This practice is an invitation to reconnect with your body’s experience of YES.
By YES I mean those moments that carry a sense of bliss, aliveness, ease or quiet fulfilment. Sometimes this YES is joyful and vibrant. Sometimes it is subtle. It may appear as a deeper breath, a softening in the chest, a feeling of expansion, a smile or simply the sense that, for this moment, life feels right.
Many of us have learned to navigate life primarily through thinking. We analyse, compare, solve problems and try to make the right decisions. The mind is an extraordinary resource, but it is not the only intelligence we possess.
Our body is constantly responding to life. If we learn to listen, it quietly shows us what nourishes us and what does not.
This practice is an invitation to strengthen your awareness of this inner felt sense of YES. Little by little, this YES becomes a compass. Rather than forcing your way through life, you begin to sense where life is naturally inviting you to go.
The Practice
Set aside at least twenty minutes in a place where you are unlikely to be disturbed.
Take a few slow breaths and allow yourself to arrive. There is nothing to achieve. Simply become present enough to notice your experience.
Begin writing down everything that gives you a sense of bliss or an inner YES.
Do not organise the list. Do not evaluate it. Do not ask whether something is important enough.
Simply write.
Include large experiences and tiny ones.
Perhaps walking in the forest, travelling, dancing, drinking your morning coffee, eating meatballs, hearing birds in the morning, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin, sitting with a friend, listening to music or watching the rain.
Include things you already do, things you used to love and things you have never experienced but somehow know your heart longs for.
Keep writing until the list feels complete for today.
As you write, you may notice resistance.
Perhaps a voice says, “That is unrealistic.” “I do not have time.” “I do not deserve that.”
Perhaps you simply struggle to remember what brings you joy.
Do not fight these reactions or try to change them.
Simply notice them with curiosity. They are part of the practice too.
When you feel complete, put the list aside. Then, over the following days, return to it for two or three minutes each day. Read it slowly and allow yourself to reconnect with the feeling each item evokes. You may even discover new experiences that belong on the list. Let it continue to grow over time.
Living the Practice
The next step is to bring this awareness into your everyday life.
Whenever one of the experiences from your list naturally presents itself, pause for a moment and become fully present with it.
The invitation is not to do more.
The invitation is to become more aware.
If one of the things on your list is drinking your morning coffee, pause before taking the first sip. Feel the warmth of the cup in your hands. Notice the smell, the taste and, most importantly, notice what happens inside your body.
Where do you feel the YES?
Is there a softening?
A smile?
More space?
A feeling of warmth?
A deeper breath?
Stay with these sensations for a few moments longer than you normally would.
The practice is not about the activity itself.
The practice is about recognising and becoming intimate with the embodied experience of bliss that the activity awakens.
Allow the YES to Guide You
As you continue to recognise and deepen this inner felt sense of YES, something begins to change naturally.
Little by little, your awareness becomes more refined and your body starts to recognise more easily what truly nourishes you.
With time, this growing sensitivity begins to influence the way you make decisions in your everyday life. Instead of relying exclusively on thinking, planning or analysing, you gradually learn to include the wisdom of your direct experience.
Your choices become more sustainable because they arise from what genuinely supports your system. They require less effort, generate more energy and create a greater sense of flow in your life.
There is no need to force this process.
Simply continue noticing.
Continue listening.
Continue allowing your list to grow.
Over time, you will be creating a personal map of the experiences that awaken bliss, nourish your system and help you live from an increasingly authentic sense of YES.