Integral Spiritual Technique #4 - "Saying a Deep YES to Life... Starting in the Smallest Moments"

Saying a "Deep Yes to Life" is a no-matter-what commitment.

It means that whatever may occur in the world or in your life, good or bad, you have made a wholehearted, life-defining vow to affirm the essential principle of life, to say "yes" -- and to continue to open your heart, expand your awareness, and serve goodness, truth, and beauty, whatever the circumstances.

However, practically speaking, things happen every day that cause us to close our hearts, narrow our awareness, and in effect, shut out the fullness of life -- to energetically say "no" to life.

It could be an argument with a loved one, a bad day at work, a traffic jam, a screaming child, an appliance that breaks down, or any of a number of other setbacks. Life is full of things that work against the ego's wishes and expectations. And little by little, these can wear us down, building up a scaly residue over our deepest, purest spiritual commitments.

Sometimes, of course, even more difficult, more stressful things can occur -- such as losing a job, suffering an illness, or the death of a loved one, and these can be profoundly challenging to our faith and trust in life.

For the sake of this technique, we'll focus on "building up our muscles" of trust and faith by using the smaller, less consequential instances of negativity as golden practice opportunities precisely to re-affirm that Deep Yes -- so that when bigger challenges occur, we're already and more strongly in the habit of doing so, our innate pattern is already "Yes."

The practice is very simple. Next time something frustrating, annoying, disturbing, or stressful occurs, first notice your immediate reaction. Quite likely, you'll feel some form of anger, hurt, or anxiety. Your breathing will have become more shallow. The area around your heart will have tensed up.

Let this be your cue to practice.

First take a deep breath, feel into your reactivity, soften your awareness, and thenspecifically remember the infinite goodness, beauty, truth, and power of life that transcends your ego's frustration in the moment.

Remember that Cosmic Yes and say "Yes" quietly to yourself, recognizing that there is nothing that could possibly happen to negate the Miracle of Being, or the blessing of incarnating in a precious human body.

Say "yes" again and feel how the universe IS yes. Feel how your own utterance is, in a very real sense, the universe's own self-affirmation. And recognize that whatever might have prompted your initial reaction is not other than or separate from life, but an equally miraculous part of its very nature and expression. And, it's a perfect opportunity for you to recognize yet another aspect of the divine.

Recognize this for a moment, then get back to working with whatever was troubling you, while continuing to feel your wider, deeper, more heart-centered awareness.

Done repeatedly, this can become a practice of the greatest magnitude.