I started writing a big philosophical post on why we celebrate birthdays, this led me to some wonderful research on the meaning of cakes, candles and parties.   I was fascinated about why we blow out candles and make wishes.  

Being it was my birthday over the weekend!  I took a moment to reflect on all the year had brought.  It was full of amazing moments that made me happy.  I then had an action packed weekend of wonderfulness over the weekend.

I was procrastinating about my blog… You know when you have too many ideas and nothing gets done!  So googled for some inspiration… I quickly discovered who I shared my birthday with, our current Prime Minister John Key and also Johann Bach and Whitney Houston, I then got a little distracted and found myself listening on You Tube ……

As I heard some of Whitney’s lyrics and her duet on Vimeo with Mariah I saw this really cool movie like reel flahing in my head and reminding me of all that I had achieved in the last year.    It was hard to believe that last year I was not long out of hospital and fighting with EQC!  Our new house, studio and LeapHQ was only a dream.   It has been a most special and wonderful year and as I listened a little more to Mariah and Whitney singing out I kept smiling and was also thankful to all the wonderful people in my life who have been a part of me discovering, sharing and believing in me!

So instead of a boring you with details that of my original research on birthdays I have linked it to a more wonderful birthday wish I have.

Firstly though a quick look at history ……So long ago, people believed that on a birthday a person could be helped by good spirits, or hurt by evil spirits and so when a person had a birthday, friends and relatives gathered to protect him or her.   And that’s how birthday parties began.  Or  that  the idea of putting candles on birthday cakes goes back to ancient Greece and worshipping  of the goddesses Artemis.  – she was the goddess of the moon. The Greeks celebrated her birthday once each month by bringing special cakes to her temple. The cakes were round like a full moon. And, because the moon glows with light, the cakes were decorated with lighted candles).

With all of this I have pondered the thought that in modern society we still have many traditions based on old beliefs, not just birthdays including parties and birthday candles.  And we also have others, like my niece had me jumping over cracks so that I didn’t marry a rat (luckily I am already married and Riwai is far from a rat) and that each a tooth comes out a magical fairy delivers money under pillows, and of course there is the notion for our young citizens that Santa still comes down chimneys – even when we don’t have a chimney or it is so small these days who would believe anyone could fit down one and still look like he just stepped out of a Harrods Chistmas photo shoot… I digress….. The point is many times I say something untoward and I find myself knocking on wood!  And so I think that  most of these traditions we do is mainly for fun, but is it also possible that there is something deep inside us that wants to believe.   Believe in magic and fun things all around us…. hmmmmmm

So gorgeous readers if you like me still have many small traditions or bigger traditions that are just what we do…. maybe deep down they are sign we really do want to believe in something and so here’s the point of my post today.

Maybe we are ready to believe in ourselves too!

Imagine that – if the world we live in was surrounded by awesome people just like you,  all celebrating that you all have something amazing inside you, something you offer the world, and that what ever those talents might be that you are making time to nurture them, believe in yourself and share them with others.

That is my wish for my birthday!

That we all believe in ourselves.

And then I can only imagine the miracles that would happen in the world.