Conscious Giving
The universal tradition at the end of each year during the holiday season is giving gifts. Companies typically give out bonuses to employees while families and friends visit one another bearing gifts. Merchants have seized on the giving tradition by offering Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals and some companies derive almost half of their annual revenue from year-end sales.
People in years past have even left Thanksgiving dinners early for the hunt of a good deal. While the hunt has moved online this year due to the pandemic, the isolation of families and friends from one another has also given pause to the constant consumerism that we’ve been brainwashed to do.
This year is different in so many ways and for one, we can choose to gift consciously instead of merely scoring that “great deal”! Here, I share my own changes in gifting behavior for my families and friends.
Give the Gift of Experiences
Besides the physical devices that enable people to stay connected, I chose this year to give experiences instead of things that inevitably end up in landfills and polluting our rivers and farmland. These include outdoor nature exploration trips, online classes in art, music, or a craft, and life coaching sessions.
Give the Gift of Peace and Acceptance
Whenever we think of a gift we automatically associate it with a physical object. And yet people are seldom happy with a thing unless there’s emotional joy and peace attached to it. In addition, a thing can be lost, but the feelings behind it can remain forever. This year I chose to give the gift of peace and acceptance starting with accepting conflicts that have happened in the past and acknowledging it to that person. I am practicing forgiveness and proactively reaching out to apologize and express my desire to repair relationships that have suffered as a result of misunderstandings and hurt by way of a handwritten note, a bouquet of flowers or simply making a phone call.
Give the Gift of Health and Wellness
No matter how fancy the latest technology and gadgets, if you don’t have health and inner peace, you have nothing. So this year I chose to give gifts of health and wellness. These include a week’s or a month’s worth of delicious, plant-based prepared meals, a subscription to virtual classes such as qi gong, meditation and yoga, and treatment and bodywork packages at the Tao of Wellness. You can explore some of these offerings below.
Be conscious in your gifting to others and in your acceptance of others and make this and future holiday seasons a meaningful and fulfilling one. Have a Happy Healthy and Harmonious holiday season.