Yes Man

Probably some of the best things that have ever happened to you in life, happened because you said yes to something. Otherwise things just sort of stay the same.

Take the stupidest thing you've ever done. At least it's done. It's over. It's gone. We can all learn from our mistakes and heal and move on. But it's harder to learn or heal or move on from something that hasn't happened; something we don't know and is therefore indefinable; something which could very easily have been the best thing in our lives, if only we'd taken the plunge, if only we'd held our breath and stood up and done it, if only we'd said yes.

...maybe sometimes it's riskier not to take a risk. Sometimes all you're guaranteeing is that things will stay the same.

Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.

But the happiest people are the ones who understand that good things occur when one allows them to.

At first I assumed he was a Mexican, but slowly began to realise that a real Mexican probably wouldn't be wearing a sombrero in a London nightclub. And he'd probably have a real moustache, not a stick-on one. A Mexican with a stick-on moustache would be like a Super-Mexican, because he'd have two moustaches, and that'd be cool, because a Super-Mexican could probably use his poncho as a cape, and then I realised I was saying all this to the man's face.

The only time you have no opportunities is when you decide to stop taking them.

If I was going to act irresponsibly, the least I could do was be responsible for it.

The fact is saying yes hadn't been a pointless exercise at all. It had been pointful. It had the power to change lives and set people free... It had the power of adventure. Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.

I recommend keeping a diary. Diaries are cool.

The people who know you well are the people who know your vulnerabilities.

But unlike the classically trained, my dancing had no respect for so-called boundaries; I wasn’t afraid to break the rules.

I mean No is power. No says, "I'm in charge." Think about how many times you've said yes in the past year, and how many times you would've liked to have said no instead. Maybe being able to say no is the one thing that keeps us sane. Some people go through their whole lives saying yes over and over again--yes to things they don't want to do but feel obliged to; yes to things that allow other people to take advantage of them, just because that's the way things are, the way things have always been. Some people need to learn how to say no. Because every time they say yes, they say no to themselves.

The closed mind is a disease. You need to have an open mind otherwise life will just pass you by. You'll be an observer, rather than a participant. Does that make sense? - 75

The thing I realised instantly was that at first, Wag had blamed all of this on luck. But he'd made that luck happen. He just hadn't realised it. He'd made a series of 'correct' choices, which had let him, bass in hand, to his girl. Maybe we can all do that. Maybe we can all change our fortunes. Maybe there's no such thing as destiny - there's just a series of choices we create ourselves. I guess it's only when we look at how a No could have changed our lives for the worse that we realise the value of the tiny yeses that fly at us each day. - 293

If we have faith that some higher powers, some enlightened beings, are helping us to develop spiritually, then you begin to relate to life completely differently. And I suppose life starts to become a little more magical. Every opportunity must be seen as a chance to learn. We have to be open to whatever happens, good or bad. Because anything that happens is a chance to increase our wisdom, and to walk further down the path to enlightenment. So if you miss the bus, that's an opportunity to learn. If you become ill, that's an opportunity to learn something new, like compassion maybe. - 319