I have always wondered as to why people remember you on your birthday. After all your birth day is like any other day of your life. You neither contribute more or less on that day of the year as compared to any other day. In spite of this your friends, relatives and well wishers remember you and wish you on your birthday every year.

Today is my birthday and I decided to reflect on the reasons for the same. You may be blessed to be born in a family with affectionate parents and loving siblings. This may make you a loving person to everyone in your family. This could be one reason why they may remember you.

Then the question to ask is “why do friends remember you on this day ?”. You meet people right through your life. As a kid you have friends and then as you grow up you gather more friends in school, college and at the work place. This may not be a sufficient reason for people to remember you.

Then I realised that people do not remember you because you studied with them or worked them in their life. People remember you because you touched their lives in some positive way some day in their life. A friend mentioned yesterday that she called up a distant friend to express her gratitude for helping her when she needed it the most. This act of kindness touches peoples’ lives.

We are blessed if we have been grateful to others or have been of help or support to them at some stage of their life. They remember you on your birthday because we have made a difference in their lives. Most of us are so busy with our daily routines today that we forget to express our gratitude to people who have helped us in our lives.

If we take a pause and reflect, we may realise that a small act of kindness can greatly impact the life of others. If we can take time out and call a friend or visit one just to say thank you or even just be there and have a cup of tea with them without expecting anything in return, it may do wonders to them and to us.

I may have taken years to realise this simple truth. Today I do try to call up a friend when I realise it is her or his birthday. I try to visit a friend or a relative when I realise that I can touch their lives in some positive way. Even being around unconditionally makes a difference.

I am not sure if you agree with my views. You have a right not to do so. But I appeal to you to try it and feel the difference. The positive vibes of touching people is to be felt to be believed. It is to be experienced to felt.

You could try it and let me know how you felt ?

S Ramesh Shankar