Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday! But wait, you think to yourself, it's not my birthday. Let me explain.

Every second, every minute, hour or day that passes is exactly one year later than that same time a year ago. But alas we humans have settled on the yearly anniversary of our exit from the womb as a measure of our time on the planet. Through our "age" we seek to categorize ourselves and others with a quick, easy number. We celebrate our existence one day for every 365 as though one second, one hour, even one day is merely a drop in a seemingly never ending stream of life.

A few years back, I decided that I would do fun things for myself on my birthday as well as give away "party favors" to others. The fun things and favors do not have to cost money. One year I got on my kayak and watched the sun come up over the Atlantic. That same day I watched it go down at a waterfront restaurant. Another year I took a ride on an ultralight airplane and went to a movie. This year I thought how cool it would be to play this game for a month. Then it hit me--why not make every day my happy birthday?

Here's how it works. When you wake up each morning, think or say to yourself "happy birthday". The paradigm of birthdays has instilled such a positive connotation in us that you cannot help but feel good, even if it isn't your "agreed upon" birthday. Now thank God or the cosmos or the Great Pumpkin or whomever for the opportunity to do things for yourself on this happy birthday and bestow party favors on others, even if you have no idea how these things will manifest.

Just know that good things will come to you, especially when your intent is to give small gifts to others. As you go through the day, you look for little things to call gifts to yourself, even as you find ways to bestow your party favors on others. Suddenly every day will be "your day", your happy birthday.

A gift to yourself might be noticing and appreciating a beautiful cloudless blue sky or stopping to sit on a park bench for 5 minutes on the way to work. Or blow five bucks on a goofy hat or some lotto tickets or whatever. If you look at these things as part of your wealth and abundance, you will experience a feeling of gratitude where before you were numbly cruising through the day on autopilot.

As you appreciate these small gifts to yourself, you will wonder where your next opportunity to bestow a party favor will turn up. Your energy will be positive and outward flowing, and you will experience synchronicities that match the higher frequency of your state of consciousness.

People will want to help you or smile at you or hold the door or let you into traffic. But when you give these favors, expect nothing in return, or it's not a favor at all. For example let's say you tell someone "hi", and they ignore you. First of all, maybe they didn't hear you. Second of all, you said hi because that's the kind of person you are, not because you demand that they reciprocate or say hi back. When you give a gift, whatever it is, forget it, never to secretly think the person owes you something in return.

If you give of yourself for the purpose of payback, you will be disappointed. You are better off giving nothing at all than to give with the expectation of payback.

perhaps you do things for yourself and others anyway--that's cool, but by doing it under the umbrella of the daily birthday, external negativity will bounce off you, nor will negativity arise from within. Each and every day will be an event as opposed to a normal day. You will notice the difference, and the difference is huge.

Yet none of this requires that you spend lots of money or quit your job or act irresponsibly in any way. Even a normal work day will change from a boring, monotonous chore to a happening, when suddenly you remember it's your birthday. As you take in and appreciate your gifts to yourself, and give favors to others, your ego will recede and the light of your spirit-essence will radiate out in all directions. Little things won't bug you as much anymore.

When stuck in traffic or in line, you'll look around and notice colors, sights, sounds, things that before were obscured by frustration and self induced stress. You'll know that right now, this is where you are supposed to be. You'll allow each moment to unfold as it will without resistance or negativity, and after assessing the situation, you'll act out of logic, if possible, or do nothing until the time is right--by then you'll know. With this peace, this knowing, you'll feel that no matter what happens, you'll be OK.

It's May 2nd, 2010, and it's my birthday, just like it was yesterday and will be tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed this party favor, and try it not with cynicism or jadedness, but with an open mind. It can change your life if you let it. Happy birthday, and here's to thousands more.

happy birthday to An Open Mind