One thing these past few months has shown me is that this world is laden with unsolicited opinions. What’s fascinating in that regard is if you observe yourself watching the videos and social media posts being presented, you see how, in any given moment, you are so easily swayed to believe something or not. Just like that, there is an instantaneous “yes” or “no”.

As I was observing that, I came to realize that I can honestly say that that appears to be the story of my life.  Everything is either a resounding “Yes!” or a “No”.  I drive to work and there’s unexpected traffic – No! I arrive at work and notice that someone brought donuts – Yes! My co-worker makes a negative comment about the smell of my perfume – No! My boss gives me a raise – Yes! You get my drift.

I had to ask myself, what kind of life is that? What kind of life is a yes and no one? Doesn’t that kind of life make me this unwitting instrument of circumstances as they are presented on a moment to moment basis?

I’m ok if most of my day is filled with more of yes than no. I’m not ok if my day is filled with more of no than yes. Can there be any true grounding in that kind of life?

Do you remember the old stereo systems that had equalizers that equalized sound frequencies? The display on them showed the movement of the sounds going up and down on the screen. That’s the image that came to mind for me about how we currently live our lives. We boing up and down based on our yes’s and no’s.

The reason we boing up and down like that is because we have unconscious images and ideas that we are identified with and believe that our life depends on those very images remaining sustained and unthreatened.

I have a parenting blog and when I post, I question everything. In following that same theme here, we could ask ourselves “Are the opinions and beliefs we hold unconsciously within ourselves something that we gave ourselves?” When I look deep into myself, I don’t remember creating the strong opinions that erupt inside me, yet they are there. What I think even more crazy is how we defend those opinions and beliefs at all costs, yet it is most likely that we didn’t even give those opinions to ourselves.

So here we are in a world of pandemic with everyone throwing around their opinion and defending them at all costs, but yet never once ever questioning those very opinions and ideas that one so values.

In living from that yes and no life, can anything ever be learned or will everything just continue to be recycled? A great truth teacher, Guy Finley, once said “What you resist, persists.” Perhaps that is why the past keeps repeating itself. It doesn’t just keep repeating itself, when it comes around again, it comes around more pronounced.

Why? Are we meant to learn through unwanted events such as this current one about the yes and no consciousness and the futility in living from it – that there is no way to learn from the answers that are given and come from within it?

Is there a grounding above that “yes and no” level of consciousness where contradictions like that don’t exist and true answers do? Yes. That grounding place is called the present moment. The past can’t live there. We are meant to live moment to moment present to ourselves, being guided by what is above us that knows what is not only best for us individually, but for the collective world as a whole.

Inserting our opinion in the moment is a waste of vital energy. Opinions belong to a downward force, a lower level of consciousness that believes it knows what’s better for this world than what actually created this Life and the laws that govern it.

Terri Knuth (a/k/a Terri Poppins) started an on-call nanny business in 2009 after a 31-year career as a paralegal because she felt a certain calling to work with children. She has cared for well over 100 families with children of all ages, including doing respite care for special needs children. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, biking, swimming, and attending classes at the Life of Learning Foundation, a center for self-study. You can find more information on her site: www.terri-poppins.com.

Image courtesy of Heather Mount.