Author’s note: This article was written to be shared as a birthday message among friends and loved ones. Don’t miss the music at the end!

Today is the day of your birth, the day you changed the world. The first day of the rest of your life.

Welcome brother. Welcome sister. Welcome other.

We have been waiting for you since the bang of the first drum, since the first stars, the first moon, since the rising of the first sun. Welcome.

You are literally stardust. The material of divine light and love that allows all things to be. All things to be seen, and to see.

We bow to you. We see your divine light is within us too.

Namaste.

The essence of you cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed from one thing into another.

You were a cloud, now you are the storm.

You were a raindrop, now you are the ocean.

You were the river, now you are the sea.

You were breathing, now you are the wind.

I do not speak of the transmigration of your soul, but rather of the endless transformation of one divine whole, expressed in infinite ways. Expressed in in all things eternally, for eternal days.

Today is the day you breathed your first breath. Do not fear to breathe your last, you are simply becoming the wind.

You will carry the flight of every bird. You will make mountains and forests sway. You will calm and cool a faint and fevered face. You will turn the blades of titanic turbines and light up the world. Just as you did with your first smile, your first steps, your first words.

You are the light of the world.

You were younger then, now you are older you understand—the only constant is change. So change the world for the better. Love yourself, and love your neighbour.

There is no other reason why you are here, but to be love, and be loved in return.

It is the singular meaning of this life.

Don’t live each day like it’s your last. Live each day like it’s going to last—and last forever. There’s no hurry.

Yet you will be in a hurry to grow up, and you’ll lie about your age. Then at a certain moment—no one knows when exactly—you’ll be in a hurry to be younger again, and you’ll lie about your age. Just be who you are, where you are. And enjoy the journey.

Grow old gracefully, go grey gracefully. It’s the light in your eyes, not the highlights in your hair that we truly love.

Love truly. Don’t be careless with other people’s hearts, and don’t let other people be careless with yours. Love deeply.

Dive into life and swim in its wild waters. What choice do you have? You are the heart of a whale swimming in an ocean of consciousness. So swim deeply. Beat deeply, like the first drum.

So many suns will rise and fall. Millennia will pass, and you will climb onto land, and climb into trees, and out again, and you will learn to stand on your own two feet. Stand tall, and breathe deeply. This is your world, for a time at least. Take care of it, and it will take care of you.

Live in peace, if you can. If you cannot, rest in peace.

Search, question, enquire. Find your purpose, find your passion, be inspired.

Be curious, and be content. Find the balance between these two inner spirits, and in your equanimity—savour each day as heaven sent.

Today is the day of your birth, the day you changed the world. So live, and love, and laugh. You were born to it.

But I won’t lie to you, sometimes life is not fair, and it sure isn’t a fairy tale. But when life gives you lemons, I guess you’ve got to make lemonade.

So drink deeply this bittersweet elixir.

Cheers!

And happy birthday.