When was the last time you celebrated yourself for “just” being you, or being alive? Maybe it was your last birthday, maybe it was, well never… I am don’t know about you, but I believe there are two kinds of people, the ones that take every opportunity their is to celebrate themselves, their achievements, their everything no matter how big or small and the ones that wouldn’t dare, because to them it feels too selfish, too self-centered, to egoistic.
If you belong to the latter, I feel you. Deeply. I never liked celebrating my birthday, because it is too much attention, too much focus, too irrelevant in comparison to what is happening in the world we live in. Why celebrate me, or you?!
Why? Well, first of all, we could say — just because! But, you are right, that’s not very nuanced. So let me throw in some wisdom from Yoga & Meditation, since that’s the area I know best. (See, I dared to celebrate myself a little bit.)
Within the Yoga Philosophy the main goal of a seeker is to reach enlightenment. Big word, I know. But hold on for a moment. Yes, way back when the yogis started establishing this philosophy and all the practices that come with it, enlightenment was very much geared towards the goal of overcoming your own ego — ego in the sense of your mind, or the voice in your head that creates separation and suffering — and to realize oness — and oness in the sense that we notice we are connected with everyone and everything, because we come from this one universal energy that each of us carrys within themselves if we dare to feel it.
In other words enlightenment is the realization of your true self, your essence, that divine energy within you that wants to be expressed in this life-time. That sounds a bit more modern doesn’t it?!
There are many different way’s to get to that place. And even so you might think, oh well I am not a yogi or some kind of master, how would I ever reach that stage, I dare you to change your perspective. Because in the end that is all we need to do. Change our perspective, over and over and over again.
Because what if you could reach that stage of enlightenment? What if you would see yourself for who you truly are? Wouldn’t that change everything? And wouldn’t that most likely open you up to celebrating not just yourself but others as well? Because you’ve come to see and experience your own uniqueness that you bring into this world and you would most likely recognize that each and every one of us brings their own uniqueness to this world and that we can and should celebrate each other for exactly that? And that we can and should shift our perspective from wanting to be all equal to letting everyone shine in their own unique form and way?
Yoga teaches us that we come to this world whole and unique and then just by being here our mind get’s so strong that it creates all of this separation, all of this suffering, it creates all these opinions and judgements and our job is to remember that we are whole and unique and that the more we are able to let go, the more we will be able to see, feel and experience our true self. And the more we can experience our own true self, we can give others the freedom to be their own true self.
And isn’t that worth celebrating?
So, no! Daring to celebrate yourself is not an act of selfishness, much rather it is a celebration of compassion if done with the right intention!
