Just Hit Send

Previously posted: January 25, 2009

Have you seen the Jim Carrey movie “Yes Man”? It’s not an “Oscar” type of movie but a cute and funny film with a big life-message. Carrey plays a man recently divorced and in a dead-end job. Then a fateful meeting with an old friend inspires him to attend a “Yes” seminar. The seminar’s premise; Say “yes” to everything.

Obviously you couldn’t have a comedic talent like Carrey in a role without a few funny mishaps and unfortunate “yes” moments, but silly humor aside; from the lead character’s very first “yes” the Universe begins to put into motion a series of events which leads Carrey on an adventure to passion and love.

Inspired by the movie’s underlying message, I began to experiment with saying “yes”. This isn’t a change in philosophy as much as it is a change of habit. We all have things we want for our lives and we set goals and visualize, and work hard, hoping our dreams will come true. What has become evident to me within a very short time is that we actually talk ourselves out of taking advantage of the very opportunities the Universe is providing. We say “no” because we believe ourselves to be too busy. We say “no” because we believe ourselves to be inadequate. It soon becomes habit and with each “no” we’ve let an opportunity for growth and personal development slip through our fingers.

While I expected this experiment to be a difficult one, I’ve actually realized a huge breakthrough. I received an email with a request to speak about Soulspring at a women’s luncheon. I immediately replied back with a “Sure, I would be happy to!” and then without skipping a beat I HIT SEND. It wasn’t until that moment that I heard my inner voice saying, “What did you just do?”

A brief panic went through me, followed by a flurry of negative self-talk ala Stuart Smalley (not good enough, not smart enough, etc.). Then I laughed, because of course I know better, and because once again I’ve been provided with a venue to share my passion for women’s empowerment. All because I just HIT SEND and worried about the details later!

What a concept! What a catchy slogan! What a powerful reminder for today’s email/text message generation of how to live life. This week, just once, when an opportunity presents itself…HIT SEND. Then, report back on where that one simple action takes you!

Soulspiration of the Week:

“You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.”
Caroline Myss