Follow along with the transcript below for episode: Create Your Own Personal Holiday With Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming
[INTRODUCTION]
[00:00:01] PF: Thank you for joining us for Episode 514 of Live Happy Now. We all have birthdays, but are we making the most of them? We’re about to find out. I’m your host, Paula Felps, and today, I’m joined by Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming, author of How to Have a Happy Birthday: Create Meaning, Fulfillment, and Joy on Your Special Day. Tamar gives us a new spin on how we approach birthdays, and today, she’s here to explain how to yearly chance to create our own personal holiday for lasting growth and change. Let’s have a listen.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:34.2] PF: Tamar, thank you for joining me on Live Happy Now.
[0:00:36.7] THF: Thanks Paula, it’s a pleasure to be here.
[0:00:39.3] PF: This is such a great idea, this book, I was looking at it again last night and I’m like, it’s one of these things that you’re saying, “Why didn’t someone think of this sooner?” I mean, this whole idea of how to celebrate your birthday, how to turn it into a personal improvement mission is just incredible. So, you call yourself a birthday aficionado. Tell me, what made you a birthday aficionado, and then how that led to this idea?
[0:01:06.7] THF: Well, I call myself a birthday aficionado because I’ve been paying very close attention to the energy that builds as our birthday comes every year and crests, and then sort of fades away, and I’ve been paying attention for decades, and I’ve been paying attention to it not just for myself, but how the birthday energy impacts other people. And so, by paying close attention and really understanding that we all have different relationships with our birthdays, I realized that you know, there’s a lot here to unpack, and there’s a lot here to offer in terms of how to help people have happier birthdays.
[0:01:38.6] PF: So, what made you start paying attention to that in the first place?
[0:01:43.9] THF: Well, the worst birthday of my life was when I turned 18. It was my freshman year of college. My birthday is in January, so it was just a few months after school started. The baby of the family, I went away, this is back in 1983 before cellphones and all this other stuff were, you know, instant connection and I woke up, expecting the phone to ring, really excited for that, I ran back to my room, waiting for the phone to ring.
The calls never came, and basically, my family forgot my birthday, and that was the only thing I had planned for the day was to receive calls from my family.
[0:02:13.6] PF: Oh man.
[0:02:15.2] THF: So yeah, it was really rough. It was rough. It was completely unexpected, it was heartbreaking. I know my family loves me but when they forget to call you on your birthday, the first year you’re away from home, it really sends a message that’s very painful. So, that was really hard. A couple of years later, I was in my junior year abroad, I was living in France. My birthday came, I turned 20.
And I woke up that day, I didn’t have birthday plans, but when I woke up, I realized like, “Oh, I’m all alone, no one’s here to do this for me, let me take charge of my day, and make it happen for myself.” So, I took the day off class, I walked through town, I bought myself a gift and I had some friends over later for cake, and I realized like, “Oh, I get it, you have to make your birthday happen for yourself, and not sit passively, waiting for the phone to ring.”
And those two birthdays from when I was 18 and then I was 20, were significant wake-up calls for me in terms of understanding the wide range of birthday experience a person could have. On one end, if you’re being passive, and on another end, if you’re being proactive and empowered, and from that point on, I started paying attention to my birthdays and practicing celebrating myself.
And each year, I would build on the experience from the previous year because I would learn like, on a year, you know, I remember I had one birthday celebration, but the next morning, I had a really big work presentation I had to do. I thought, “Oh, this is keeping me from having birthday fun because I’m really stressed out of what I had to do tomorrow.” So, it taught me, “Don’t schedule anything big the day after your birthday.”
And that’s the kind of knowledge I gleaned year, after year, after year, by paying close attention to my birthdays.
