Happy Birthday to Me ...

When you were born,

you cried and the world rejoiced.

Live your life

so that when you die,

the world cries and you rejoice.

Cherokee Expression

Today is my birthday...my age has never been something that resonates within me.  I have always felt once removed from my physical time in space, almost as though it were irrelevant. 

Astrologically, I am a Cancer or rather a Moon Child who likes to be surrounded by familiar things and loves being at home entertaining family and friends.  According to the Tarot, my life path number is 20, The Aeon, indicating the need to be creative and dynamically expressive in all areas of my life.

If I could choose only one word to describe my life, it would be relationship as my life has been defined by relationship to people, places, challenges and nature.  To select a word that best describes my reaction to life, it would be compassion as I always seem to feel the emotions of others as they speak, hearing more deeply beyond the spoken words.  The expression of who I am is best projected through articulating silence and exploring inner landscapes through the written word or exchanges with kindred spirits. 

It is said that we are always where we are meant to be at every given moment, and yet I am never where I anticipated going.  The key seems to be in embracing the concept that the importance of life is in 'being' and I can most certainly do that anywhere.  Being 'me' has become the result of a very long journey of discovery.

Loving myself was cultivated only later in my life, but I do really like who I am.  I am 'comfortable in my own skin'.  I don't always understand why I see the world so differently ... more intently and yet more simply ... which makes me feel out of sync sometimes with others.  Although I remain flexible, I have worked too long on becoming authentic and I will not relinquish who I am today by being smaller for any one.

A quote from Menachem Mendel Schneerson, "Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year:  The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again."  I have always been aware of my energy within, but only in the last few decades have I deliberately trained to extend it.  Energy can take the form of love, prayer, light, or healing, but energy is always intended for the highest good. 

So today I celebrate the gifts that have been so generously bestowed upon me and I let go of all the old that no longer supports who I yearn to be.  My heart is filled with thanksgiving for all who have been a part of my life, teaching me and allowing me to stretch and grow.  I wish for guidance, consciousness, and courage to be all that Divine hoped for me to be.