David Patterson has been a personal friend of mine for the past few years. Recently we got together over a cup of coffee where he asked me, “What is this 30 Days of YES thing all about?” By the end of our time together he decided he wanted to do the program, but wanted something to help keep him accountable. Together, we came up with the idea of having him go through 
the 30 Days of YES e-book program while keeping track of his progress on his blog. The following is an excerpt from David’s blog about his 30 Days of YES journey.
Each week I will be posting highlights from Dave’s journey. If you would like to read his full posts, click here to go to his blog.
Day 5: Silence is Loud
I have meditated and prayed many times in my life but I don’t think I have tried to just “listen” without generating thoughts through my head. When I pray and meditate I mostly express gratitude and then I visualize a good life and retrace the good life I have had. What I discovered when going for absolute silence was that silence can be rather loud.
First, I just tried to listen to nature. What I heard was my neighbors upstairs walking and they never stopped walking. That thought lead to the inner question “when you live in an apartment how far can you actually walk?” After I really didn’t answer that question in my head I tried to get back to silence. I heard a lot of white noise, which either means my head is empty or very busy. Then I heard myself talking to myself saying things like, “don’t talk, I have to listen.” I decided to do some deep breathing and all I heard was my deep breathing followed with daydreaming and not “listening.”
Day 6: Nature Time
The activities of ”listening” and “taking in nature” both proved to be the toughest for me thus far. Why? because most of the time my thoughts are clogged with finding a job/earning money, paying bills, etc. When I start thinking that way it creates anxiety and guilt for spending time living in the now. I feel like if I am enjoying the moment then I am not working and I can’t afford to not work. I need to turn that thought around. If you are not living in the moment then you are not living. I failed on this activity because I made the decision that I was too busy to take 15 minutes and sit under a tree. For that I sentence myself to doing 30 minutes of alone time with nature sometime this weekend. I’ve been bad. I need a timeout – with nature.
Days 7 & 8: Cramming two into one!
I decided to squeeze two of the 30 Days of Yes in one blog today because it happened over the weekend. I do want to start off by saying I’m not selling 30 Days of Yes. I am just doing it because I think it will help with my focus on following my passion, determining my purpose and landing a great job, whether it be joining a company or starting my own business. And most importantly, this process will help me enjoy life even more than I already do.
Day 9: Dribbling down the lane
If I wasn’t afraid of anything I would feel totally free and really live in the now. I wouldn’t dwell on mistakes of the past and I wouldn’t worry about what I don’t have for the future or what might happen in the future if I don’t do something significant in the present.
See you on Day 10!!!!!
