I GIVE MYSELF PERMISSION - TO SAY YES

Welcome to Day 9 of the "I give myself permission" exercise in self-love.

Today, I give myself permission to say yes!

Excellent. Easy one, right? I mean, why would we ever want to deny ourselves anything? I don't know, maybe fear, guilt, conditioning...

Cast your mind back to your childhood. I bet, for most of us, NO was likely the predominant word we heard growing up. No, you can't have that, do that, eat that, go there, stay up....The list was endless. Our parents and guardians would tell us NO to help keep us safe. But, that means we quickly learn to associate no with safety and YES with unsafe, with risk, with danger. And so it begins. From a very young age, we are taught to avoid certain activities or behaviours and to say no to ourselves in order to keep ourselves from getting hurt.

No = safe. Yes = unsafe. No = self-preservation, right? Wrong.

Even though NO is a necessary word, at times, in some instances it can be very limiting. In the wrong hands NO can equal denial or control. In your own hands, it can equal sacrifice or even a sense of undeserving. WE use NO as a safety net, a net that keeps us from living our most complete, fulfilled life.

Today, I want to encourage those of you who are using NO as an excuse to find a shift in power. To say yes. Say yes to adventure, yes to self-belief, yes to taking a chance on yourself. Will I ask for that raise? - YES. Will I go on that date? - YES. Will I follow my heart? - YES YES YES.

Take a deep breath in. Feel your breath travelling through your body. Feel your shoulders relax. Feel the muscles in your face relax. Let go of any tension, any stress, any sense of reluctance or fear. Breathe deeply and repeat today's mantra: I GIVE MYSELF PERMISSION TO SAY YES. I GIVE MYSELF PERMISSION TO SAY YES. I deserve all good things in my life and I allow myself to release the negativity that holds me back from all that I deserve.

Breathe in again. Release. Allow a smile to come to your lips. Feel that sense of positive energy still flowing through you.

Of course, the rebels in the group will know that NO often makes some things even more attractive. NO can often be the word that encourages us most. And to those people I say, come back tomorrow when we'll be discussing the positive power of NO.

But for today, I encourage you to embrace your dreams. Take a risk. Take a chance. Be safe,