The year of yes

When it comes to yourself, ‘yes’ is more. Do you want to change your life this year? Then, you must inculcate the habit of saying yes far more often than you usually do. ‘Yes’ holds the key to greater empowerment. In her TED Talk, Hollywood’s ace writer and producer Shonda Rhimes said how saying yes to everything gave her power. For one year, she said YES to everything that scared her. She learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self.

POWER OF SAYING YES

Saying ‘yes’ to everything means freeing up your brain for more important things. Saying ‘yes’ is about pushing oneself to consider there’s always more – more happiness, more standing in the sun, more ways to say YES.

ALL ABOUT INNER STRENGTH

Saying ‘yes’ is terrifying. Personal and professional growth requires you to take risks, where you are more inclined to say ‘no’ or ‘let’s hold that decision for a while’; but once you say YES, you open doors of new opportunity. Fear stops most people from answering in the affirmative.

Robert Berman, the author of Power of Yes, says, “Remember, the energy of ‘no’ is a resistance, and creates a block. It’s okay by all means to say ‘no’ when it’s appropriate. ‘Yes’ has the
energy of acknowledgement; it has the power to move mountains. It is acceptance. It allows you to be in awareness. Practise saying ‘yes’ as a mantra, repeating it over and over in your mind and out loud.

Rhimes in her book, Year of Yes, invites readers to take up the same challenge. ‘Yes’ to doing, ‘yes’ to play, ‘yes’ to having a good body, ‘yes’ to a cause, ‘yes’ to people, ‘yes’ to help, ‘yes’ to compliments, ‘yes’ to difficult conversations, ‘yes’ to dancing it out, ‘yes’ to who I am, ‘yes’ to being beautiful. Just say ‘yes’ without hesitation.

HOW TO START

Take time out to do things for yourself. Don’t shy away from life by saying ‘no’. Once you learn to accept offers, happiness will flow naturally. Try one new thing each week. It doesn’t have to be big. Learn a new skill, have lunch with an acquaintance, do something for a friend. Once every week, say ‘yes’ where you might have said ‘no’ before. Recognise that failures and mistakes are not the end.