The Art of Saying Yes

In the practice of leadership, one of the important skills is practicing the courage to say no. Particularly to say no to everything that is against the mission and the vision of the organization. Without enough courage to say no, then any organization will easily collapse.

In the world of soul growth, human beings need another skill. To be frank, the behavior of people in this age is rather strange, not only from people who are highly educated, who have high positions, who have high social status like to say no, even those who do not have enough education and having restless souls like to fight and say no.

Let's look deeply to the human interaction in many medias, including social media, here and there we can see souls who like to fight. They mistakenly assume that there are a lot of happiness and gladness in their habit of saying no. As we all experience in daily life, the more we say no the more the inner soul keeps burning inside.

Some thinkers connecting this symptom of saying no with the declining trust among fellow human beings everywhere. Japan is a country where a sense of trust between human beings was very high in the past. But a leader of a Japanese firm shared a story, these stories of well-trusted society have been buried in the history.

Deeply reflecting from this finding, for the sake of soul health and growth, it is a worthy learning to practice the art of saying yes in daily life. This is really important, especially because the muscles of the human souls are full of tension in every corner of the world. The increasing numbers of suicides, the never declining rate of divorces, the violence which threatens everywhere, are all some of the pieces of evidence.

And before these tensions lead your life into one of stress, depression or even sickness, let's learn to soften the muscles of the inner soul. As a starting point, let's choose a beautiful day when you will practice the art of saying yes. It could be on a holiday, it could be in the day of birth, or sacred day. Then, train yourself as diligent as possible, as sincere as possible to say yes to anything that happens in that day.

It does not matter whether your spouse complains, your children are naughty, your boss is very demanding, the coworkers are full of criticism, the streets which are full of traffic jams, the annoying television, seeing some leaders who have no shame at all, simply learn to say yes. Remember also to smile as beautiful as possible.

Initially, there is tension inside. Just remember to also say yes and smile to the last inner tension. Anyone who diligently and sincerely practices this, over a matter of time will see the inner energy of resistance weakening from day to day. This probably happens when someone is not greedy and doesn't only choose the good over the bad, or choose only the right over the wrong, to choose only the glad over the sad. Everything is allowed to flow without any single resistance.

It is not easy of course. Especially in the beginning. But diligent and sincere practices will train oneself step by step. Until one day the doors of peace and serenity are opened. For those souls who have passed through these phases we often share a message like this: To grow is to be painful. To change it to be painful as well. But without growth and change, then the soul will be similar to the dry wood.

On the one hand the dry wood does not produce any leaves (which make the environment cooler). On the other hand the dry wood fails to give beautiful gifts to our life, in the forms of touching flowers of peace and serenity. For that reason, no matter how painful and how difficult the challenge is, let's allocate at least one day a week to say totally yes to life. It's healthy for your soul, it is also healthy to your surrounding environment. In short, learn not to blame others and yourself. At the same time, train yourself to smile and say yes to any blessing of the moment. It's healthy to your soul. It can make your soul beautiful as well.

Penulis: Gede Prama.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter @GailardoJose.

Proof Readby: Kirsty Spence.