Say yes

The other day my neighbors and friends invited me to go with them to a Phish concert. Now, I’ve never put Phish on in my car or jammed out to them while cooking dinner….I’m kinda a hip hop girl, but I accepted their invitation because…well…why not.

Recently, in my house we’ve been talking a lot about saying yes. Saying yes to new things, saying yes to life, saying yes to all of the human experience. So I went.

Now when I talk about saying yes, I don’t mean agreeing to go and then analyzing and judging the scenario the whole time. No. Saying yes means fully engaging in what is happening. And I sooo did. And it was soooo fun.

I danced my ass off. And as I looked around at the 17 thousand + people there and the billows of smoke, I said yes. Yes to their experience, yes to our similarities, and yes to our differences.

When you start to say yes to life, you can’t keep living defined by what you don’t like – Tweet it.  And you start to have to define yourself at a deeper level – where it touches your soul.

I’m committed to saying yes to life, to the challenges, to the delights – and decided to get art made that reminds me.

There are so many times during the day that my instant reaction is “no”. Like when my daughter asks me if she can break the raw eggs up in the batter with her hands. But then I catch myself – if there isn’t a good reason for no, I am going with yes.

Now I’m not advocating for spreading yourself thin and saying yes to others requests of you so that you don’t disappoint them. I’m actually talking more about a feeling of complete acceptance and welcoming in every experience you encounter. So if you are getting a speeding ticket – you don’t resist the reality of what is happening, and instead say yes. Yes, this is part of being human, and being present with it may lead you to gifts beyond what you could imagine.

Wanna join me? This week can you say yes to life? Just for a week (though I’m sure you’re going to love it and continue 😉 ) when you find yourself resisting, struggling, grumpy, or shutting down – can you instead take in all of the visual and auditory information around you, feel the sensations in your body, and say yes. YES! This is life.

I’d love to hear about how this goes for you. Scroll down and tell me in the comments.