[0:03:48.7] PF: One of the things that I love about your book is you turn it from feeling like something selfish to really something that you are doing for yourself that is basically a form of self-care, and I think so many of us, especially I also am the baby of a large family, and it did always feel selfish if I was like, “Hey, it’s my birthday, remember?” And so a lot of times, we do feel like, “Okay, it’s just my birthday, everybody has one, it’s not that big a deal, why do I think I’m special?” All that talk that we say to ourselves.
[0:04:22.1] THF: Yeah.
[0:04:22.6] PF: So, I mean, I just am really surprised at the way you’ve been able to turn this into basically a self-improvement book, and at what point did you realize, “I’ve got a mission and I’ve got a message that I can share through a book?”
[0:04:36.5] THF: That idea came to me probably 15 to 18 years ago actually, and it was with a person I knew that when I wished them a happy birthday, they had a really negative reaction, and I thought, “What’s up about that?” It just didn’t quite feel right, and I thought there’s something here. That’s what really took me on my quest to dive deeply and to understanding why some of us are birthday-avoidant.
And some of us are birthday positive, and some are in between, you know, that whole spectrum that I called, the birthday spectrum, whether you’re birthday avoidant, birthday positive, and anywhere in between. For those of us that are birthday-avoidant, and don’t want to have anything to do with our birthdays, we don’t want to think about them, we don’t like them, I really encourage you to consider the fact that you’re a miracle, and the fact that you were born at all is worth celebrating.
And yes, Paula, we all have a birthday, and that’s the point. We just get one day a year, one 24-hour day a year, we all get the same amount of time to celebrate ourselves, and to put ourselves in the center of our life. A lot of us are busy people, we’re caretakers, we’re givers, we don’t really have that opportunity to say, “Hey, stop, world. I’m going to take this day and do just what I want to do” And you know what? Everybody gives us permission to celebrate our birthdays.
Everybody, you know, you tell a stranger when you go get your cup of coffee that it’s your birthday today, they’re going to light up for you because they know what it feels like when their birthday comes around. So, it’s really the one day a year we get to put ourselves in the center, it’s our personal New Year, and when we take charge of our day, and make it our own, and give ourselves that, like you said, that self-care to do whatever we want to do, it’s amazing what that does for our spirit, for our mental health, for our relationship to self. It’s very powerful, yeah.
[0:06:14.9] PF: And I’m glad you brought up the personal New Year idea because I love that, and we make such a big deal out of New Year, and unless your birthday is actually on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, this is like your second chance to do this, and when I read that, that just resonated with me like, “Wow, what a great opportunity.” Talk about that, talk about how we can make our own personal New Year and some of the opportunities that that gives us.
[0:06:40.1] THF: Well, you know, January 1st is the New Year, we all celebrate that together, around the world. It’s a New Year, and so what does that mean? Our resolutions, new beginnings, all of that, we all know what that’s like, but your birthday is highly personal, and that’s why we call it a personal New Year. It’s entirely for you, other people aren’t celebrating that same New Year as you unless they share your birthday.
But you know, it’s an opportunity for you to look at your life and reflect, and ask yourself, “Is this the life I want to be living?” And if it’s not, “Then what kind of changes can I make in the coming year to dial that in more so that it’s closer to what I want?” I don’t expect people to go, “Oh, I don’t like my life, there’s a lot that’s not working, and a year from now, everything’s going to be great.” But it doesn’t mean you can’t make improvement towards that goal.
And I don’t mean you know, go to the gym and start working out. You can do that if you want, certainly, but I’m talking about the deeper stuff, the stuff that makes us feel fulfilled in our life. We all have a purpose, some of us know what it is and we’re often running, others of us don’t quite know what it is yet, but a birthday is an opportunity to do some self-reflection, and ask ourselves, “Why was I born?”
“What kind of contribution can I make to help make this world a better place? If so, I choose. Am I an artist, am I a writer, am I a healer, am I a person who likes to be of service to others? What can I do to turn the volume up on the personal joy and fulfillment I can feel in my life?”
