Holiday Stress: Cause Beauty Instead on Black Friday

I am sending Black Friday blessings to those of you out there braving the crowds. You won’t find me anywhere near a store or a mall for a variety of reasons. For one thing, I value my peace of mind more than any consumer good, half price or not. And another, after you are forced to offload most of your belongings and then shuffle the remaining items through three moves in two years, you develop a sense of value and understanding about how much stuff one really needs in life.

While you’re out there, I hope you don’t encounter the woman I witnessed at the market on Tuesday. She was at the “turkey table” to collect the fifteen pound turkey she had ordered. I did not order one this year, leaving my organic turkey options to Thanksgiving chance, so I was quite deligted to take the thirteen pound turkey they had available.

This woman was not happy with the fourteen or sixteen-pound turkey the market tried to offer. Despite explaining the fact that they only guarantee a range, she was adamant that she had been promised a fifteen pounder and simply would not be mollified.

It was disconcerting and uncomfortable to watch as the store clerks tried in vain to help her. The butcher volunteered to search the freezer. Repeatedly, he emerged triumphant with a hopeful smile on his face as he got closer to the magic number. She only became more infuriated as he failed to render the acceptable poundage.

I’m not sure if I felt more sorry for her or the people she unleashed her wrath upon. As I observed her standing there, sighing away with her holier than though smirk and tapping foot, I couldn’t help but wonder why this fifteen pound bird held so much importance. Would a pound either way really ruin her dinner? I was intrigued that a pound of turkey held so much power. I felt compassion for her and wanted to take her hand and invite her out for coffee, but I could see that any interruption would push her over the edge.

Imagine meeting her if she missed out on the deal-of-the-century in a store on Black Friday.

I share this with you with the hope to infuse peace in your shopping endeavors, because it is so easy lose the spirit of the holidays by focusing on the things we can’t have, instead of reveling on all we do.

I have discovered an interesting way of looking at things, and if I were out there amid the masses today, this is what I would ask myself in those trying instances that unleash the less-than-attractive side of humanity:

How much beauty can you cause in this moment?

With this simple shift in mindset, I have gone from frustrated to serene and dismal to joyful, rather swiftly. It has been as simple as offering a heartfelt smile to a harassed salesperson, or simply letting the person with one item go ahead of me in the mile-long line.

Kindness creates its own kind of magic – people really appreciate it. Unless your the woman in search of the fifteen pound turkey.

I am cheering you on to cause flurries of beauty wherever your shopping travels take you this holiday and I hope you score every deal your heart desires.

I’d love to hear how shopping treats you.

Sending love,

-db

Who is Dianna Bonny:

Hi, my name is Dianna Bonny. It’s my mission to candidly share my journey with you. For me, it’s all about the healing: to create a radiant healing energy for others who have befallen a similar fate. Together, we can forge beautiful lives of belonging and connection. Thanks for joining me today! I look forward to hearing from you.

  1 comment for “Holiday Stress: Cause Beauty Instead on Black Friday

  1. Lew Vaught
    December 2, 2013 at 11:57 am

    HI Dianna,

    Your Blog, re. Black Friday, was brilliant and made me stop and think of how many things I have to be thankful for including you and Steve.

    Love Dad

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