Yes, Yes, Yes To Life

The following is an audio version of the poem "God Says Yes to Me."  I have no rights to this poem and have only reproduced it for content.

(Poem written out at bottom.)
 

Read this first and then give it a try!  Close your eyes and shake your head, no. Then nod up and down, yes. Doesn't nodding yes have a more hypnotic and natural feeling to it? Try hanging upside down in Uttanasana, forward fold;  nod yes and shake your head no. Which seems easier, simpler, better?

Saying yes on the yoga mat is the first step in figuring out how to say yes! to life.  When we get in the mind frame that we cannot go any farther or a pose is too hard, can't you just hear your ego laughing and saying, might as well give in?  Sometimes, we do get too physically tired and we need a break or a sooner svasana than planned, and that, is okay!  But, when it is a mental fatigue, disguised by a low-toned judgmental voice, that is your ego.  And, you don't have to listen to it, because we have already agreed that nodding yes feels better than shaking our head no.

I like the above poem. Why can't we be a little melodramatic?  And, I say, let's wear nail polish on just one hand or maybe just every other finger!  And, let's rename our egos "Sweetcakes"!  That way, when the thought hits you that you aren't skinny enough, smart enough, pretty enough, strong enough, loved enough, or (something) enough, we can stop and say, "Sweetcakes (in a definitive, yet calm, strong voice), I am all those things and more."  Then, throw down your yoga mat, hop on board and move!  Toss in the positive affirmations while you are at it: I am just right, I am pretty, I am smart, I am strong, I am loved, I am...

And, I'm thinking, yell this out loud!  Because, when the neighbors hear you, it just might cause them to stop and say, me, too!  And that is the kind of snowballing effect we want in Chicago in winter. I'll take that any day over the white stuff. Any day.

 

“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”

by E.E. Cummings





God Says Yes to Me by Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic

and she said yes

I asked her if it was okay to be short

and she said it sure is

I asked her if I could wear nail polish

or not wear nail polish

and she said honey

she calls me that sometimes

she said you can do just exactly

what you want to

Thanks God I said

what if I cavort with squawking saints

forage with a crowd of long legged water angels

sail with a regatta of white pelicans

sing glory hallelujah with the cormorants

drying their wings over the water

and she said Baby I made you for this

cavort as you wish

And is it even okay if I don't paragraph

my letters

Sweetcakes God said

who knows where she picked that up

what I'm telling you is

Yes Yes Yes