'NO' CAN BE THE MOST CARING WORD!
One of the most enigmatic - and misunderstood - words in our day-to-day vocabulary is ‘No’! It takes a good amount of healthy self-esteem in our hearts to say ‘No’ to someone with all our good intentions, and also to accept it from someone without feeling hurt or angry. If our self-esteem is low, then, saying ‘No’ to someone can be a harrowing experience to us! We worry: “How can I say it, though I want to… He may feel hurt… He may misunderstand me… I may lose the friendship or relationship… I may sound too insensitive and blunt…” So, we struggle inside our minds; this causes more and more anxiety in the process… It makes us edgy and irritated. Finally, we end up saying ‘Yes’, when we really want to say ‘No’; and, this leaves our minds in more turmoil. Soon, we explode at the slightest provocation! In the same way, when our self-esteem is low, we find it equally difficult to accept ‘No’ from someone. “How could he say that?”... “How could he be...