I’m writing now for Tweetthestreets.com so will now post those articles on my blog after they appear in TTS.
Black Friday – Still looking for that light at the end of the tunnel
USA 26 November 2011 Yesterday was Thanksgiving – the day when we dine on too much tryptophan infused food with our nearest and dearest and give thanks for all the abundance that we have in our lives. Today we hit the malls, big box stores and the streets looking to one up that abundance – with even more stuff we don’t need and that will add basically nothing of true value to our lives. It seems almost blasphemy to have “Black Friday” following this day of thanks and celebration. But here we have it – People lined up for hours (days) in advance outside big box stores with promises of massive flat screen TVs, the latest must have toys for our tots and a multitude of other “stuff” that we don’t really need. The temptation is raw, even in these tough economic times when we should really be tightening our belts like our parents did. Shouldn’t we be saving money and not living on credit as we are all too accustomed to nowadays? Why are we all on this never ending quest for material enlightenment?
Years ago, when I was young and on a quest for happiness, Oprah Winfrey introduced me to the book and conceptSimple Abundance. I read it, bought into it and tried. I really did but I can’t say it worked for me. I tried to search for beauty in things around me, notice and treasure the small things. But for me it was just not as easy as it sounds. The concept and ideas are great, but beware of your connections and surroundings. Your best laid intentions and plans can just simply be foiled by those in your life who may have a different idea altogether.
The part of “Simple Abundance” that stuck with me was the gratitude journal, of which I was reminded just the other day while listening to an Oprah re-broadcast while driving. The idea is to write down five things each day for which you are grateful. Seems easy enough right? I have started and stopped this journal several times throughout the years, always hitting a point that I felt like a young kid in a catholic confessional – making things up to tell the priest. (Catholics out there know what I mean – at 10 years old you are finding “sins” to tell the father and just making it up as you go along – I hit my brother, I told a fib, I said a swear word)
I felt embarrassed to be writing the same thing down, night after night and not elaborating further – why, exactly, was I grateful for my dog’s affection, or my job or my friends? I was writing the same things down, night after night and not really meaning it or meaning it with enough depth to make it worthwhile and to reap the riches of Simple Abundance. I had to dig deeper.
So today I pledge to start this idea again and do it better. As Oprah says “when you know better, you do better” and I think in this messed up economy, with a few decades of wisdom strapped to my back, I do finally know better. Find a way to write this down every night and not in just five simple sentences, but maybe add some flavour to them. I am going to find a way to do this myself and to teach this to my son. Our lives are filled with riches, whether we have a new flying saucer toy or not. And finding the joy in every day things is now more important than ever. Today I did not shop. Not only do I want to appreciate the small things more, I want to live a life closer to voluntary simplicity. Stay tuned for my next story on that!
