“Celebrate” means to “publicly acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity”; and “to honour or praise”. (www.oxforddictionaries.com). When we examine cultures around the world, we find that all cultures, religions and spiritual traditions have special holidays in which people gather to celebrate. Whether they be Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Eid, they all provide opportunities for us to connect with people we care about, share certain rituals, and to reflect and take time out from the busy lives many of us lead. It’s interesting that thousands of years ago, people in positions of power realized the importance of taking time out, connecting, and publicly acknowledging a remarkable person or event.
Many cultures also celebrate the birth of a child and subsequent anniversaries of their birth. Isn’t it curious in the busy lives we lead, that many of us don’t take time to celebrate ourselves, and our accomplishments?
When we get together with people we care about, we often laugh and engage in playful activity. When we laugh, we release endorphins and encourage energy to move throughout our body. In the words of Candace Pert, a neuroscientist and pharmacologist who has spent much of her scientific life studying the mind-body link:
“Play and laughter are vital to feeling good. Recreation isn’t merely a frivolous addition to life or a hard-earned reward for work…I believe that in a society driven by a strong work ethic, with so many individuals burdened with workaholism, people aren’t getting enough endorphinergic surges through the bodymind on a regular basis. For you to not be laughing and playing during some part of every day is unnatural and goes against your fundamental biochemistry.” (Everything You Need to Feel Go(o)d), 2006)
I’d like to share a couple of strategies to support you to celebrate yourself. At the end of everyday, I encourage you to reflect on your day and identify at least one thing (big or small) that you’d like to celebrate. Also, instead of going through your ‘to-do’ list and only checking off what you’ve done, or finishing a project and quickly moving on to the next, I recommend that you feel into your body and acknowledge your accomplishments.
In the video below, I share a technique I’ve found helpful to encourage those endorphinergic surges Candace Pert recommends. Try it and let me know what you experience.
I invite you to share below how you celebrate yourself and any “ahas” you’ve noticed.
I wrote a blog post on a challenging topic that has been on my heart for several months. Good on me! Wooo-hoo!
Thanks much!
Congratulations Sheila! Woo Hoo to you and here’s to continuing to celebrate yourself everyday! Hugs, Pam
Love this article on remembering to celebrate our successes Pamela. I also encourage my clients to celebrate the big and small wins. I love the energy of the video and shouting Woo hoo! I often ask my clients to get up and do their happy dance. Standing up and leaning into this energy is so powerful!
Hi Minette, Thanks for your positive feedback on my blog and video. Indeed, supporting our clients to celebrate themselves is SOoo important. Warm Hugs, Pam
I love this, Pamela. Yes – let’s celebrate all our moments – woo hoo to me and woo hoo to you, too! xox, Reba
Hi Reba, Happy the post resonated for you. Indeed woo hoo to you! Hugs, Pam
Pamela, I have a friend who also centers her work around acknowledging and celebrating our accomplishments, however big or small. So nice to see it here again. I find it so much easier to do this for others than for myself. Thank you!
Deb, It is indeed so much easier to acknowledge others than ourselves, particularly if we tend to give a lot more than we receive, which is a characteristic of most of the coaching clients I work with. One of the first things I ask in a coaching session is “What do you have to celebrate that you’ve accomplished recently?”. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Pam, I loved the video. You are so right, we always take time to celebrate the people in our lives (birthdays, accomplishments, etc), but rarely take time to celebrate ourselves. Today I am celebrating the fact that I finally took down the Halloween decorations & put the Thanksgiving ones up! And I took 3 bags of donations to Good Will. I accomplished something I’ve been wanting to do! Thanks!
Hi Tae, Happy you connected with the need to celebrate ourselves. Good for you to begin to celebrate yourself. WooHoo! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Warm Hugs, Pam