I have had a rather long day, back to back students (because I haven't yet learnt that people do take lunch breaks...) but then a lovely evening in the company of some very spectacular people. I will always believe that I am fortunate to have such people in my life...
Anyway, I really wanted to post something brief thoughts about my day and subsequent reflections. A very good friend of mine, and she won't mind me writing this if she reads this, told me that she sees me as a person who always says 'yes'... To me, this was a real compliment. It was not too long ago that I was too young to take responsibility for myself, but old enough to know that saying 'yes' was risky and saying 'no' meant that I was safe within the comfort of what I knew. So truly I found this to be a real compliment. I therefore had to think a good few times about this because to me, I feel that I am constantly saying no, or having to compromise, or am just absolutely stretched to the limits, meaning that any 'yes' elicited from me really is more in the tone of 'yes.... if you really need me to.....'. You know the kind of really disengaged and uncommitted indication that I would rather commit my time to other activities. Rather like my response to the marketing department who wanted pictures and statements of joy and celebration pre-graduation ceremony... I think I have done a good job at subtly questioning if this is really necessary....
So, given my identity to this friend as a 'yes person', I thought this was interesting. firstly given that I do not always say yes, and secondly, because we have been sharing thoughts recently about a 'now list'. This said 'now list' is a list that you create that consists of all the many things you would like to do; your commitments and goals and tasks, and then you select the 5 most important, and discard the remaining things that felt of secondary significance to your life. You make a commitment to say 'no' to anything that did not make the ultimate 'golden top 5'. This discarding is because it is worth only investing time and effort into the selected five. I initially thought this seemed like a great method to keep life in-check... However, I think I quite enjoy being a 'yes' person. I have worked hard at letting my boundaries down and not being defined by the 4 walls that contain me. Why stop now, and why limit life to only the five things you feel are of significant importance. Our lives, as humans, will always introduce complexities and curve-balls and there is no way of knowing what these may be. I do believe in balance being key. Life is truly for the living, and I believe that to live, we must embrace, 'stand naked in the storm' (still cannot shake this phrase from my mind, thanks to Mick Cooper), and say 'yes' to whatever the hell ignites our spirit or speaks to us. Surely that is the way to live,,,, and that is the way to live regret-free knowing that you have made informed choices along the way that have led you to where you are right now, and that those choices have not been governed by a check-list of simply five things, rather decisions are governed by your own being and choice. Here's to the 'yes' list... I think it's just as important as the 'now list', maybe even more-so, and I believe that it doesn't have to be finite...
A friend shared the following words on Facebook - I am sharing it as the 'yes' list is almost never to be done alone. Often meeting others 'there' - living life in relation to others, is what makes the difference, as I have remembered this evening:
'Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.
I will meet you there'
(Rumi)
So, given my identity to this friend as a 'yes person', I thought this was interesting. firstly given that I do not always say yes, and secondly, because we have been sharing thoughts recently about a 'now list'. This said 'now list' is a list that you create that consists of all the many things you would like to do; your commitments and goals and tasks, and then you select the 5 most important, and discard the remaining things that felt of secondary significance to your life. You make a commitment to say 'no' to anything that did not make the ultimate 'golden top 5'. This discarding is because it is worth only investing time and effort into the selected five. I initially thought this seemed like a great method to keep life in-check... However, I think I quite enjoy being a 'yes' person. I have worked hard at letting my boundaries down and not being defined by the 4 walls that contain me. Why stop now, and why limit life to only the five things you feel are of significant importance. Our lives, as humans, will always introduce complexities and curve-balls and there is no way of knowing what these may be. I do believe in balance being key. Life is truly for the living, and I believe that to live, we must embrace, 'stand naked in the storm' (still cannot shake this phrase from my mind, thanks to Mick Cooper), and say 'yes' to whatever the hell ignites our spirit or speaks to us. Surely that is the way to live,,,, and that is the way to live regret-free knowing that you have made informed choices along the way that have led you to where you are right now, and that those choices have not been governed by a check-list of simply five things, rather decisions are governed by your own being and choice. Here's to the 'yes' list... I think it's just as important as the 'now list', maybe even more-so, and I believe that it doesn't have to be finite...
A friend shared the following words on Facebook - I am sharing it as the 'yes' list is almost never to be done alone. Often meeting others 'there' - living life in relation to others, is what makes the difference, as I have remembered this evening:
'Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.
I will meet you there'
(Rumi)
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