[0:08:01.8] PF: What really resonated with me about that is that’s something I see a lot of women doing as they get older. I had a friend who turned 47 and she was super creative, a songwriter, just doing like all these creative things, and she was concerned that like, “Okay, this is going to be it. I’m getting washed up, what’s going to happen?” You know, so I’ve seen it in people when they hit these later birthdays, but it’s not usually something you think about in your 20s or 30s. So, taking this approach of celebrating, how is that going to turn that around?
[0:08:32.1] THF: You know, I don’t agree. To me, there’s a big lie out there that not all of us, but many of us have bought into them. I’m just going to call it what it is, it’s a big lie, and the big lie is that getting older is bad, that it makes us less valuable, it makes us less empowered, it makes us less viable, it makes us less wanted. I don’t agree with that. Nobody gets to determine my power and my presence and the ability for me to be contributing into the world based on my age.
I actually think I’m far better now that I’m older, I just turned 59. So, I understand in the entertainment industry, there’s certain standards of youthfulness that the decision-makers are looking for. I get that, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep creating your music, you can’t – look at Bonnie Raitt, she’s been creating this –
[0:09:12.9] PF: Right, right.
[0:09:13.0] THF: Whole time, she’s a wonderful role model.
[0:09:14.1] PF: Look at Dolly Parton.
[0:09:15.2] THF: Look at Dolly Parton, look at Joni Mitchel, she’s still performing, and she’s venerated, right? So, I feel like, you know, there’s this idea that we need to hide our age, feel ashamed as we age, especially as women, and I don’t buy it, and I think that we don’t any of ourselves a favor when we buy into that, and we promote it because we feel like we have to because that’s the common narrative. I just think it’s time to start challenging that because it doesn’t do anybody any good.
[0:09:40.0] PF: And when you start celebrating your day and approaching it as your personal New Year, how does that change the people around you? Because I would think they’re going to jump on board to think, “This is amazing,” and then they’re going to start doing that for themselves.
[0:09:53.8] THF: Exactly. When we celebrate our birthday with intention, we’re actually role modeling for others what it can be like for them. We actually give permission to other people when we step fully into our life, fully into our birthday experience, and radiate the joy that is an energy that’s palpable for other people to see, and I think it’s a contagious spirit, like, “Oh my gosh, she’s so happy on her birthday, I want some of that too.”
And birthdays are an equal opportunity provider. They’re the one thing we all have equally, we all have one 24-hour period a day, a year, that’s it. I don’t get to have 27 hours and you get 22, right? We all have the opportunity. So, you know, if I’m envying somebody’s birthday experience because I see how happy they are about it, then why can’t I have that for myself? I can if I create it for myself.
[0:10:39.5] PF: And if you start looking at your birthday that way, are you going to start doing that earlier and earlier in the year? It seems like just with any kind of self-care practice, like with your New Year’s resolutions, you don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to start thinking about, “Gosh, what am I going to do for this year?” So, do you see people doing that with themselves, saying, “Okay, what is my intention for that next birthday going to be?
[0:11:03.7] THF: Yeah, I think, everybody’s different, but I love the question because it gives me the opportunity to say birthdays are a major holiday, and just like any major holiday, you want to plan for them. I mean, you know, you’re not going to wake up on Thanksgiving Day and say, “Okay, what’s for dinner, and who is coming over?” You’re going to be planning in advance for that.
[0:11:17.8] PF: Exactly.
[0:11:18.7] THF: It’s the same thing with a birthday. I like to start planning my birthday four to six weeks in advance. I don’t – you know, six weeks in advance, four weeks in advance, I don’t necessarily have all the details dialed in, but I start to think about, “Um, it’s coming, what do I want to do? Do I want to be intent or do I want to be out of tent? Do I want to be social, do I want to be just with my husband?”
