Well another Black Friday is upon us. For some that will mean racing out at some point to possibly wait in line for hours, deal with big crowds, all in the hopes to get the best deals being offered by various retail stores. But for others like me, it doesn’t mean anything of the sort.
The simple truth is that I don’t buy any gifts during the holiday season anymore, which means it makes it really easy when I see all those deals happening on and around Thanksgiving. You see I’ve come to believe that buying a holiday gift for someone is not necessarily the best way to show my unconditional love for them. Instead, I have found that I can do that throughout the year in my everyday thoughts, words, and actions. What I mean by this is that I try to be the most loving and compassionate person to everyone, 365 days of the year.
In the past though, to be honest, I was a mostly selfish person who usually only thought of himself until the holiday shopping season arrived with Black Friday. And that’s when I began to go buy tons of presents for others, thinking each would excuse how I acted the rest of the year towards them. Sadly, this was no different with when I was growing up, as my parents acted similarly by showering my sister and I with so many gifts, yet the ones we both truly wanted from them was unconditional love, compassion, and positive attention throughout the year. This is why I decided a few years ago that I didn’t want to keep following in their footsteps so I stopped buying gifts for everyone around the holidays and instead began offering them the ones I always wanted from my parents. I find I have a lot more peace in my life now because of this, especially when this holiday shopping season arrives. But please don’t take me wrong though in that I do think buying a gift here and there for someone can come out of unconditional love, except I find that I can do that at any time of the year, rather than when there is this frantic rush on retail stores.
So however you choose to spend Black Friday this year, remember one thing if you can. The best gifts you can ever offer someone is your unconditional love, compassion, and positive attention, which are the things you might not necessarily find in all those festively wrapped items you end up buying.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson