Observations on a Birthday

Today is my birthday. And even though I know at this point every day is one to celebrate, there's something special about a birthday. It makes me reflect some, a little like New Year's does. It makes me think about what I've learned in all these years,about what I'm still learning and what I need to keep reminding myself. Here are a few of my thoughts.

Little things really do matter. Whether it's little things I do or someone else does, I think they make a difference. When I was growing up, my mom played the piano and we had stacks of sheet music around. One that I used to love to peck at the piano and sing was "Little Things Mean a Lot." I still remember the lyrics.

Blow me a kiss from across the room,
Say I look nice when I'm not,
Touch my hair as you pass my chair,
Little things mean a lot.

Sounds corny, perhaps, but I think when we can get out of ourselves and think about the other person, it counts.

Curiosity doesn't kill the cat, it keeps it alive. The more I'm curious about life, the better I feel. When I want to learn, when I want to know, when I'm not afraid to ask, when I'm not afraid to try, I feel better.

Random acts can make a day. Both yours and the other person's. I always end up smiling more when I do little random acts. Putting a newspaper on someone's porch, plugging an expired parking meter, letting someone make a left turn. And that karma comes back to me. Sometimes it's startling when it happens, and I wonder why people are so nice. It makes me want to be nicer.

Some days are a struggle, whether you like it or not. I've experienced this lately. Sometimes I give in to it, some days I fight like hell to get out of it. This is not new for me. I've had to fight this all my life. And my next point is . . .

I have a choice. A favorite story of mine is when Henry, then about 6, was moaning, groaning, not wanting to do something and his mom said "It's your choice, you can be sad or you can be happy." Lucy, about 2, in all her exuberance piped up, "I choose happy, Henry. What do you choose?" A simple choice, when you think about it. I've been in and out of therapy several times in my life and the last guy thought I was a good candidate for Cognitive Behavior Therapy because I tend to analyze things so/too much. He was big on that choice thing. It works. Try it sometime.

Laugh. You've got to be able to see the irony and the humor in life. You can't take yourself so seriously that you fail to see humor in every day things.

This has turned out to be rather heavy, which is not what I intended when I started, but I've just let it roll.

I'm choosing to have a great day! Happy Birthday to Moi!