Spend and Gift with Intention, Mindfulness and Greater Purpose
SOLO
Anyone else run around like a chicken with their head cut off around the holiday season? These days, Christmas decorations come out before November, we’re setting up our trees two months before the actual day and we feel the pressure to shop until we drop to show people we love them. Two years ago, enough was enough. I felt like I was being forced to celebrate in ways that didn’t even feel good to me. I was tired of going into the new year broke from gift-giving and I had this strong feeling that this magical season was way more than just what’s under the tree. To stand in alignment with who I am, I went to my mom (scared shitless) and told her I would not be participating in the gift exchange this year. I was scared because I was choosing something different than my family but I did it anyway because it was important to me. I wanted to bring the magic back into Christmas; I wanted to feel the joy I had when I was little jumping up and down on my bed pretending I was Santa or the evening traditions of family Christmas movies and with all the shopping hoopla I had lost it. THIS is what this season was to me and I was determined to find it again!
The holidays have grown into a monstrous societal disaster. I remember when I was younger decorations would come out in December. There would be a few weeks to get excited and prep to host our family and friends. Over the year’s I have watched stores showcase gifts and celebration items sooner and sooner, now arriving sometime in October. This begins to condition us to feel the need to buy more and buy for longer; it’s a sickness and it’s called a lack mentality and this is where the shift begins. It’s the feeling we don’t have enough to be happy and we need more and stores trick us into believing this even deeper. This creates this expectation that we all need to have our decorations up sooner. We all need more to feel happy around this time and shopping is how we will achieve all of the above. THIS IS SOOOO NOT COOL. This is called consumerism. Big companies have taken a holiday that is meant to feel joy, experience family, and really spread the love; a time of giving and sharing and have completely commercialized it for capital gain. Now, we have all subscribed to this in some way or another but the good news, we are always in choice and can begin to make a shift. So how do we do this?
Now, I’m not saying all gift-giving is bogus; I am not saying stop decorating your homes and get excited about the holiday season. I do all of the above and when I started doing it with intention, it felt SO much better. When we begin to bring more intention to the why’s behind why we are gift giving or spending money we begin to step more into alignment with our wealthy mind; the idea that we don’t need more to be happy, we have all we need right in front of us. An activated wealthy mind begins to see what it already has in front of it then makes a choice with a deeper purpose, not from the place where we are brainwashed by commercials and the big Santa catalog … you know the one I’m talking about. How do you start to do this?
Ask yourSelf, how you truly desire to spend your holiday’s?
Ask yourSelf who you are really excited to shop for and why?
Ask yourSelf is it the end of the world if I don’t ….?
Those prompts will begin to help you figure out who you actually want to spend your time with over the holidays for the most enjoyable experience and what traditions you actually like. They will help you figure out who you actually want to shop for and who you are shopping for just because you think you have to … PSA, you don’t have to shop for anyone you don’t want to, set healthy boundaries with yourSelf. And finally, it will help you get organized with less drama around the whole experience and less stress so that this time begins to nourish you instead of suck your energy dry. So you’ve done the above and there are still a few people you want to shop for … what now?
Now that you’re moving from a place of wealth and intention you get to slow down and bring more purpose to your gifts. Consumerism thrives off lots of purchases that you think you need. But when you shop with purpose you can get more creative, bring more joy to the gift receiver and move from a grounded place of intention, not a rushed place of feeling you need to. Here are some tips and tricks to shopping this season as you unlearn consumerism patterns, especially it being Covid year and the holidays looking a little different this time around.
Gift an experience to either enjoy together or on their own - Self-care items are the best for this like a massage or pedicure
Purchase something local - this supports local businesses who take the time and care to create their product or service with so much TLC, it also supports the growth of small businesses instead of big conglomerates
Make something - my favorite gift of the year is from my Nonnie when I receive a big thing of frozen homemade soup, it’s thoughtful and sentimental and just so tasty
Local restaurants - another way to gift an experience especially if it’s a restaurant they love and might not eat at often
Gift a game - this way the whole fam or friend group can laugh and enjoy together
Plan a gift exchange - this way you can bring some fun into it and the experience not be fully surrounded with the actual gift itSelf
As a family donate or volunteer - there are many people out there without access to anything. Could you get your family together to support those in need
These are all little shifts you can begin to make in your holiday season to create a ripple effect in big ways. Sometimes it’s hard to be the first one to make the shift but find the ones in your family who may have similar feelings and begin to do these little shifts together. You’ll be surprised to see how your family begins to shift too.
The holiday season is here for us to nourish, reflect, and really feel joy moving into the new year. It’s not about how much we buy or how much we get or who spent the most on gifts this year. It’s time we begin to shift back to the roots of community and care and we begin to do this with baby steps together. It feels pretty frickin good when I know I am making a choice that supports my vision for mySelf, how I like to spend my own money and giving to others in a way with deeper meaning. Let’s begin to invite the magic back in and radiate joy throughout our holiday season. Happy shopping or not shopping with intention + purpose. Happy holidays :)
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