Like, what do I wait to start doing, what am I thinking, and you know, planning for it really helps you actually create the birthday you want, and in terms of thinking about the coming year, yeah, you know a lot of people start to feel anxious right before their birthday. They get the birthday blues, they feel anxious even if they like their birthday. Well, the birthday blues, I’m not sure, but there’s a sort of anxiousness that can come as our personal year comes to a close.
And whatever feelings might come up, disappointments, excitements, whatever might have happened in the year that’s about to close, as we think about the year that’s to come, there can be a lot of emotional energy that’s there even if we’re not aware of it, and it could – people might want to start crying, and they don’t know what’s bothering them, and it’s not so much that they don’t like their birthday.
It’s just that there’s this big moment coming and it speaks to some emotional energies that are within them that want a voice, and the birthday op – gives us an opportunity to tune in.
[BREAK]
[0:12:31.5] PF: We’ll be right back with more of Live Happy Now. And now, let’s hear more from Tamar.
[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:12:44.5] PF: I’m glad you brought that up because that was one thing I wanted to ask you about because people do have feelings of anxiety or depression. So, when they feel that coming on, what is the proper way to approach them? I know too many people that just kind of shut it down and say, “All right, I’m just going to get through that day.”
[0:12:59.2] THF: Yeah. Yeah.
[0:13:02.7] PF: And they ignore it and what you’re telling me is this is an opportunity to resolve some things.
[0:13:07.6] THF: Yeah. So, I believe that for all – I’ve had the birthday blues myself. I’ve had some bad experiences on my birthdays as I mentioned early on and that created a negative self-talk around my birthday experience and my worthiness around being celebrated, and so for those of your listeners that have the birthday blues and don’t like their birthdays, I ask you to consider that there is the possibility to have a happy birthday by doing a little reflection, and asking yourself, “Why don’t I like my birthday?”
And one of the things in my book, chapter two is all about the birthday blues. I get right into it because it’s such a big barrier to having a happy birthday, and also in the workbook that I have, at the back of the book and also on its own separate journal form, there’s a lot of questions that help you answer why might I not like my birthday. What are some of the issues? What am I afraid of losing as I age?
You know, we really want to have some self-awareness in order to break through the barriers that keep us from having a happy birthday, and so for people who don’t like their birthdays, and if you’re willing to try and have a happy birthday, I think the first thing that you can do for yourself is as your birthday’s coming take the day off from work or from your normal routines. Give yourself the entire day to be your own, let yourself do that, and then do whatever you want to do.
It doesn’t have to include anybody, you don’t have to tell anybody. It’s your birthday if you don’t want, but go do what you want to do, and practice having in experiencing and choosing the joy that can be yours on your birthday by doing what you want.
[0:14:34.6] PF: And for some women, that might be hard to wrap your head around, especially if they’re moms, and their like will be, “You don’t understand, I have all these things that I have to do.” So, how do you put that into place that, “Hey, mom’s birthday is coming up, she gets, it’s not just Mother’s Day that she gets like 30 minutes to herself.”
[0:14:51.5] THF: Yeah.
[0:14:52.7] PF: And how do you establish that within your family?
[0:14:55.9] THF: Well, and you know, listen, when you’re a mom and you have young kids and they need your attention and you don’t get to take the day off, I understand that, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have an hour to yourself or to go get a spa treatment or to go get a massage or something like that that helps nourish yourself. Fine, if you can’t do that, go, you know, wake up a little early in the morning to have some private time.
To be reflective, and at a certain point, your kids aren’t going to be that young anymore. So, that there might be the period where like I never had time to myself, but the time will come where you can create that, and allow yourself to give that to yourself. That’s really what I want to say to people, whatever situations you’re working through in your life, I don’t know what they are, but you do, you know how to create time and space to honor yourself if you so choose.
A lot of us choose not to, we fill our schedules, we come up with all sorts of reasons why we can’t do that. I believe it’s because we’re so afraid of getting our heart broken again around our birthday that we don’t even want to open up to the possibilities that maybe this time a birthday could be happy, and I believe that all of us that have the birthday blues typically have experiences, typically from childhood or earlier in our life that gave us messages in a very deep way that we’re not worth celebrating. Why bother?
