The Gifts of the Season
Happy Black Friday, the day when we all rush out to seek the best deals for our holiday shopping needs.
What if we all dropped the pretense of needing to shop, and instead embraced the fun of gifting?
Remember, back in the day, when it was fun to give a gift? Where we got all excited and had a hard time keeping the gift a secret? Well, I am jumping in with both feet on this retro move: I am making gift giving fun again.
Remember, back in the day, when it was fun to give a gift? Where we got all excited and had a hard time keeping the gift a secret?
Here is how.
○First, I am going to start with an attitude of gratitude for the person I am shopping for. Just a few seconds of some focussed thought about their best qualities. How they always do the dishes at the family gatherings. How they always seem to find the best food on the buffet line and eat it. How they come up with best one-liners to quiet the room. You know, the good qualities of those you love.
○Second, I am going to set an intent to purchase for my giftee a present that they will enjoy. That’s right; I am totally bypassing need and heading straight for joy. Why not?
○Third, I am going to start a note on my phone to capture ideas. Gift ideas hit me all throughout my day, so I like to be prepared for inspo when it comes.
○Last, I am going to put a no-upper-limit proviso in place if I am super excited about the gift I want to give. I have a tendency to crush my inspiration with ideas of expense, so I am trying out this new condition. You do you, however.
Now, with all that in place, I am going to go about my holidays and trust that I will get good ideas. I will also employ a question before each purchase. It is this: Is this purchase something I want for myself? If it is, I will buy it for me.
Many of us seasoned gift givers have a habit of projecting our own repressed wants onto others, so my question helps me ferret out my own wants this gift giving season. To those I have given gifts that I wanted for myself: thanks for helping me to see a true want.
If you want to learn more about your own true wants, take my Being Yourself course. Spoiler: your wants are pieces of your soul trying to get noticed.