My birthday wish to you...

Turning a year older always hits me pretty hard. I’m not sure if it’s being 38 now and I’m at the tail end of my 30s or if birthdays are just a reminder that another year has passed and I haven’t fulfilled my “list” yet. But it does dredge up a bunch of emotions. Some great, some not so good. It’s just a lot for me personally. I am not sure I handled the lead up to this day so eloquently this time around (read: lots of tears and mental freak outs), but I must say that my actual birthday was fantastic and I’m extremely grateful for everyone who went above and beyond to make my new year as special and, more importantly right now, as normal as possible. A massive thank you to everyone who took the time to make me feel loved. Because I felt it, next level.

Now as you typically do on your birthday, you get to make a wish. And every year I tend to make the broad-sweeping wish of happiness for the upcoming year. This year I got more specific. I went through my life, which essentially is my career and my connections to others, and wished for where I would love all those relationships to go. It was actually really beautiful to look at all the people in my life and say a little prayer for them and make a wish for our upcoming year together.

Here is my wish for all of you. I wish that you live your life with kindness, love and compassion. And in the moments you cannot find kindness and compassion, find growth. Find the reason you chose to step off the benevolent path and dig deep into what is causing you hurt, anger, frustration, pain, anxiety and try to unravel it. Because the moments we are acting outside of love and goodwill are the moments that we need to pay attention to. The moments that do not serve our better good are the foundation for learning ourselves more intimately. Always look at your lower vibrational moments with intrigue and follow that path because it always leads to a space that needs healing.

One of my favorite take-aways from a podcast this past year, is the concept that what if every single person we encountered was just doing their absolute best at that moment. Would you have more empathy and compassion for them? Would you lose the judgmental thoughts geared towards them? Would you realize that we, too, are just doing our best? And our bests don’t need to align. My worst day could be someone’s best day. Keep that in mind when you’re interacting with people who are triggering you.

As morbid as this sounds, I think a lot about what would my authentic eulogy sound like- not the sugar-coated version that will probably happen- but if someone was brutally honest about how I showed up in this world, what would be said about me? We are all aware that death is inevitable (although we definitely don’t live like it could be around the corner), so how do you want to frame your journey to the assured destination? How am you going to show up for your people, your community? What words do you want shared on that inevitable day? This is how I try to approach each day- by being the best version I can be. And every day that may look differently, but every day I wake up and do my damn best to be that.

We have a grave responsibility to live this life to the best of our abilities.

And what I have learned, and try to live by, is that in all circumstances, you should choose kindness and compassion. That is my wish for myself and for all of you, that in the darker moments of life that really push you past your limits, pause, take a deep breath and ooze kindness from every cell inside of you. Let kindness pour over your frustrations, your anger, your impatience, your annoyance and dissolve those lower vibrational emotions. Low vibrational emotions are never serving you, except as an open invitation to self-growth. Love is the overarching emotion you should be interacting with constantly. It is why I always say “be love, share love” because we should all be exuding love to ourselves and others.

I think we forget that this life is made up of all the tiny minutiae of every day strung together and it is not just the grand memorable moments. So, in all those tiny moments, how are you showing up? How are you contributing to your authentic eulogy? How do you want to be remembered? How do you want people to feel when they leave your presence? Are you sharing the infinite love inside of you? I really hope so! The world needs it now more than ever.

I wish you the best Fourth of July weekend! Stay safe & healthy! 

All my love & gratitude,

Jamiesonxo