While we’re bombarded with commercials to go out and shop ‘til you drop today and over the coming weeks, there are alternatives. We can choose to focus on what we already have, enjoy the simple and natural things of the season and live more in harmony with the earth. By choosing consciously not to turn the holiday season into a buying spree, we can find more time, eliminate stress and create a more spiritual and peaceful experience. In this way the season becomes more about its true meaning – one that extends generosity, kindness and compassion to family, friends and beyond. 

The average experience of the season finds people purchasing things that in a few weeks will be tossed aside and in a short time will find a place in a dumpster. Many of the things that are so longed for ended up leaving us with empty spaces in the core of our hearts. But we can make it about something more – if we choose to.

Dan Shelton, an ecologist and naturist, sets a different example. He lives in a twelve by twelve foot house on a remote property off of the grid. For nearly all of his adult life, Dan has chosen to live a different lifestyle, one that is in deep accord with the owls, snakes, deer and raccoons around him. He deeply loves people and nature and he sees no need to abuse resources by having too many things – many of which end up tossed in a corner or in the waste bin in a very short time. Dan keeps one place, cup and set of utensils. He minimizes him impact on the earth by keeping a few changes of clothes. In his role as a nature educator, he teaches about “eco-sophia” – the wisdom of nature and this is what he allows to guide his decisions. Dan teaches workshops and shares his deep wisdom with others.

Most of us can’t live like Dan, but his courage to follow his convictions over more than thirty years and to live much like Thoreau at Walden’s Pond, gives inspiration along with the knowledge that it’s always possible to live more simply. So this season, wake up and choose to become conscious of the messages that the media are bombarding you with. Do you need more things? Do you choose to spend money on more gifts for people who often don’t even want them? Do you decide consciously to go along with the shopping and gift-giving frenzy or do you choose with your family and friends to slow the pace of consuming and move into a more sane and simple way of celebrating the holidays? The choice is yours – when you take the time to reflect and decide.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.