A few years ago, a Facebook message took me by surprise.

“Congratulations on another trip around the sun!” a friend wrote on my page.

Wow, I had never thought of my birthday in celestial terms! An image flashed in my mind of me in a superhero costume flying around a brilliant yellow orb.

Then came a postcard from Northampton Neighbors, the organization that came to my rescue during my caregiving days. A quote from Emily Dickinson graced the front of the card: “We turn not older with years but newer every day.”

I smiled, then scratched my head. The quote sounded good, but was it really true? Could we really get newer every day? Seems easier said than done. Sadly, with age, our bodies brake down like rusty, old cars.

But what about our minds? I wanted mine to stay sharp enough to feel new. A lightbulb went off, and I remembered the Zen notion of Beginner’s Mind.

Maybe, if I could cultivate a Beginner’s Mind, I’d see everything with fresh eyes. Expectations and preconceived ideas would fade away, replaced by curiosity and wonder. I needed to give it a try.

With a renewed sense of curiosity, I wondered about the origins of birthdays. Did Adam and Eve celebrate theirs? Probably not. However, by the Middle Ages, people had made them into unofficial saints and celebrated their supposed special day on December 24th. It took centuries for birthday celebrations to trickle down from gods, saints, and aristocrats to male and then female commoners.

Some people downplay their birthdays as they get older. Not me. In fact, I’ve gone from a day to a week to a month-long celebration of my orbit around the sun.

Back when a single day sufficed, I relished having the same birthday, January 17th, as Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Lightning Bolt Experiment himself. Writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat; Ben was a true Renaissance man who also took a stand against slavery.

As I got older, I sought out heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. In 1980, just as I was getting my start in journalism, Stevie Wonder released a new version of “Happy Birthday” to build support for making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a national holiday. Stevie put the song on his album Hotter than July, which played at progressive gatherings I attended as a reporter for an alternative weekly in Boston.

Thanks in part to the musician’s tireless efforts, Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1983 to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday. The occasion is celebrated on the third Monday of the month, which sometimes falls on my birthday, adding to my festivities.

To kick off my birthday month, I usually dance around the kitchen to Stevie’s “Happy Birthday.” I’d grown up with the traditional “Happy Birthday” song, which always had that familiar Betty Crocker cake mix charm to it. But there’s nothing like Stevie Wonder’s blend of R&B, soul and funk to get me moving.

My birthday theme song sets the exuberant tone I want for celebrating like there’s no tomorrow.

Joan Axelrod-Contrada is a writer who lives in Florence. Reach her at joanaxelrodcontrada@gmail.com.

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