One of our advisory board members recommended a book I recently read called Falling Upward by Richard Rohr. He talks about the two halves of life in the book. I highlighted and earmarked the book with many notations; but one that branded an image in my mind was from this quote:
“The voice of our loyal soldier gets us through the first half of life safely….to learn the sacred ‘no’ to ourselves that gives us dignity, identity, direction, significance, and boundaries.”
Holy cow! I pondered the teachings in the Launching Leaders curriculum around core values and discovering one’s true identity, and this fit perfectly into the growing picture.
If in the first half of life we discover and put into our containers; (which will provide the gushing well of wisdom and knowledge to draw from in our second half of life) our established identity, dignity, direction, etc., it doesn’t come without discovering the sacred ‘no’. I imagine part of this to mean that as we become resolute in living an authentic life of values, we MUST also learn to say no to many things as well. For that ‘no’ to be termed sacred, is amazing to me. I love it. When we have developed habits that celebrate the death of our false selves in discovery of our real selves, we have then the birth of the soul.
The idea that saying ‘no’ to things that deter us from our true north is sacred; gives this type of no a very positive place in our hearts. It instills in us a deeper movement beneath the surface of our everyday tasks; making our lives more purposeful.
So many of our mentors come without reservations or appointments; more like a sunrise that happens naturally, but bring with them light. Thanks Father Tim for connecting me to your mentors, who are now becoming some of mine. Thanks for introducing me to the ‘sacred no’.
