an invitation to say 'yes' to life....

No, I wouldn’t do that if i where you. No, best not to wear your heart on your sleeve, it may be broken. Hide it away, keep it safe.

No, please keep your opinions to yourself, no-one wants to hear them, they wouldn’t listen anyway. Best to stay quiet, keep out the way, keep yourself to yourself.

No, don’t dream too big that way you’ll avoid disappointment. BIG dreams aren’t for the likes of us, they have no place here. Stay small. Stay safe.

No, don’t do that! Good girls don’t behave that way or speak that way.

No, don’t stray from the path I’ve laid down for you. Follow the narrow way. Be good.

No, I wouldn’t laugh too loud, get too enthusiastic, make a fuss….don’t draw attention to yourself, you might meet with disapproval.

No don’t brag or boast, no-one likes a show off. Don’t blow your own trumpet. Stay under the radar, please! For your own safety. There that’s better. Be a good girl now.

No, don’t aim too high you might fall. You might hurt yourself.

No, don’t trust those people. Don’t show you care. You may be trampled on, overlooked, taken for granted, taken advantage of. 

No, don’t stray too far away. You might get lost. Stay close. It’s a big, bad world out there, stay close to home. Stay safe at all costs.

I have listened to these voices for so long they have almost become who I am ……yet when I am tucked up nicely in the bed of my life, comfortable, quiet and warm, with all the lights turned off ….then, somewhere in the depths of me  I hear another voice speaking….. “Let me tell you a story” it says. 
“ It begins like this. Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamed of the day her ‘Yes’ would be heard…..”
The poet Rumi says this:
‘Today like every other day we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument……let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.’

Surely this is an invitation to ignore the warning voices that shout ‘No’ into our lives and instead embrace the music in our hearts and go out and  live our yes.

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