In the last few weeks, I had a few occasions to celebrate:
First: It was my birthday! I am happy that I have been living for 37 years! I am still in love with this place and curious for the upcoming years, months, weeks, days and hours!
Second: I finalised an important project.
Third: I finally put down my thoughts in an important topic, created a meaningful speech out of it and presented my keynote speech at my club.
Fourth: I won the Toastmasters Division Contest! (Here is a screenshot a fellow contestant took of her screen where you can see me celebrating - what a great gift - as I was thinking I wish somebody could capture this moment)
All of the above gave me a rush of excitement, a certain sense of accomplishment (having stayed brave and focused on doing something meaningful) and gratefulness for the opportunity to do and to learn.
But what made me exhilarated was feeling celebrated!
I saw my friends, colleagues, family being happy because I was there, being happy because I accomplished what was meaningful for me, being happy because I was happy. That has been the most touching experience of my life. I feel very blessed and I am grateful to everyone who were there with me.
My friend and business partner Elena Marsh organised a surprise birthday party for me - our BeCoach Academy community came together on Zoom to sing a happy birthday song to me!
My friend and fellow Toastmaster Mikaela posted my winning news on social media platforms, I got lots of beautiful congratulation messages right at the contest too.
My parents bought a birthday cake, blew off the candles for me making a wish and partied with their friends to celebrate my birthday.
I feel lucky to be surrounded with people who celebrate me. That makes me happy. I feel loved, I feel important, I feel connected. When I look at their face, I see they are also happy.
It is a WIN - WIN.
This beautiful experience made me think about happiness again.
Happiness is not only related to what I do. Yes, doing things that matter, feeling accomplished, seeing my personal growth, having a sense of flow do give me happiness. But seeing someone else being happy, seeing someone else accomplish things that are important to them, seeing some else grow is also a great source of happiness. I had forgotten it until I saw it in my friends.
Now dear friends,
knowing that we can make ourselves and other people happy by celebrating them, what will we do?
I suggest, we do celebrate!
Write a message to someone who has a birthday, tell them what they mean to you and what you wish for them for the future.
If you read a post, article of someone, if listen to a podcast or a speech, if you watch their video, write to them what they made you think/ see for yourself and what brilliance of them came across.
If you see/ hear/ read someone celebrating - join them in celebration, feel the happiness in your own body and share your celebration with the person. Make a video of yourself celebrating, write notes, send voice memo.
You will see how it impacts you. And it will impact the receiver even more!
We covered one side of the equation: joining the person celebrating by celebrating them. There is the other side: sharing what you celebrate with others. By doing that, you will give us the chance to be part of it, to join you in celebrating and to celebrate you. And maybe more importantly, you will inspire us to celebrate ourselves!
And here comes the second assignment:
“What are you celebrating today?”
Share it with us.
We are looking forward to hearing you and joining you in your celebration.
Dear friends,
We are very connected. My happiness is your happiness. And if you allow me your happiness can be mine.
I salute you. I celebrate you. I celebrate life. I celebrate being in this life together.
