I like to think of birthdays as building blocks of consciousness. I don’t look at them as an end date looming in the nearing distance. I look at them as knowledge-building opportunities for growth. I think we get the celebration of life all wrong.
We are terrified of dying. We are terrified of falling behind, rather than leveling up.
I’m about to level up to 55 and I’m thrilled.
There’s a saying that’s been going around in my circle. When we have birthdays, we level up! It’s a video game term for advancing, getting better, stronger, more powerful. The higher the levels, the better off the player is.
Of course, my circle includes teenagers, since I work with children and college students, but when they found out I was about to have a birthday a few years ago, I told them to bake me a cake for 2 extra credit points. I was joking of course, but they were in college, so happily obliged.
The funny thing was, I had actually forgotten how old I was. I knew I was in my mid to late forties at the time, but I wasn’t sure exactly which year.
That was the moment I realized I was completely out of conscious awareness of myself.
Building Blocks
When we want to celebrate life, we have to embrace age as part of our loving who we are. We have the opportunity to celebrate all stages of our lives.
We aren’t leveling up just to end the game. We level up to win it!
Somewhere along the line, we stopped respecting age as a desirable quality and started looking at it as if it’s a challenge to be reversed, or feared, or disgarded. It’s none of those things. It’s a gift, denied to many, appreciated by few.
Birthdays are mile markers on our path of life. They can be the representative connection between us and our universe. Those who came before us. Those who come after us.
A Birthday is Cake
Honoring my birthday since 1964. I’m not afraid to age. Or talk about it. I’m sad for any and all who fear aging. For me, internally, in the hands of my connection to the collective consciousness that Carl Jung taught us about, I am at peace with my continued gift of life that age has given me.
I definitely could pay more attention to some aspects of my life. We all can. We can honor the body as the host of the soul. We can honor the way we live, but to live simply seems to be the happiest for our global citizens, so living without want is a gift I’ve given to myself.
Other gifts I never knew would make me happy?
- Patience
- Wisdom
- Confidence
- Love of self
- Creativity
- Permission
These building blocks of character are the greatest gift of all. We just don’t know that until we’ve leveled up to maturity. I personally love this version of me. It took me decades to actualize that.
In peace and love,
Karen
Author: Karen Henry [Daly], MA CRM, PhD (c) owns Henry Healing as a holistic well-being practitioner and writer. She’s a former university professor and current scholar practicing the infusion of holistic healing and positive psychology.