It seems to me that our moment to moment relationship to Life can basically be reduced to a YES or a NO. Let me explain

This moment and everything in it, IS as it IS, ALREADY. Everything already IS as it IS, even before we have an opinion about HOW it is. Everything IS as it IS, independent of how we think or feel about how it is. This understanding can be summarized in the statement What IS, simply IS! This does not mean we must desire or even like What IS, only that resistance to What IS, is futile. Saying NO to what already IS, is useless resistance, is insane, and even absurd. But we do it anyway. Dont we? Why?

I would suggest part of the reason lies in that when we were very young, we learned that our NO can effect the moments that are about to happen. While our NO does become part of the next moment, it cannot otherwise change the moment that already IS, because well it already IS! But our NO can influence and affect the moments that are about to unfold (and sometimes in the manner we desire).

Im sitting in my highchair as a baby, mom pushing in the pabulum well past the point of full, now flowing over gums, hands, and bib, a pre-verbal inner resistance arises, hands flailing and pushing against, mouth clamping shut, face scrunching up, head turning away, squealing (like a baby)and finally finally mom understands the unspoken yet unmistakable NO that is being conveyed by my sounds and actions, and she finally relents

We have just learned the power of our NO. And what a power it is. For in our NO lies the power of changing the future. With our NO we say, I will not allow how it is to continue, and we can begin to take action and move towards how it might be. We start by using our NO to affect our lives, by taking action determined by our desire for things to be other than they are, here and now.

But then we get completely carried away. We become NO addicts and we start to apply our NO where it doesnt belong. We do not simply use our NO to effect change of the future, but instead use our NO in places and situations where it is not only useless, but also harmful. Most often our NO is simply an unconscious and ineffective resistance to WHAT ALREADY IS. Saying NO to WHAT ALREADY IS, is in any other words, simply suffering. A NO without action is simply complaining.

The most common form of useless NO is our unconscious habitual mental chatter. I wish things werent like this This is so unfair Things shouldnt be like this Why me? I hate this. But that is just the beginning. Our useless mental NO affects us emotionally creating an emotional NO in the form of resistance or closure to feelings. I dont want to feel this This hurts too much I cant stand feeling like this.

When this emotional NO also become unconscious and habitual, we are shut down to not only our emotional pain, but also to our joy as well. This emotional NO then becomes a physical NO where we are physically resisting and contracting, living in a state of tension and stress. We hold our breath as NO to avoid feeling. We avoid eye contact as NO to avoid vulnerability. We zone out, daydream, distract ourselves and live on auto-pilot as NO to avoid REALITY. Half alive, half awake, habitually resisting What IS by thinking and feeling NO, we sleepily stumble toward our death.

In short, we live our lives in a state of unconscious and habitual mental, emotional, and physical resistance, avoidance, and denial in the shape of our NO. OUCH! What to do?

Start by noticing: EVERYTHING IS as it IS, however it is. Say YES to What IS and simply acknowledge What IS as it is. Notice that EVERYTHING IS as it IS, however it is. Feel YES to What IS and simply accept What IS as it is. Feel the YES especially in your chest in the Heart area. Feel Yes in your Heart, and simply embrace the IS-NESS of 'What IS', whatever is. Now deepen your YES through your body/mind, allowing this verbal feeling YES to shine on everything. With practice one can establish and maintain contact with YES! in all moments.

As you move through the days and nights of the changing seasons and cycles of your Life, dive deeply into the Heart of Reality, which is always just as it IS, no matter HOW it is.

Now do this the rest of your Life. Acknowledge, accept, and embrace everything as it IS. Say and feel YES to What IS. Anything else is suffering.