Counting Birthdays and Blessings

Today is my birthday.

This time last year, I marked it in a different way. It was a celebration of all that was me and how the world was much better because I was in it. That's the way I was taught. People take the day off from work and expect presents while also anticipating that people will wait on them to fulfill their whims for the day. People sing your praises and sing the one song we all know by heart. You feel good about you.

But all those things play into pleasing your ego. Are we trying to fill the ego with pleasantries or should we be more about finding the deep, fulfilling things that please your real being? That's the step I'm taking on this birthday and each subsequent birthday. By doing that, I continue to live my life according to the tenants of the Law of Attraction and the Power of Now.

To feel the deep gratitude, it's better to remind myself of those things that give me the greatest positive feelings. I'm grateful for:

• My kids. My daughter has grown into an incredible young lady, a high academic achiever and a musical virtuoso. My son is a mirror image of me, but he's also exhibiting his own personality, which I hopefully can hone to serve him in the best possible fashion for his upcoming life. My step-children have their own father and I have never tried to usurp his authority, but it's cool that I'm good with all of them.

• My wife. For all the complaints that I have brought up in this blog, she is a partner on my journey through life. We don't necessarily see eye to eye on things, but we've never denied the love we have for each other.

• My photography. One of the things my wife don't see at the same level, it gives me achance to express myself artistically.

• My blogs. I write this one about my spiritual journey and another one called Take Back The Beat which is a music review blog. I have plans to add a photo blog after the new year.

• My C-PAP machine. That seems like an odd thing to be grateful for - a machine. But I suffer from sleep apnea and this machine allows to me breathe through the night without the danger of never waking up again.

• My day job. The job has been a target of this blog as well, but I love what I do and always have. I've been doing it all of my adult life and am blessed enough to continue to do so.

• My fellow writers in the blogosphere. Writers like Jeannette Maw at Good Vibe Blog, Sarah Biermann's blog, James Ure at The Buddhist Blog and more have helped me more than I can ever say. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the bloggers that I read and for the ones as yet undiscovered.
  

Are those all the things I'm grateful for? Now, it's just the tip of a very large and deep iceberg. However, I try to limit my writings to 500 words and I'm already over that.

Besides, I have a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate ice cream waiting for me. Mmmmmm.