Happy Birthday

I like birthdays. I’m surprised when people don’t celebrate their own.

Why wouldn’t you grab the opportunity to give yourself a high-five? Why in the world would you not cheer yourself?

Has Kim Kardashian made us think and feel that to “stand up and be counted” is a bad thing? (Trust me, Kim is in a league all her own and no one I personally know is acting like her.)

We shouldn’t confuse the two.

You get one birthday a year. One day to rejoice that you are alive. You are allowed to be humble and maybe even feel crappy about yourself for the other 364 days, but on your birthday step up!

I asked a client what he was doing this year to acknowledge his day. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Nothing really.”

What? That is unacceptable in my world!

For the next hour I asked him to list all the things he would do if he won 10 Million dollars. The conversation took a while to get started but by the end he had some pretty great items. I implored him to take that energy and focus it on what he COULD do for himself on his day. I think the concept was starting to sink in. I hope so.

I’ll admit I didn’t always feel this way about birthdays. In fact, for years I hated my own birthday. It was a reminder of what I didn’t have and what I hadn’t done. Then one day I took hold of the Buddhist teachings I had been studying and decided that I owed it to myself to “see me” as I might be, or could be, or even hope to be.

I might not always feel positive about myself… but on my birthday I put that all aside and hand over the best gift possible, “Making myself happy.”

Try it. This year celebrate yourself. Do it in a big way. You deserve “happy.”