one little (huge. power-full. sacred.) word

(new soul mantra pendant in the shop)

it is a powerful exercise, thinking about what you might want to say yes to in your life.

many years ago, sark introduced me to the juicy-ness of the word yes.

in my college apartment, i had big sheets of white paper on the wall behind my bed. i remember deciding to put that paper up after reading one of sark's earlier books.* and inspired by her, i wrote yes in crayon on that wall and looked at it every day. i remember feeling like if i just said yes to one thing just for me each day, life was going to be okay.

i hadn't thought about that in a long time...about that wall i would write on and how i would hold onto that word. and then sometime this year, i started noticing maddie's sunday posts were all about how she was saying yes in her life.

and i remembered the wide, real power of this simple, petite word.

inspired by maddie and sark, i am bringing this word back into my life.

and tonight, i am
saying
yes
to

living this life with a wide heart
inviting in peace
letting go just a bit more
orange polka-dotted knee socks
cooking dinner
staying out way past my bedtime
naps
being an informed voter
a gigantic slightly off-kilter pumpkin
a poetry reading in the bathtub
taking a chance
a little johnny cash and friends
laughing until tears spring into my eyes
speaking the truth of my experience
holding onto love
drinking mugs of hot fruity tea
believing in all that might be

is there something you might want to say yes to today?

*i tried to find the page in sark's book (creative companion, inspiration sandwich, or living juicy) that inspired me to write yes on my bedroom wall so many years ago. i couldn't find the page, but i found all these little pieces of paper stuck throughout the pages of living juicy. notes on an index card from a psychology class, on the back of a note from my dad, on the back of a winnie the pooh day-by-day calendar page, on spiral notebook paper. the notes were all taken while listening to sark's inspiration line. tonight, i close my eyes and i can see that lonely, hungry-for-understanding, sad college girl in her little apartment with her roommate, daniel the cat, curled up beside her. she is sitting on her bed with the antique wrought-iron bed frame. she is wearing a flannel shirt and overalls. and she is wishing someone would see her. and she dials the phone and hears that magic laughter and kind voice** of a person who seems to see her. and this voice shares wisdom with words like, "take giant leaps of faith even when it is dark out" and "drench yourself in self-kindness." and she talks about "radical self-acceptance" and shares quotes and books suggestions...and the girl writes it all down, as much as she can. and when the message ends and she hears the beep, the girls sometimes just says, "thank you" through tears. other times she is too embarrassed and doesn't know what to say, so she just gently hangs up. and some nights she goes to barnes and noble with the notes from inspiration line and book list from one of the pages of living juicy and she starts collecting wisdom and truth and invitations to live in the form of books to place on her white bookshelves in her apartment. some nights, as she reads the pages of these books, she begins to say yes to the hope that maybe she isn't as alone as she thinks she is.

**hear this voice by visiting sark's online journal