Greetings!
We are flowing with “no” today.
But first, an organizational announcement. After a lot of deliberation, and engaging with some big processes and questions this project has presented us with, we have decided to shift our focus.
Rather than producing episodes bi-weekly, we want to give more time and energy to research, practice, and building a methodology for the kinds of emergent conversations we have been exploring through this project.
Because the project is not commercial, we are constrained in how much time we can devote to it. It will definitely continue, though. We are full of passion and commitment to continue to flow with ourselves, each other, the living world, and mystery. And you!
So stay tuned for one episode per month, released on the last Thursday of each month. The next one will be out on August 27th.
See you then!
And now back to No!
“No’ - two letters, multitude of meanings and responses.
What happens inside us when we hear the word “no”?
In this episode, we get ourselves pulled into the conversation about what “no” actually does to us.
Through exploring different ways of saying the word itself, through personal stories of cold calling, closed family doors, and the relief of giving something up, we discover that “no” is far more than a word. It’s a vibration that lands differently in every nervous system, shaped by gender, history, and the stories we carry. Sometimes it shuts us down. Sometimes it sets us free.
Previous episodes of this series:
I vs We: Who Wins?
How Do We Converge Generatively?
Is There Free Will?
Join us in this exploration.
Some things that have been said:
Irina:
“Sometimes making a decision to say “No” to something can be a huge relief — you close the door, you stop thinking about it, it stops being a possibility, and it opens up a space for you.”
“As I was hearing stories about cold calling, something in me was just shrinking and shattering. And I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how she is doing it’.”
“I personally learn very fast to run away from situations where I might receive a ‘No’.”
“In order to overcome a ‘No’ that you receive from outside, you just need to say ‘Yes’ to yourself.”
Yulya
“You start your day knowing that today you will hear “No” at least 50 times, maybe more. It was so brutal for my nervous system that I had to recover for at least a year.”
“I don’t think the human nervous system is designed for receiving so many No’s.”
“’No’ has freedom in it.”
“Women are so good at saying “No” to themselves.”
“The vibration of a ‘No’ is still there — ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. You will be processing the aftermath at some point later.”
Polina
“The female system receives a “No” that goes almost to survival level. It’s almost like a “No” to all of you as a being, rather than just a “No” to the question you’re asking.”
“I’m wandering the world with all these closed doors surrounding me. I’m the one who’s locked out.”
“My entire life has been spent in the pursuit of finding the “Yes!” for myself — and so in that respect, I consider myself a successful person.”
“The reason why I can engage with “No” now is because I have a resounding “Yes to me!”, regardless of who thinks what about me.”
“We’ve objectified “No” into this very concrete, small thing — as if it’s one thing for all of us.”
In Flow,
Irina, Polina and Yulia
We cherish your presence, and joining us in flowing.
These conversations are open explorations, that become richer with time and participation of others. We’d love to hear if anything touched you.
📍Chapters
00:00 — Intro
01:15 — Welcome to the question of “No”
9:58 — Masks On: Saying “No” to the visual
11:12 — The Game: The vibrations of “No”
14:43 — The Game: If “No” were a...
23:08 — A bombardment of “No”
31:54 — Do women feel “No” differently?
45:46 — Do we live in the world of No’s?
50:00 — A lifetime of closed doors
59:33 — Creative ways of overcoming a “No”
1:07:19 — When saying “No” sets you free
1:18:38 — The many functions of “No”
1:26:09 — The “No” we say to ourselves
1:29:14 — Closing reflections
1:37:24 — Outro
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💌 Resources used under Creative Commons license:
Music “Echolocation” by airtone, source: CcMixter
