Exercise your power of choice during the holiday season

Hello! 

I hope you’re having a great week! We’ve had much-needed rain in our neck of the woods and for that, we are grateful.

As we approach the end of the year and the holidays – my favorite – the ‘silly season’ (or so its called in Australia), let’s take a moment to stop and think about our consumption habits and from where these habits have come before we dive headlong into over-consumption in the form of food and gifts.

Aja Barber said it best here: 

In the Story of Stuff, Raymond Saulnier, chairman of President Dwight Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisors, said, “[The American economy's] ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods.”

An economy designed to produce endless goods creates a mental image of the earth piled full of rubbish with no people left standing (and no animals or plants in sight). What comes to mind for you?

This season, I challenge all of us (myself included) to skip the over-consumption – let’s stop eating when we are full. Let’s give gifts of quality time, attention and experiences rather than *things*. Let’s reimagine the global economy as something that is complementary, beautiful and life-giving. 

In the coming weeks, I will share some practical strategies for a more mindful season – if you have some that you’d love to share with me (and for me to share with the group), please hit reply! 

Setting down my kids’ Halloween candy that I was about to eat…and instead going to sit in the garden…

Kevin xo