Saying No and Letting Go

Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most

Edwin Goldberg

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781580237284
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Self Improvement

An inspiring introduction to the most important lesson for today's busy world: the take-away is to take away.

"All we can hope to accomplish—by paying attention—is to learn to live with the mystery, become more comfortable with not knowing and try to enjoy life's uncertainty. Every day is a gift, but we often squander it by missing what matters most."
—from the Introduction

Every day we are faced with choices that entail saying no—and frankly we're not very good at it. Whether it's the desire to please, get ahead, accumulate or impress, our lives have become so full and so busy that it is hard to determine what we really need and what's really important to us.

The purpose of this book is to help you regain control of the things that matter most in your life. It taps timeless Jewish wisdom that teaches how to "hold on tightly" to the things that matter most while learning to "let go lightly" of the demands, worries, activities and conflicts that do not ultimately matter. Drawing insights from ancient and modern sources, it helps you identify your core values as well as the opportunities that do not reflect those values, and that you can learn to pass up. It also shows you how to establish a disciplined practice to help you adhere to your choices.

Whether it's letting go of resentment, learning to say "no" at work or to your loved ones, downsizing your diet or asking less of the earth, this book will help you distinguish between the trivial and the profound.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1: Reconnect with the Holiness in Time
• 2: Keep a Tab on Mission Drift
• 3: Let Go of Resentment
• 4: Downsize!
• 5: Be Present—Really Present—in Love
• 6: Respond to the Right Questions
• 7: Say No to Loved Ones, Especially Your Children
• 8: Stress Less to Do More
• 9: Stop Ignoring Your Mental Garbage
• 10: Take a Leap of Action
• 11: Ask Less of the Earth
• 12: Hear the Voice That Matters
• 13: Don’t Underestimate the Power of Small Kindnesses
• 14: See the Divinity in Others
• 15: Recognize There Are No Guarantees
• 16: Let Go of Fear by Facing It First
• 17: Abandon Revenge and Resentment
• 18: Finish the Race You Started
• 19: Hold on Tightly, Let Go Lightly
• 20: Open Up Your Eyes
• 21: Write Your Name Upon the Hearts of Others
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Suggestions for Further Reading
• About the Author
• Sign Up for E-mail Updates