30 Sep When you say NO, what are you saying YES to?
The Power of a Positive “no” to Increase Happiness
via the Huffington Post by Ginny Sassaman
In 2005, after I had applied for the Masters in Mediation program at Woodbury College, I sat down with the Admissions Director for an informational interview. “Would the program involve much conflict?” I asked her. In retrospect, how embarrassing. A mediator’s main job is to be calm in the midst of sometimes stormy conflicts, helping disputants move toward mutually acceptable solutions.
I got in the program anyway and fell in love with conflict theory, my first deep foray into brain science and human behavior. One of my favorite books was The Power of A Positive No by William Ury. For many of us, saying “no” is just as welcome as entering into conflict. In fact, it sometimes is entering into conflict, or at least bringing the dispute to light — even if the whole thing is only within our own heads (“no, you cannot have that cake!” “but I want it!”). Ury makes saying “no” much easier by asking us to consider, when we say no, what are we saying “yes” to?
Keep reading the full & original article HERE