Dancing the Dance of Yes

Not long ago, I was participating in a finger labyrinth walk designed to help us let go of 2020 and embrace 2021. As I was letting my fingers take the twists and turns of the labyrinth, I distinctly heard the words, “You don’t have to know how, you just have to say ‘yes’! Dance the dance of ‘yes’.” I later walked an outdoor labyrinth, and the voice spoke very clearly in my head again, “Say ‘Yes!’ Dance the Dance of ‘Yes’. At that moment, I felt a huge release, and I literally wanted to dance out of the labyrinth. My body was buzzing with energy, and I felt more alive than I have felt in years.

I have been contemplating these words ever since. If I say ‘yes,’ what am I saying ‘yes’ to? What is it that my soul is calling me to? Obviously, I don’t have to know. All I have to know is to say ‘yes’ to my intuition, to trust that my soul is leading me to something more than I ever imagined for myself. This ‘yes’ is a ‘yes’ to myself, not to the demands of the outside world. In saying this ‘yes’, I am allowing myself to choose only that which feeds the depths of my soul, only that which uplifts and fills me with love.

The new year may not lead me to some grand accomplishment or outward success. It may, in fact, lead me on a more internal journey toward the holy. Wherever it leads, I believe that saying ‘yes’ will bring out the life that wants to be lived through me. It will be the catalyst that allows me to reach my full potential before I am gone from this earth. Saying ‘yes’ is as hard or as simple as living in the moment in deep gratitude for the life I have been given. The rest will follow.

Yes is
Opening my eyes to the beauty of the fallen leaves or the wrinkled face of a well-lived life.

Yes is
Hearing the song of the birds, the croaking of frogs, the chirping of crickets – as if I am hearing them for the very first time.

 Yes is
Smelling the rose, the scent of baking bread, the reek of sweat and dung and loving it all because it just is.

Yes is
Feeling every emotion deeply and letting it go in gratitude and love.

Yes is
Dancing in the rain in wild abandon, making room for all that is and all that wants to be.

Yes is
Keeping my steps on the unknown path, as I walk I know not where.

Yes is
Loving myself, knowing in my soul that I am enough and that it is enough to say ‘yes!’

Barbara Garland
December, 2020