My Hebrew birthday - Iyar 13 - was Sunday April 25, 2021 which this year is exactly 1 week prior to my birthday, May 2. So let’s talk about birthdays…
A birthday is like a personal new year
It is the celebration of your birth, proving your worthiness - yea you, You are 1 in 400 trillion sperm! Your birthday commemorates the day on which G‑d said to you: “You, as an individual, are unique and irreplaceable. No person alive, no person who has ever lived, and no person who shall ever live, can fulfill the specific role in My creation I have entrusted to you (The Jewish Birthday).”
That’s all powerful. What should I do on my birthday to make the most of what I learned this previous year and improve this next year?
I’m happy you asked. I’ll share with you a few things I like to do, some of which are my traditions and others I picked up this year.
Nearly each month I reflect on the wins - people, places, experiences, etc - of the month, as well as the areas of improvement - lessons. Then leading up to my birthday, I will collect the data from the months and put it on one page.
After reflecting on the year, I begin to consider the upcoming year. I will create a vision of the year and write it from the point of view of the following year, so in the past tense. I have found that writing in the past tense gets me in sync with how it will feel.
Create a vision board for my bedroom wall and/or mindmovie for the next year based on steps 1 and 2.
I have yet to fill this out, but I downloaded this template from Youtuber Ali Birthday Annual Review Template (it’s in the subscription of this video: Adapted from Ali Abdaal’s yearly review). It contains a more in depth review of the year and plan for the next.
I hope some of these ideas help you in your upcoming birthday or time of reflection.