In my most recent monthly newsletter, I offered a poll as to whether I should take a vacation from blogging or keep writing while I’m away at Dance Camp. The overwhelming majority of responders said I should take a vacation. Nevertheless, I wanted to share a quick thought from this week that might be valuable to you as you forge your life and career path.

The Power of Yes

There’s a computer room here at camp where I spend a couple of hours each morning. As I was getting up from my computer a couple of days ago, I audibly whacked my knee into the table leg. Ouch!

“Do you want me to help you?” said a voice from the other side of the room. “I’m a trained massage therapist.”

“I don’t think massage will help my bruised knee,” I responded, turning around to see a slim dark-skinned man I did not recognize.

“Oh, I do Reiki too,” said the man, and I said “yes” to Reiki (a form of energy healing), which he gave to my knee. The knee stopped hurting almost immediately.

The next thing I knew, this man from Ghana, whose name is Yaw, was giving healing to my rib area, where I still am having issues after my car accident, and showing me his electronic tools that he uses to help heal scar tissue (I have plenty of it internally from the various muscle tears in my abdominals that I’ve been dealing with for the past few months).

I will be hiring Yaw for a full healing session in the next few days.

Saying Yes in Business

Also in the past week, I completed a questionnaire for Brava Magazine about, amongst other things, how my business got started. My interaction with Yaw and the way my business got off the ground have some parallels.

When I first started my business, I became active on LinkedIn, where someone offered to help me and I said yes. A marketing professional, his idea was for me to offer free LinkedIn profile reviews to members. I said “yes,” which led to my writing articles about LinkedIn and being asked to lead webinars (I said “yes” to those requests too). I was open to what came into my life, and by saying “yes” eventually built a business and wrote my best-selling e-book, How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile.

The Alternative

If I had said “no” to Yaw, or “no” to the marketer on LinkedIn, or “no” to the people who wanted me to deliver a webinar, my week at Dance Camp and my life would look much different right now. Of course it’s impossible to say yes to every opportunity that comes along, and I make choices all the time. But I wonder how many opportunities I let pass me by that would be a contribution to my life?

What are you saying “yes” and “no” to in your life? Is there more room for “yes”? What have you said “yes” to that has led to something unexpected? I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories.

And maybe I’ll take next week off…