Like you said earlier, you know, you’re the baby of a large family, “Oh, who cares?” Everybody’s birthday, you know? So, those are really significant messages that we take in at a young age and children are sensitive, and we don’t want to bother people. So, if I am getting the message that my birthdays aren’t important, I don’t want to ask for something I’m not going to get. It’s too sad.
[0:16:23.3] PF: Right, and how will it change children to be raised in an environment where they see mom and dad celebrating their own birthday as a personal holiday, and then when it’s their birthday, they’re celebrated? How is that going to change their whole adult experience?
[0:16:39.9] THF: Yeah. Well, again, as we role model having happy birthdays it’s contagious for everyone around us, especially our kids. What happens with children a lot of the times is that parents will often do the celebrating for the, you know, create everything for the child, and then the child will grow up and go off into their adult life, and the parents aren’t there to do it for them anymore, and there isn’t this baton that gets past, saying, “Okay, this is how you celebrate yourself.
So, sometimes you will get older and they feel like, “Oh, birthdays are just for children because the magic that my parents created for me isn’t here anymore, and no one taught me how to do it for myself.” So, if you are a parent and you are into your birthdays, that’s wonderful, and help your children understand that they get to help create their birthday positivity, that birthday magic too.
[0:17:24.1] PF: That’s great, and you got to talk about the workbook because now, did you write the book first, and then develop the workbook? Because that workbook alone is just such a wonderful self-help walk through your feelings, and it’s very, very thoughtful. Tell us what the workbook offers.
[0:17:41.8] THF: So, the workbook comes at the back of the book and there’s questions, and you could write on the back of the book. There’s not a lot of room but you could write your answers even though people don’t like to write in a book per se, and I realized and I’ve been hearing feedback that the workbook is so powerful and helpful, and the questions that it asks and helps people uncover things within themselves that they don’t even realize.
So, that they can turn their birthday experience around by understanding where their birthday resistance comes from, and even gives them opportunities for like, “Well, what do you want to do this coming year?” You know, the workbook actually helps you first understand what your birthday blocks are, what the blocks are to having a happy birthday, and then helping tease those out and then resolve them in whatever way that you can.
And then, look to what you might want to create for your birthday in terms of what you want to do. You know, list your three favorite places to go that are within a couple of hours of where you live, list the three people you love to spend time with even though you never see them, you know, that we have favorite people in our lives that we actually don’t see that often. Well, maybe on your birthday that’s a great time to spend time with those people.
So, there’s just ideas that are offered as well as, again, opportunities for self-reflection, and once the book came out, it seemed clear, like you know what this workbook needs to be a standalone in a journal format, and it is. There is plenty of spaces to write your answers and you know, you can even do it every couple of years, every year if you want, see how your answers change, I think there is usefulness in that.
So, it’s really a journal, but the questions that help you dive a little deeper to understand your birthday stuff.
[0:19:10.8] PF: From the feedback your readers have given you, is there one that resonates with people more than some of the others?
[0:19:17.1] THF: One what?
[0:19:18.1] PF: Any of the prompts or the questions that they dive into?
[0:19:21.5] THF: Oh, yeah. You know, it’s interesting, one person was really moved by, she said she felt a lot of birthday pressure like, “It’s your birthday, what do you want to do?” And that is one of the things that was hard for her, and she really appreciated that in the workbook when you know, the questions are you know, “Name the three places you’d like to visit, name your three favorite museums.”
That it wasn’t like name the three places you’d like to visit on your birthday that the pressure wasn’t there, that it was really an invitation to explore what would bring you joy without the pressure for you to be any different, and even though the birthday invites you, the birthday book and workbook invite you to have a happier birthday by doing some self-work, right? It’s a self-help book basically, to dive a little deeper within what’s going on, for you to ask yourself those questions.
