Upon the arrival of a new year

like always, I pondered

goals and hopes and dreams,

settling on one: saying yes.

My life has tumbled forward

from affirmative to affirmative,

becoming ever more abundant,

challenging, luminous.

Try it today: one can start small.

Mulling over sandwich choices,

choose the one with the ingredients

you’ve never splurged on, letting

them linger on your tongue,

inviting in a yes for more adventure…

Say yes—

to the weekend invite,

to the coffee date with the unlikely candidate,

to the more challenging morning run,

to the book that’s been sitting on your shelf,

awaiting a reader.

Say yes to a stranger’s smile.

Say yes to kindness,

extending a long-overdue forgiveness, perhaps,

or pausing before reacting

with irritation.

Say yes to the challenging yoga pose,

the intimidating work project,

that journal you’ve been meaning to write in.

Say yes, too, to allowing yourself the option

of turning any of those things down,

surrendering to what your body and soul need most.

At the close of the day,

say yes to accepting whatever happened,

to even the moments you faltered, or disappointed yourself,

letting go of these tiny details as if sifting

through soft grains of sand.

Say yes to stillness.

Say yes to rest.

Say yes—today.

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Relephant Read:

Learning to say Yes after a Lifetime of No.

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Author: Keeley Milne

Image: Author’s own. 

Editors: Yoli Ramazzina; Caitlin Oriel