Say Yes

A recurring theme in my life and this blog has been the concept of "Yes". Looking for reasons to say "Yes", saying "Yes" more, and generally creating a circuit a positive energy using this powerful word.

While it could be argued that in recent times I may have said "Yes" a little too much, I've also found that being ready to say "Yes" means being truly in the moment.

You know how sometimes you'll make a decision and then you receive some kind of cosmic signifier to reaffirm it? That's how it has been with Yes. There's a book called The Year of Yes, about a woman who says this magical word for a year to every man who asks her out. That one's on my reading list, but doesn't interest me as much as Danny Wallace's Yes Man. One day Wallace, an Englishman in his mid-20's, met a man on a bus who told him, "Say 'Yes' more." He took that advice and it revolutionized his life.

I ended up with a copy of Yes Man in a rather random and seemingly coincidental way (I'm unable to go into the details here). It was as if something placed the book in my path. I finished it a few days ago and would recommend it to anyone. Apart from being an entertaining read, it is sure to make you want to create and seize your own Yes moments.

As if that wasn't inspiring enough, just now I was watching DVD commentary for a film and came across the following:

Saying "Yes" to the instant (realizing one's wakefulness to the present moment) will give way to a chain of yeses, a system of "contagious affirmation." To say "Yes" to one instant is to say "Yes" to all of existence.

I felt compelled to pause the movie then and there, and write this post immediately.

I have a number of theories on what happiness is, but I think Yes moments have a lot to do with it. When I was eighteen years old, I traveled thousands of miles on what would become a life-altering journey. It was during this trip that I promised myself never to be in a situation where I am left wondering "what if".

Eradicating potential question marks from my life has led to some very foolish behavior, but I have never regretted pursuing my curiosity and never will. Depression is defined as "anger turned inward" but I think it also should include "marked lack of curiosity". When I was sick over the last couple of weeks and felt down emotionally, not only did I lack energy, but I lacked passion; I lacked a sense of wonder.

Right now, I feel positively electrified and filled with curiosity... Yet at the same time, I am satiated. I have faith in the notion that life gives you exactly what you are supposed to have when you are supposed to have it, and I am saying "Yes" to all of it: to my family and friends and past lovers and current solitude and every single other thing which has led to this very second.

To borrow another phrase from Yes Man:

Si a Todo.

[Translation: Yes to Everything]