Happy Birthday
I made you something a little different this year.
It started with one small thing I looked up about the day you were born.
And then I read it.
And I just sat there for a minute.
Because all I could think was:
So instead of simply telling you what I found, I thought I’d let you discover it a little at a time.
There are a few doors in here.
You can follow whatever catches you, change your mind, take another path, or wander a little before you move on.
There isn’t a right way through this.
There’s just your way.
Ready to see what I found?
Okay.
Straight to it.
All right.
It came from the ocean.
Which, frankly, did not make it any less dramatic.
Something is emerging.
Something is emerging from that ocean.
And apparently it has plans.
In my defense...
I didn’t write the thing.
I just read it and immediately thought of you.
No easing into it, then.
Okay. Here it is.
A Sabian symbol is a short poetic image associated with each degree of the zodiac. Astrologers sometimes use them as reflective images for deeper themes connected with that degree.
The symbol for the degree of the Sun on the day you were born is:
Before I tell you what I saw in it, I want to know what catches you first.
Choose whatever pulls at you.
The ocean feels important.
There is something about the ocean in this image that feels important.
It suggests depth. A whole world beneath what can be seen from the surface.
Maybe that feels familiar to you.
You get to decide what belongs.
There is movement in that image.
Something that belonged to one world is crossing into another.
It is becoming visible in a new way.
There is movement in that image. There is arrival.
New room to become.
Rebirth carries the feeling of becoming newly alive inside the life that is already yours.
New chapter.
New shape.
New room to become.
More of you coming forward.
What if becoming is simply more of you coming forward?
More fully present.
More fully claimed.
More fully lived.
This may be my favorite detail.
The merman carries the ocean with him.
The depth becomes part of how he moves through the next world.
Maybe you saw something I didn’t.
Tell me what caught you.
What do you see in the image?
I like that you found your own doorway into it.
Now I want to tell you what I saw.
Now I’ll tell you what stopped me in my tracks.
I read that image and immediately thought of you.
Something in it felt so familiar.
You carry the wisdom of deep waters, an understanding of what lives beneath the surface that many people never get close to.
And you have emerged from those depths into something extraordinary.
A partner beside you.
Work that sets your soul on fire because it is a calling your own journey prepared you to answer.
The people you reach every day can feel the difference between someone who has simply learned the words and someone who actually knows.
You know.
And that knowing is one of your greatest gifts.
The merman carries the ocean with him.
The depth becomes part of what makes the life above the surface powerful.
That is what I saw when I read it.
What part do you want to stay with for a minute?
Some depth stays with us.
There are parts of a life that teach a person how to notice what other people miss.
That kind of depth can become its own form of wisdom.
A life that is yours.
There is something beautiful about realizing that the life around you carries your fingerprints.
Built choice by choice. Step by step. Becoming visible.
Some work carries more than a job title.
Sometimes the life a person has lived becomes part of what allows them to meet other people with real understanding.
I see that in you.
The ocean comes too.
The image never asks the merman to erase where he came from.
He carries it forward.
That feels important to me.
What stayed with you?
You have already lived through a lot of becoming.
So for this next year, I want to ask you something simpler.
Choose the one that calls to you first.
What would you call it?
Give it whatever name feels right.
Keep that one.
Which kind of year sounds best right now?
What sounds right to you?
May it arrive in ways that feel unmistakably yours.
Whatever this next year becomes...
I hope it gives you more of what feels alive.
More of what feels true.
More of what feels like yours.
And the most beautiful chapters are still ahead.
Happy Birthday.
Here is to everything that is still becoming.
Then that is where we’ll leave it.
Happy Birthday. ❤️
Then here is the last thing I want you to know.
I am so happy that the life you are building belongs to you.
I hope this year keeps giving you reasons to look around and realize just how far you have come.
Happy Birthday.
I love you.
Give this next year one word.
Just one.
Whatever arrives first.
Keep that one.
Let’s see what the year does with it.
Happy Birthday.
There’s one more birthday gift waiting for you.
I made something else for you, too.
It’s called The Next Page.
It’s a writing and reflection experience made especially for you, a place to explore the parts of your story that want words.
You can use it whenever you want.
Your birthday card will still be here when you’re done.
This last gift continues in ChatGPT.
There are just two quick steps.
First: copy the starter below.
Then: open ChatGPT, paste it into a new chat, and send it.
Tap step 1 before opening ChatGPT.