Aligning with your "yes!" is about feeling nourished on every level – feeling deeply alive. I'm not talking about the shallow, quick-fix kinds of comfort that make us feel good only temporarily. The kind of feeling good that I'm talking about, which comes from aligning with your 'yes!,' is about listening for the deeper truth underneath all of that. Deep alignment evokes the sense of thriving, coming alive, feeling juiced. It's that knowledge that "I'm in the right place, at the right time, doing what I'm here to do." You feel grounded and at home in yourself. Your life becomes rooted in a deep 'yes!' You feel alive and grateful to be in direct contact with life. You are in touch with how exquisite it is to feel and be with the raw truth of all that is moving through you. This kind of alignment includes difficult emotions, pain, and tension. It can include illness and struggle. It is about being in direct, authentic contact with the wholeness of life. Nothing is denied. It is your truth and you are awake to it.

This may sound too good to be true, but I assure you, I believe whole-heartedly and sincerely that this is possible for each and every one of us. We can all cultivate access to that deeper sense of aliveness, even when we are navigating an illness or challenge. It can be too easy to read about things like this and feel that it is not for you. It is for you! Turning toward yourself with kindness, reverence, and a commitment to your thriving can happen whether or not you have an acute physical ailment, a chronic illness, or you are facing a life-threatening disease. It is about being authentically present with the whole of you. It is about honoring your unique life and the path you are on.

Inquiry Questions

Grab your journal now and explore more about what it would mean to truly say "yes" to your "yes!" What would it mean for you to consciously create a life you love? Here are some questions to guide your exploration:

• Let yourself open into a grand, playful, creative (unedited!) visioning process of what you would imagine your life to be – the who, whats, and wheres. With an openhearted curiosity, stand in your vitality and let it all come to you.

• What makes you come most alive and how might you give yourself permission to integrate those things more fully, day to day?

• If you get really honest with yourself and let go of any preconceived ideas you've had about yourself, what matters most to you in life?

• What do you most yearn for? What are your deepest, most vulnerable desires?

• How might you be closing yourself off from receiving what is right there being offered to you? Where might you be actively creating tension and dis-ease by not allowing yourself to open to let in a gift (someone or something) that would be very nurturing and life-giving for you?

• How might you need to disentangle yourself from and let go of in order to open your heart to the possibilities and take steps toward them?

Deborah Zucker in The Vitality Map