I have always loved a birthday, or Christmas, or holidays, or anniversaries, end of courses, competitions, basically any chance to have a party and to celebrate. I get excited about them, months in advance, I get giddy, and my tummy gets little happy bubbles that percolate and bubble away. I look forward to celebrations and they make me feel good.
As a child my Mum used to give out to me for getting “too excited”... I was told to calm down and be sensible. In our house, no one got too excited… I was called silly for being happy and excited about things. I was the emotional one, the one that was ‘over the top’. So all my feelings of excitement were pushed down and repressed, and inevitably I ended up sick when the day finally came around for the celebration. I missed many birthdays and celebrations because I was sick. I understand the wisdom in this now, I was protecting myself. At the time though it just felt bad, and I felt sad and angry, and not good enough.
Even though this was hard for me as a child, it did not diminish my love for celebrations in anyway and perhaps I love them more now and feel them stronger them ever. I love to celebrate, I love to mark an occasion.
I have come to realise that I feel life is worth celebrating, that I am worth celebrating and feeling happy about. This did not happen overnight, and it has taken a long time for me to reach this conclusion. It took me quite awhile to think it and even longer for me to feel it.
Life is not always easy, it is very up and down for most people I think. At times we find ourselves on very shaky ground, at other times we are more solid, and “able” for life.
Through self reflection ( and perhaps with the support and safety of a mentor), through looking at our stories with compassion and without judgement, we can find the love and strength within ourselves and we can begin to see and feel that we are worth it.
If we can value ourselves and our journey we can see that each of us is worthy of celebrating, each of us deserves to be celebrated, every step of the way, and every day. We can be our own greatest cheerleader.
I have come to believe that life and living is worth celebrating… we don't need a special occasion. We don't need to wait for ‘something’ … we can do it now. We are worth celebrating.
TODAY, I salute YOU and I celebrate YOU.
Celebration Quotes:
“Celebrate the varied splendour in this world, and remind yourself that it can also be found in you.”
Dr Salma Farook, What Your Soul Already Knows
“Celebrate your life, you are your own light.”
Lailah Gifty Akita
“If we celebrate life with all its contradictions, embrace, experience, and ultimately live with it, a chance exists for a spiritual life filled not only with pain and untidiness, but also with joy, community, and creativity. “
Derrick Jensen
“Serenity is the balance between good and bad, life and death, horrors and pleasures. Life is, as it were, defined by death. If there wasn't death of things, then there wouldn't be any life to celebrate.”
Norman Davies
“What I know now is that we're all interconnected and that's a really beautiful thing. We have links to everyone else in our lives and in the world. Different people have different journeys for different reasons. You can't judge, but you can celebrate that there are connections everywhere.”
Jane Seymour
“Celebrate who you are in your deepest heart.”
Amy Leigh Mercree
“A lot of corpses woke up every morning from their graves. Stood in front of the mirror and wore the masks which made them look alive. Stuck in the vicious circle of death. Scared to break out and scared of falling into the infinite pit of darkness, they beat down their souls that were fighting for an escape, mercilessly every day. They walked out into the world with pain, only to return back to the home, which did not feel like a home anymore, again in the night. They removed their masks in front of the mirror, stared into those empty eyes and walked back to their graves silently, with the fear of waking up again the next day and with nothing to celebrate in their heart.”