It is also an invitation to take a light heart and a light approach to your birthday celebrations so that you can actually have some fun, and look forward to it every year. It’s a great day and I do believe that wherever we are on the birthday spectrum, we can have a happier birthday. One of the things that I suggest that I’d recommend everybody give a shot, I think this is really kind of magic to do is to create a birthday altar on your birthday eve.
So, the night before your birthday, I’ve been tuning into it in the past few years myself, and it’s really like, “Oh, wow, this is really a thing.” It’s like kind of in a way Christmas Eve builds to Christmas Day the next day.
[0:20:39.5] PF: Right.
[0:20:39.8] THF: So, your birthday eve is a really lovely time, you know, turn down the lights, put on some music, light some candles, and create a birthday altar, which can be as simple or as elaborate as you with, but it’s a space in your home where you dedicate to yourself, and you put some of your favorite photos up. You can put a happy birthday banner, those are wonderful to string up.
You know, flowers, mementos, whatever you want to reflect yourself back at you in a positive manner, and that’s a really lovely thing to create that sort of turns the birthday magic on just through the act of doing that.
[0:21:14.0] PF: And what a lovely thing to wake up to.
[0:21:16.0] THF: It is.
[0:21:16.9] PF: You know, we remember that time as a kid you wake up and it’s like, is there going to be like, my little present and my balloons by my breakfast plate? And so, how lovely to have that, the first thing that you see when you get up in the morning.
[0:21:28.6] THF: Exactly. I actually like to spend, I believe birthdays are spiritual. You know, it’s the day we came into this life, I don’t know what’s more spiritual than that. So, I’ve noticed that when I have a spiritual moment in the morning, just tuning into myself, whatever that means for me, it helps me get grounded and centered before I enter into the day’s festivities that I’m present for it.
And so, I’ll spend time in front of my birthday altar and there’s these little angel cards with just a word on them that I love using, I’ll pick one, and little things that help center myself in the day that’s about to unfold, and the birthday altar is a wonderful place to do that.
[0:22:00.7] PF: And once we’ve figured out how to make our own birthdays happier, how can we take that to our friends and our family? How, can we help them change the way they celebrate their birthdays?
[0:22:11.0] THF: Well, if you know anybody that could use help celebrating their birthdays, I honestly recommend you give them a birthday gift six weeks in advance, give them a copy of my book, How to Have a Happy Birthday, and the workbook, and say, “Here, you know, here’s a birthday present six weeks in advance. Go ahead and take a look so that you can actually put it into play as your birthday approaches.”
There’s that but then also if, you know, like for my husband when his birthday comes, I start asking him about a month ahead. “You know, your birthday is coming and what are you thinking you might want to do?” You know, and actually engaging in conversation where you are helping almost like brainstorm ideas, and at first like, “Well, I don’t know,” and I get that too. I don’t know what I want to do for my birthday. You know, I’m turning 60 next January, that’s a big one, I don’t know.
[0:22:52.7] PF: You got to do something.
[0:22:53.7] THF: I know, I don’t know what I want to do, you know? And 60 is a big one, so I’m already thinking about it, but I really don’t know, and that’s fair. We don’t know, we don’t know what mood we’re going to be in, but you know, you can start to craft an idea. Like, you know what? I’d like to – I don’t know, but start asking those questions, and also some friends, if you know friends, let’s say, having a big birthday.
Let’s say a milestone birthday, you can say, “Hey, I know you’re having a milestone birthday. Is there anything I can do to help you feel special and celebrate it?” And let them say, “Oh, thank you for asking. No, I’ve got it all taken care of, I’m going away,” or, “Yes, can you please help me plan this?” And so, asking if there’s anything you can do to help the people in your life celebrate their birthday in a way that will make them happy is a wonderful question to ask.
And accept their answer, and if they are not into their birthdays and they want to avoid it, accept that as well. You know, we can’t change anybody.
