Happy Birthday to Dharma

[lenardthefast]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear Dharma,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to yooooouuu!!!!

...and many many more to come!

Have a great day Dharma, you may have all the cake, champagne and sushi you desire....also lots and lots of veggies.

May the next year bring all good things to you and make you even wiser and more loving...

Namaste,
Leonard

ps: The 'Installing Love' archive was full, so I opened up a new thread.

 

[candid]

Dharma,

Happy Birthday! May this year bring you peace and even greater inner joy. May the works of your hands and mind reach and enrich those blessed to receive them.

Warmly,
Candid

 

[Sparhawk]

The cake is on me!! Happy Birthday Demitra!!

Luis

 

[hilary]

Happy Birthday! (joining in the chorus -

)

much love,
H

 

[shelley]

Happy <FONT SIZE="+1">Happy</FONT> <FONT SIZE="+2">Happy Birthday Dharma!!</FONT>

I don't have a party hat so I'll just have to bring out that old teapot again.

May the coming year bring you sunshine and flowers. If you can't always have sunshine, may you have rainbows and if you can't always have flowers, may you have a garden full of vegetables.
And if all of that fails, may you have a sturdy umbrella and the prettiest kinds of weeds.

Love and warmest hugs,

Shelley

 

[tashij]

happy birthday dharma!!!! are you on cloud nine about now.....; )???

 

[dharma]

my birthdays mark the time of year when i prepare my "sacrificial" goal for the year ahead. for the purpose of detoxifying and healing my body, mind, and soul, i've spent each year committed to creating distances from things, habits and attitudes that weighed me down in some way.

smoking was the first sacrifice and it seems that, more often than not, every year thereafter was somehow focused on the elimination of a certain food. so over the years i have given up many "cherished" food choices from my diet. i started out by eliminating meats first (a different kind each year until all meats were completely excluded), dairy products, sugar-laden foods (unless it's significantly laced with rich dark chocolate, and then it *never* counts

), and all junk foods.

this past year was focused on the *amount* of food i ate in one sitting. now, as a result of having become accustomed to eating smaller portions, and less throughout the day by default, surprise, surprise, wouldn't you know it

i shed a whopping 15 lbs over the year without any other effort and i'm back to wearing sizes that i used to wear in my early twenties - what a treat!

.

there were some years that i wasn't up to sacrificing any food at all, and so i focused more on the act of giving away stuff, like books, clothes, furniture or giving of my energy, as in money or time. these types of sacrifices required less effort on my part and so were easier years to work through.

this year i am attempting something very different. i would love to tell you all what i'm working towards but i believe that by keeping my intentions under wraps i will more likely succeed; it does not compare to anything i've done in the past. i did a tarot reading for myself on the matter and this will clearly be a challenge - however, the result of this path leads to the 8 of Swords reversed, indicating a breaking free and a conquering of my fears if i take up the challenge and follow it all the way through. so far so good. one almost down, and 364 more to go...

thank you Mick, Gene, Leonard, Candid, Luis, Hilary, Shelley and Tashi for coming to my party -and to all those who were there in spirit if not in form- my day turned out to be quite wonderful. (i spent virtually the whole day in quiet meditation in a monastery up north). i thank you all for taking the time to send me your thoughtful birthday wishes,

the lovely songs, scrumptious cakes, champagne, sushi, loads of veggies, sunshine, flowers, rainbows, not to mention, the love, the peace, teapot dancing and the inner joy of cloud nine

i hold your sentiments very close to my heart as i do the honest friendships that are continually being forged here everyday, on and off the board. may you each be rewarded in the most special and unexpected ways in the year ahead.

<CENTER>with love,

</CENTER>