Lyrics & Story Behind Song #16: “I Say Yes To Love”
“Love’s a choice--the only one there is. Love’s voice–that’s where wisdom lives.
Love’s power–holds all the gifts. So I say YES to LOVE.”
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. When you bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.” Motivational speakers often tell us we are more powerful than we know. Some say a human’s superpower is “choice” or free will. Others call the superpower within us “love”.
In consciousness classes, my coaches talked about the importance of balancing LOVE, WISDOM and POWER. They talked about using “will” to CHOOSE LOVE. As a person raised in “victim consciousness”, I didn’t believe anything powerful lived in me. I definitely didn’t know how to access self-empowerment or what power in me could feel like. It took me even longer to realize I also didn’t know what real love was or believe love could be my true nature.
Codependence--by its broadest definition--is “giving power to the outer”. Growing up, I had repeatedly “given myself away” for outer approval. Shifting victim consciousness into sovereignty required “taking my power back”. Remembering we have will, choice, worth and power, requires remembering what is true about our essence. We come into this world as babies--little beings of love, deserving love. We are completely open, trusting, receivers. Then life experiences rewire us. We either blossom through loving support or shut love down to survive. As we embody beliefs like “love hurts”; “I’m unlovable”; “love can be lost”; or “I have to search outside myself for love” we forget more and more of the truth of who we are.
Remembering love birthed you, restores your birthright. Like flipping a switch, the moment you remember the love you are, you reclaim your innate power and worth. In fact, there is nothing we have to do or can do to “get” LOVE; LOVE simply remains who we are! We may forget, say no to it, or believe something less for a while. None of that changes our essence. Saying yes to the love you are, flips a switch. Saying yes allows your superpower to energize and direct you.
During a facilitator training in early 2019, I participated in a Body Electronics session focused on reclaiming will. After that session, I heard a voice within me say, “I am the divine will that incorporated as you.” I had no idea where those words came from or what they meant. I just knew they rang true. During a follow-up session focused on finding commitment to “stay”, I got the message, “I AM my God stay. I am PRESENCE. My I AM PRESENCE stays.” Again, the words baffled me but had a ring of truth. These two experiences allowed me to glimpse an inner strength I had forgotten I had. I had been in fight or flight from my own life. I had self-sabotaged so often in the past, I no longer trusted ME to stay for fully being ME.
A few weeks later, during a 3-hour eye reading, my coach kept urging me to find and speak from my powerful will. I stumbled through multiple decrees. Nothing landed. Finally, completely frustrated, I heard this raspy voice rise up through me and say, “ONLY GOD SPEAKS THROUGH ME.” “That’s it,” said my coach. “That’s your god voice. Now you know you have it in you and you can call on it when required.” Again, I sensed truth in what my coach said. Still, I lacked confidence I could access that powerful inner voice again.
Shortly after that, I was in an immersion class on sovereign expression. I was being coached to discover how my will was wired to my creative expression (songwriting). During that immersion, I experienced an intense myofascial release session. My coach was holding the heart point on my right hand, which was extremely tender. I got the message, “I can’t. I can’t handle this life. I can’t be what you want me to be. I hate you Mommy.” As I heard my child self, blaming mom (giving power out), something shifted. I said, “I’m sorry I can’t be what you want me to be.” Then that shifted again. I said, “I won’t be what you want me to be. Why can’t you love me as I am?” Finally, I heard myself speak from ownership, “I deserve to be loved for who I am. I take my power back. I have my power in me.” As those words came though me, I felt my whole right side energize. I closed my right fist, tensed all the muscles on my right side, and felt tremendous strength pour through that half of my body. My coach noticed my fist and asked, “What are you holding?” I answered, “I’m not holding, I’m feeling my power. I’m saying yes to it. I have my power in me.” Over the next several days I wrote the song “I Say Yes To Love”. Initially it was called “I Walk By Faith”. Every time we sang this song in community, energy ramped up in the room. People would join in on djembe. Some joked that I’d written my first rock song. Soon it got the nickname, “Ann’s Power Song”.
During the winter of 2020, I was prepping this song for the recording studio when I had an unexpected 6-week visit from my son, Nathan. Nathan has his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music composition, but we had never collaborated on songwriting before. When Nathan heard “I Walk By Faith” he said, “That’s the first one of your songs that has LIFE in it!” On impulse, I invited Nathan to play with me, ‘co-creating’ a version of the song. With Nathan’s help, the song “I Walk by Faith” shrank from three verses to two. It gained an instrumental break, switched the bridge to the ending, and strengthened its message from “I Walk by Faith” to “I Say YES to Love”. The song we crafted together had much more “life” in it than the version I started with. Sharing my songwriting process with my son brought a whole new level of magic to this recording and production experience.
Lyrics: I Say Yes To Love
Verse 1: I have my power in me. I feel the source of my strength.
I know the worth of my life. I see the light I was born to be.
I stand for all I believe. I claim my place in this world.
I hear the truth in my heart. I own my love and my sovereignty.
I WILL. I AM. I STAND. I CAN. I CLAIM. I OWN. I HAVE COME HOME.
I SEE. I KNOW. I HEAR. I GO…. far beyond all I have known
CHORUS: As I walk by faith, every step I take.
Trusting what I cannot see, I walk by faith.
Verse 2: I remember my name. I remember my soul.
I remember my hope, my innocence, my beauty, my gold!
Now I AM THAT I AM. God is all that I see.
Love is all that I choose—spirit and truth--in a vision of harmony.
I LIVE. I LOVE. I AM ENOUGH. I LEAD. I SHINE. MY LIFE IS MINE.
I RAISE ME FIRST. MY UNIVERSE…. expands beyond my comfort zone
CHORUS: As I walk by faith. Every step I take,
Love is there to fill my cup and heal each tender wounded place.
Carried on wings of grace, I walk by faith.
Bridge: Love’s a choice--the only one there is.
Love’s voice--that’s where wisdom lives.
Love’s power--holds all the gifts…
So I say YES to LOVE. Yeah, I say YES to LOVE.
I LIVE. I LOVE. I AM ENOUGH. I LEAD. I SHINE. MY LIFE IS MINE.
I say YES to LOVE. (I say yes to love)
I WILL. I AM. I STAND. I CAN. I HAVE COME HOME.
I say (I say) YES to LOVE.
So I say (I say) YES to LOVE. (Yes to love)
I HAVE MY POWER IN ME. I KNOW THE SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH
I say (I say) YES to LOVE.
AS I WALK BY FAITH, EVERY STEP I TAKE, LOVE CARRIES ME.
I say YES to LOVE. I say YES to LOVE.
I say (I say) YES to LOVE. ( I say YES to LOVE.)
I say YES to LOVE
© December 2020 - Ann S. Bugh