Today is my dad’s birthday. He was a man who loved to celebrate his birthday. He was a man who loved to celebrate just about anything.
I love what John O’Donohue says about celebration: “Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to your self is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and a poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you.”
On my dad’s 100th birthday, I celebrated with fans from all over the world in his hometown of St Louis. And on the night of his birthday, I gave a sold-out talk at the Missouri History Museum. There were people sitting in the aisles and waiting afterwards for two hours to chat with me. It was one of the most joy-filled celebrations I’ve ever been a part of.
Since that weekend nine years ago, my whole life has been different. Why? Because sharing my dad with his fans re-taught me the meaning of joy, reconnected me with heart-centered practice, and began me on this path of living Love that I learned from my dad.
That’s why I celebrate my dad’s birthday each year. (Today I will be giving two virtual talks — one for UK/European audiences and one for US audiences.) I celebrate the Legacy of Love that he left us all.
My dad is still so loved! And here’s what that teaches me every day. The ripple effect of living Love — as my dad did — transcends what we call “death”. Because my dad is very much alive to me and to everyone who loved and still loves him. My dad still brings joy to people through his celluloid legacy. My dad still connects communities who come together to celebrate him in a wide range of ways — from food to art to travel. My dad also helped countless people through difficult childhoods. And those people didn’t “know” him. And yet they absolutely “knew” him.
We live in a world that celebrates the “cult of personality” through the almost deification of celebrity. The words celebrity and celebrate come, of course, from the same root word. It is about honoring.
What are we honoring?
Well, my dad is no longer here. Does he know that people, including me, still celebrate his birthday? Who knows? But we celebrate anyway, because we’re celebrating for us. And what we’re really celebrating is not so much a birthday but rather the love we have for him — and the fact that our mutual love for him brings us together in Love.
John O’Donohue also said: “There’s something really holy in celebration. Real celebration is about the lyrical dance of joy at the center of the human heart.”
Presence. Joy. Heart. Holy. Grace.
These are the words O’Donohue uses to describe celebration. Which means, of course, that celebration is an essential heart-centered practice of presence (my intentional word for the year) and wholeness (my heart-centered practice of presence for the month).
So today, as I celebrate my dad’s birthday virtually with fans from around the world, let me be clear about what I am celebrating:
I am celebrating the presence of Love, which transcends death.
I am celebrating the wholeness of Love, which brings strangers together and transforms them into friends.
I am celebrating the joy of Love, which is greater than all of the world’s fears.
I am celebrating the grace of Love, which comes through us all to touch one another.
And I am celebrating the heart-centered practice of carrying forward this legacy of Love from the person who expressed it best in my life to everyone whom it needs to touch.
May we all live forward our legacies of Love and so transform the world.
Even now, my dad teaches me the heart-centered practice of celebration — and he is still teaching us all to #LoveViral.
Please listen to today’s heart-centered practice of celebration: