About a decade ago, I was in Vienna for a conference. Upon landing, I immediately dropped my bags off at the hotel and went wandering. I’m quite lucky in that I tend to not suffer from jet lag. I can land and run a marathon. Well, that’s an exaggeration. I can’t run a marathon on a normal day. On those first few hours in Vienna, I surprisingly came across the Freud museum. It had not been on my mind to go there. Nonetheless, I ended up there. And, it was a fascinating place to spend my first day in Austria.

Freud is not the end all, be all of psychology. As a field, we have moved way past him. However, he did lay the foundation for us psychologists. For that, I am grateful and intrigued by him. And, on a personal note, he is a fellow Taurus. His birthday is on my same birthday week. My mom always said I was meant to be a psychologist and that from the age of five, I knew so.

Because it always rains my birthday – even when I lived in the drought land of Los Angeles, I have taken to declaring a birthday month for myself. Each day of May is special. I have my birthday and Mother’s day back-to-back weekends. Thus, I figured I should just have a celebratory month that ends with Memorial day weekend.

With that in mind, I’m looking to see what gift I will give myself each day. One day, it can be a pair of earrings, the next a new perspective on life. Each day, I will seek enlightenment. Whether, I am successful or not is a different matter. However as a Taurus I am bound to be stubborn and keep on such a path.

Now, why did I start off with Freud? Why not? He would probably have a field day analyzing me and my birthday month concept. And, so be it.

Let the journey begin.