Beloved, if you want to stay young, be quick to say Yes. Here’s the secret to youth. I give it to you now. It is a simple thing to stay vibrant no matter what your age. Keep on saying Yes. Say Yes. Consider that you have a Yes Gene. Every time you smile and say Yes, you practice pressing your Youth Gene.

Be quick to say Yes. Let go of saying No. You are not to rely on the past. Say Yes to something that you may never have said Yes to before.

Here’s the story: You are alive. You sure don’t have to worship youth in order to grow. You are alive now.

What happens to an arm or leg if you don’t use it? It loses its spark. You are to keep vibrant.

No matter how many years you may have acquired and what your age may be now, keep Yes alive in your vocabulary now. If you want to stay young, say Yes and Yes and Yes.

If you want to accelerate old age, be quick to say No. Stay as you always were, and aging is a cinch. Keep saying No, and your Fountain of Youth fades on the vine.

Stop beating around the bush. I don’t speak about bungee-jumping or learning to fly an airplane unless you happen to have an inborn yen to do so. You don’t have to say Yes to a proposal of marriage. You also don’t have to stick your head in the sand.

Say hello to life. You’re not out to prove anything. Because you may have always said No to taking a singing lesson even though you would love to carry a tune, because you have always said No – this isn’t a reason for you to pass the opportunity by. Admit you would love to sing. Then, Beloved, now dare to say Yes and take singing lessons. No longer say something like: “I never could carry a tune.”

Dare to have the joy of singing. Say Yes to life today. Don’t cut yourself off from joy.

Ye Gods, you don’t have to keep rockin’ in a rockin’ chair, do you? Say Yes to life. Say Yes to something you have always said No to. Do it now.

If you have never said Yes to tasting sushi, it isn’t compulsory that you say Yes to sushi, yet why not?

You don’t have to say Yes to gambling. Whatever you want to do or not to do is your right. At the same time, who told you not to do a cartwheel? Who told you that you can’t do cartwheels at ninety if you want to? Somebody older than you is doing one every day.

You don’t have to dye your hair purple, yet you can quicken your step.

Don’t dig in and settle for old age. You sure don’t have to mess around with plastic surgery, nor do you have to hasten old age by not budging. Be vibrant now. Lift your arms. Bend a leg. Be new.

I respect and admire age. I don’t respect your giving yourself up to thinking as you always have thought, as if you have a ready excuse to grow old on the vine. I don’t say you have to jitterbug at ninety or anything at all in worship of youth. You are not your age. No one’s age is anyone’s identity.

I say to say Yes and smile. I do not say to cut yourself off short. I say grow. Adapt. Be heard. Grow. Say Yes to life. Say Yes to Me.