photo credit: skittzitilby

What will you celebrate today?  Any ol’ thing you want!

I love reading the horoscopes in my local newspaper. Why? Not because I believe that my “sign” portends a certain future.  No.  Instead, I happen to find surprisingly insightful comments scattered among the various horoscopes for each day.  For instance, last month, one of the horoscopes for Aries (March 23-April19) included this advice:

Find a reason to celebrate.

And, hey, I like that idea. Good advice. For today.  Or any day.  For me, for you and for anyone, born as an Aries or not. (I’m one of the “not-Aries”.)  I think that Mattie Stepanek, the brave youngster who faced adversity with poetry, explained more eloquently than I why celebration is good:

While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every work, every action, every deed.

What Can You Celebrate Today?

What can you celebrate today, April 14^th 2010???  Take a moment, think about your day, think about your life, think about what’s doin’… and what you have to celebrate, now, today.  Make your own list.  And then CELEBRATE!

As for me, thinking ahead to what I might celebrate on 4/14/2010, let me see…  I think these will fall into my “let’s celebrate’ category:

• There’s absolutely NOTHING on my calendar for this day. (Yet.)
• Somewhere (if not where you and I are) the sun is shining!
• We woke up this morning.  And we’re functioning just as well as we’re able.  Thank you, God.
• We’ve had more than our fair share of rain this year and my flowers are growing all by themselves.  (The weeds too; some of them have pretty little orange flowers. Neat!)
• My taxes have already been mailed.  And, I owe nothing more, nada.  Hip, hip, hooray!!!
• Tomorrow is the day my late husband was born – I celebrate his wonderful life and LOVE that he spent 44 of his allotted 65 years with me!
• Many of my favorite people were born in the month of April – Happy Birthday y’all!
• Tomorrow I get to go to my drawing class to learn the techniques for drawing sand dunes.
• We survived the first quarter of 2010 and we’re still going. E-haw!
• And, here are three more reasons to celebrate April 14th.  It’s:
  • International Moment of Laughter Day
  • Look up at the Sky Day
  • Reach as High as You Can Day

And of course, tomorrow, April 15th, is not only America’s tax day, it’s also: Rubber Eraser Day.  Makes sense – I wonder how many erasers have given their lives to tax return preparations?  Nowadays we have computers that “fix” the mistakes without leaving a flaw. Uh huh.

What else can you celebrate this day and this month??  Hopefully you have your own very personal list of things to celebrate today.  But just in case you’re coming up blank for the rest of April, here’s a list of “official” celebration possibilities:

• 16 – National High Five Day
• 17 – Blah, Blah, Blah Day
• 19 – National Garlic Day
• 20 – Volunteer Recognition Day
• 22 – National Jelly Bean Day
• 23 – National Zucchini Bread Day
• 23 – Take a Chance Day
• 26 – National Pretzel Day
• 26 – Hug a Friend Day
• 27 – Tell a Story Day

Oh, by the way, in case you missed it (I would have if not for writing this post), yesterday was “blame somebody else day”.  That’s whose fault it is (somebody else’s) that I did miss this one: April 7^th: No Housework Day.

How Will You Celebrate Today?

How about starting with Pat Brill’s advice:

To fully enjoy the ‘richness’ of our lives, we need to stop long enough to visit with ourselves.

Take some time out.  Have a cuppa tea.  Go for a walk.  Call a friend.  Sing a song: perhaps hum along with Rare Earth as they sing:

• I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
• Another day of living,
• I just want to celebrate another day of life.

Still short on celebration techniques?  If so, the Squidoo post, Celebrate Life Every Day – Create Your List of Simple Pleasures, offers lots more ideas:

• Blow bubbles
• Whistle
• Sing in the shower
• Listen to Jazz
• Make a recording of your loved ones’ laughter
• Go to a pet shop and “ooh” and “aah” at the puppies and kittens
• Simmer apple cider, cinnamon, and cloves in water on your stove
• Go out for a walk and take your camera along; take photographs of interesting faces
• Eat your favorite cereal from when you were a child: Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cap’n Crunch, etc.
• Build a fort out of cardboard boxes and camp out in your living room

Enjoy this day that the Lord has made.  Rejoice and be glad in it.  Happy April 14^th.

What will you celebrate today?  Any ol’ thing you want!  Do it, and then tell us about it, Ok?