. We may be just lying in our bed, coming sweetly to consciousness when our brain is instantly wide away and ready to knock us around. Humans think about 50,000-80,000 thoughts each day. That’s crazy, right? We aren’t even aware of most of them. We think them habitually or just by rote. Let’s see…
- Should we hit the snooze button or get right up
- Should we start the coffee first or brush our teeth
- Should we eat breakfast or exercise
- What clothes should we put on our earthsuits for the day
- Should we stop and get gas in the car now or wait till later
- When we arrive at work, should we circle around the parking lot till we find a close spot or just grab whatever spot if available
- Should we attend to emails first or texts
And what about leisure time?
- Should we go boating or to the beach
- Should we see a movie at home or go to the theatre
- Where should we vacation this year
- Should we invite that new neighbors over for a bbq
- Should we, should we, should we??? Decisions, decisions, decisions
Then there are the unusual or unexpected things that pop up every now and then. They still require a yes or no decision.
- Should we stop to help the turtle on the side of the road
- Should we give a little money to that homeless guy
- Should we buy those girl scout cookies
- Should we hold the door for the person behind us as we leave 7-11 ~ who knew that was even a decision ~ but it is.
We are not who we became today by accident. We are the sum total of all the choices we have made in our lives, plus those times we did not make decisions. We arrive where we are in life by decisions and non-decisions, and we are responsible for both.
Our Master Teacher told us in one sentence how to make a decision final: Matthew 5:37 ~ But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No, No.’ For whatever is more than these (meaning more thinking or more words) is from the evil one”. (Unity defines “the evil one” as our lower level thinking, low consciousness)
If we make a decision then we stick to it. We don’t procrastinate or vacillate back and forth. We allow our yeses to be yesses and our no’s to be no’s.
The Yes or No decisions that we make each moment of our day have power. They are not mundane or unimportant. Our yeses and nos have the capacity to help wake us up or keep us asleep. My whole purpose for being is to help wake us up! Wake us up to our divinity! Wake us up to our beauty! Not beauty as the world sees it but the beauty of our inherent, undeniable divinity.
As you sit here right now, in your chair, reading this…or not…are you awake or are you asleep? It’s up to you to make a yes or no decision.