The year of YES!

Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is.
Say ‘yes’ to life — and see how life suddenly starts working
for you rather than against you.

                   ~ Eckhart Tolle

I’ve always lived with the fear of failure. Afraid that I didn’t measure up. Afraid that my work wasn’t good enough. Afraid of taking the big leap into the unknown. And this fear has stopped me from saying YES.

So I’ve decided that 2016 is going to be the year of YES!

Elizabeth Gilbert says that we should have a sense of entitlement. She says that you can’t do anything interesting with your life if you don’t feel entitled to have a vision and a voice. This sense of entitlement or sense of belonging she says, is about announcing, “I am here!” And it will allow you to engage more fully with life.

Ok, so what am I saying YES to?

Well,  I’m saying yes to life, yes to being a creative person, yes to being in charge of my own show. I’m saying yes to being imperfect, yes to showing up. I’ll put one foot in front of the other and believe that I’m walking the path to a passionate life, write one letter after the last and they’ll become words and then sentences on the page.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Putting one foot in front of the other and one letter after the last… sounds easy too!

Easy to say but not so easy to do!

I’ve started by saying YES to being imperfect and YES to letting go.

I had a terrible time setting up my website. I fiddled with it, I asked Number One son to look at it, and I felt paralysed to do anything else until it was done to my satisfaction. But I didn’t do the one thing that was needed — I needed to say “yes, I’m imperfect” (actually, lousy!) at the technical stuff to do with setting up the website and I should hire an expert.

Saying yes, and letting go was a major shift for me. I felt such a sense of relief that it was in someone else’s hands, it just wiped out the huge stress ball that was weighing me down. From that moment I could begin with my most important YES for 2016 — to showing up.

For the past week I’ve shown up at my desk every day and practiced my writing. Calling it practice is much less pressure than saying I’m going to write 1000 words today. And I can do without the pressure! The amazing thing is that the words have appeared on the page without too much trouble and although I have a goal in mind for the writing, I haven’t been too precious about the words because I know it’s just practice.

And remember my five item list? Well I’ve said YES to exercising regularly and started my regime this week as well.

I’ve been a member at my local gym for a long time, but for the past few years I’ve been erratic with my exercise and haven’t committed to a regular routine, even to my Body Balance class —a mix of tai chi, yoga and pilates — which I love. I’ve also had a couple of niggling injuries (shoulder and wrist) which I used as an excuse for not going  regularly (not saying YES to showing up!). 
I felt the need to get the heart pumping, so I decided to try a few new classes.

I found a great class called Ballet Barre which took me back to my teenage years of dance classes. There wasn’t any dancing but a lot of exercises at the barre. I couldn’t finish all the sets of exercises and the sweat just streamed off me during that first class, but I’m feeling better now and I love it. Today I started another aerobic class —  choreographed steps which I found challenging. But I feel great! Must be those endorphins kicking in. So the regime is coming together and I’ve read that I’ll be able to see and feel the difference after ten to twelve weeks.

Saying YES isn’t easy and I’m only at the beginning with this principle, but I believe that saying yes regularly to a few things and giving my attention to those intentions is going to make a big difference to moving along my path to living a passionate life.

The other important thing that I’m going to say YES to is the present moment, or as Tolle says, “surrender to what is.” It’s not always easy to surrender to what is, or to be mindful, but I’m willing to give it a crack and aim to make 2016 the year of YES.

Is there something you’d like to say YES to? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Oh, and what do you think of the website? Appreciate your feedback!