[0:23:41.7] PF: Don’t force it.
[0:23:42.2] THF: No, not at all. Not at all, we can just become passionate. I think everybody that does not like celebrating their birthday, to me, deserves compassion because it means that they’re not willing to put themselves in the center of their life, they’re not willing to receive the love that’s there for them, and those are some deep wounds, actually, that are there, and birthdays can help heal those, one day, one year at a time.
[0:24:02.7] PF: And what kind of changes do you see in people who have learned to truly embrace and celebrate that personal New Year?
[0:24:09.9] THF: Well, the first thing I hear is like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t wait till next year,” right? They experience something really transformational and you know, it’s like, “Oh,” and they get it that it really is just this one-day-a-year thing. It’s like, the birthday is a wave of energy that builds and comes to you and it’s like, you either surf it or you duck, right? But when you surf it and it’s exhilarating, and it’s like, “Oh, should I just have this great birthday?”
“Yeah, that was great, I want to do it again.” So, it’s neat to see people transform and get excited about, “Now, I’m getting the hang of it and I know how to start planning and thinking about what I want to do.” But also what I notice is that when we open ourselves to the joy that is there for us on our birthday and the self-love, and I don’t mean, self-love in a way like, you know, we don’t have to love ourselves, that’s a lot.
Some of us really don’t like ourselves and that’s real, and I get that. I get that, but when we can start to form a more pleasant relationship with ourselves, that’s a step forward in the right direction, in my mind, and birthdays let us soften to ourselves. It lets us soften to the world around us and I believe that when we actually have a truly happy and fulfilling birthday, it makes us kinder people, and it makes the world better one person at a time.
[0:25:18.0] PF: I love that. So, before I let you go, I do want to find out what is the one thing that you hope everybody hearing your voice today will take away from this conversation, and take to heart?
[0:25:29.4] THF: I hope everybody listening today understands that they have the right to be happy and to celebrate themselves, one day a year, and that no matter what anybody has told them in the past, no matter what other past experiences happened, no matter what memories might be associated with their birthdays, your next birthday is a brand-new opportunity for you to put yourself in the center of your life.
Plan for your birthday as if it’s a major holiday, and allow yourself to experience an opening to the good energy that’s there for you on your birthday. I promise you, it can happen, and I promise you that if you try, you can have a happier birthday.
[0:26:06.3] PF: I love it. So, we are going to tell our listeners how they can find you, how they can find your book. We’re going to offer a free download of Five Ways to Create Joy that you’ve generously given to us, and I just hope everyone digs in and learns how they can use this opportunity that they get like you said, every year.
[0:26:23.5] THF: Yeah, I do too, Paula.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:26:29.0] PF: That was Tamar Hurwitz-Fleming, talking about how to do birthdays better. If you’d like to learn more about Tamar, discover her book and workbook, How to Have a Happy Birthday, get a free download of Five Ways to Create Joy on Your Birthday, or follow her on social media, just visit us at LiveHappy.com and click on this podcast episode, and while you’re there, be sure to sign up for the weekly, Live Happy Newsletter, so you can avoid the bad news and get more of what’s good in your inbox.
Enjoy the latest research on happiness, uplifting stories, or look for the good word search puzzle, book recommendations, and of course, our happy song of the week. That is all we have time for today. We’ll meet you back here again next week for an all-new episode, and until then, this is Paula Felps, reminding you to make every day a happy one.
[END]
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Tamar discovered the transformational power of birthdays.
- What happens when you make your birthday an opportunity for growth.
- Simple ways to change how you celebrate birthdays.
Get the free download, “5 Ways to Create Joy on Your Birthday”
Discover the book, How to Have a Happy Birthday: Create Meaning, Fulfillment and Joy on Your Special Day
Visit Tamar’s website.
Follow along with the transcript.
Follow Tamar on Social Media:
- Instagram: @Author.Tamar
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