Chapter 10: Gratitude (and why I love Birthdays)

I love celebrating my birthday. I think as an adult, I’m supposed to dislike the day of my birth because it means I am getting older, but the truth is, I still look forward to every single birthday.  In the interest of full disclosure, a small part of this is that I’m a huge fan of parties, presents, and cake.  But I love my birthday beyond those lovely things.  Every year my birthday is an opportunity for me to center myself in gratitude for this amazing life I have been given.  Gratitude is one of my most cherished values.  When I practice gratitude, I am able to see the bigger picture and really own the ups and downs of my life.  When I practice gratitude, I open myself to a deeper awareness of the goodness around me and hopefully a deeper patience and compassion for the things that are not so great.  When I practice gratitude, I am better able to live in the moment and take life as it comes.  When I practice gratitude, I am the kindest, gentlest, and most authentic version of myself.

Gratitude is a practice.  I took a class from writer and speaker Brene Brown, and she talked about the difference between feeling gratitude and practicing gratitude.  We will not always feel grateful, and sometimes life will really suck.  But if we practice gratitude, even in the worst moments, there is this shift from helplessness and despair to ownership and hope.  I practice gratitude because I choose to live a life where I honor everything as a gift–even the stuff that is painful and difficult.  This doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with pain or suffering, but rather that I want to center myself in the knowledge that even in the darkest moments, grace often crashes through.  But if I’m not paying attention–if I am not truly living the moments of my life, then I miss the grace that comes from the good and the bad.

This is why I absolutely love my birthday.  It helps me see that I am making a difference in the lives of others.  It reminds me that I love and am loved.  It reminds me how blessed I am to cross paths with some of the most amazing people on the planet.  It is a day for me to celebrate my life up to this point and to go forward in the coming year with joy and expectation.  This is probably why I also get immense joy celebrating others’ birthdays too. I love having the chance to show my gratitude for the wonderful people in my life.  Birthdays can be the most marvelous opportunity to be grateful, to acknowledge grace, and to ground ourselves in what truly matters.

I celebrated 34 years of life this week, and it was such a delightful, joyful day, namely because I got to share it with the people I love.  I was so blessed to get calls and texts and cards from so many people.  But what really made the day great was that I just kept re-focusing on gratitude.  Gratitude for those who touch my heart each day.  Gratitude to be a person who wants to seek and grow and learn.  Gratitude for the chance to make a difference in the life of others.  Gratitude that I get to live this one crazy and wild life.  My birthday reminds me it’s all gift–every, single day.  And for that, I am truly grateful.