Earlier this month I celebrated my 39th trip around the Sun.

Birthdays are and always have been, a mixed bag of emotions for me.  They are a big deal to me, both mine and others and in different ways.

When you really break it down, growing older is a pleasure that is denied to many so we should be very grateful for another year under our belt- and grateful I am.

Birthdays can also bring in some sadness as we reflect upon the past, and ponder at how we would like things to be moving forward.

On the one hand, when it is someone else’s birthday I truly love celebrating them.  After all, they are special and that is the one day of the year when it is all about them.  They deserve love, praise and affection.  To both be shown and told how much they mean to us.

We all deserve this blessing but on our day of birth, more so.

When it is my birthday however, I don’t particularly like a big fuss.  In fact, it embarrasses me.  Yet it is important to me to feel ‘recognized’ on some level by those closest in my life.  

I do not particularly want nor expect any red-carpet treatment.  I do not care so much about physical gifts or grand gestures.

Sure, it’s nice to receive something pretty and new, but it feels even better to receive a thoughtful card or message, or some beautiful flowers.  That’s just the way I have always been.  It’s the little things.  Everyone has a different ‘love language’ and this is mine.

Every year, I make a new years resolution not on New Years Eve, but on my birthday.  I do this because astrologically, our birthday begins our Solar Return, our next trip around the Sun.  A new gateway opens up and we can feel rejuvenated as we start the next phase of our journey.  This is way more impactful and cathartic to me than any New Years Resolution.  

This year this is my mantra:

Stop worrying about other people understanding you.  Get in touch with yourself instead.  Focus on what makes you happy and what makes your soul feel at peace.  YOU are your biggest commitment, so start loving your flaws, your awkwardness, your weirdness, your intensity, your vulnerability, your everything.  Life becomes so much more fulfilling when you are simply yourself.  The world keeps spinning whether people understand you or not so why not make this next trip around the sun about you?

One thing that truly makes me happy is sharing my gifts.  Helping others to recognize that which they may have forgotten, to find what and where they have lost along the way, and to transform and heal.  To move forward in their lives with peace in their heart- and while I am doing that for others, I am helping myself as well.

In each of you I also find a piece of me, and the rewards are two-fold.

I will continue to  show up in my best space, with my arms open to receive comfortably.  While giving is second-nature to me, receiving can be challenging.  

Cheers to another year!

Peace & Love,

Lisa