slogan 47

Slogan 47 "keep the three inseparable"

Today was my birthday . . . read: happiness beaming constantly a week before the actual date commences.

I think birthdays are very important. To me they represent a chance for those around you to celebrate your genuine awesome and show how much they care. It is after all the day the world changed and first meet you. I was sad because none of my 4 close friends from school would be here and my partner had a commitment that he wasn't sure if he could get out of. Also, to complicate things I had registered for a 2 day course on running a successful business and day 2 was mostly accounting and was on my birthday (double yuck). As I got closer to today the happiness and excitement I usually feel was washing away and in it's place a mild depression was setting in. My mind kept spinning around the thoughts of there being no one to make me a birthday cake, no one to plan a crazy exciting day of surprises, no one to wake me up with waffles or something dessert-y with a candle in it, no one to care and recognize me. *Le sigh* It was just gonna be another drab day. Friends not being there for my birthday + depression over that = bad birthday and lingering depression

I was totally in victim mode. On the night of my birthday, I thought about what one of the speakers had said earlier that day about how blaming, denial, and excuses are just what adults use to rationalize their actions and allow themselves to not change things. He said we conveniently call these 3 words "reasons." I was completely letting a depression sink in. I couldn't change the events of my friends traveling away and "abandoning" me, but I could change my response and therefore the outcome. So I thought about what a birthday means to me and turned it over and over in my head until my view was tweaked slightly. Birthdays still meant recognizing the genuine awesomeness of the birthday girl, celebrating being alive, and changing the world by that very act. The only way I changed it was that I was now the one doing those actions for myself. By removing the emphasis on the external, I wasn't blaming my friends for not being there and making me depressed. I was thinking about how awesome it was to focus on me and have alone time with me and to love me. Also, I love to contemplate rebirth and setting intentions for the next year on one's birthday. After this lovely realization about the beauty of me celebrating myself, I thought about what my intentions were for 2010 and I decided they should be: self-care, mindfulness, growth in business, calm. And that's exactly what I did . . . I lived those things today. I had breakfast with my roomie and partner, spent half the day training in business, worked out, did a good deed, got a free soy chai latte, spent time with my partner (because he found a way to be free for a few hours), and meditating at the Toronto Shambhala.center.

The act of harmonizing my body, mind, and speech in self love by working out, meditating, and being friendly to all those strangers and not-so-strangers I met today was exactly what slogan 47 is talking about. By keeping the 3 inseparable we tame the mind. The Ego's views can be seen, heard, and felt constantly, but by having compassion for our selves and those around us we can dissolve it's hold. Through responding to the event I created an outcome I wanted. I loved and felt very in touch with myself all day and that gave me a brighter glow than I had had in so long. What a lovely day it was :)