Our culture promotes the wrong idea that buying things brings happiness. More like addiction.

Stores yesterday were busy fake marking up prices to fake mark them back down. They aren’t doing you any favors. Did you know that many manufacturers make lower quality items specifically for this time of year. They break down sooner, costing you more, filling landfills more. But they really hit the poorest this way, which is how they stay poor.

Tomorrow and for the rest of the year, besides food, avoid buying stuff. Give the gift of your presence and attention, undivided and undistracted by stuff.

What to do instead

Instead of buying, enjoy what nature you have access to: parks, rivers, jogging, plogging, cooking.

Read books. Give a shoulder rub or get one.

Listen to music, practice an instrument.

Sing songs. Dance. Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.

Invent something. Practice a hobby: sewing, knitting, whittle a wooden spoon.

Garden, write, do some burpees. Do a hundred. Ride a bike.

Meditate. Find solitude. Read your old diaries.

Row a boat. Find the script of a play and perform it with your kids or friends. You don’t have to practice, just read the lines. See how it goes.

Do a handstand. Stretch your arms and legs. Lift some weights.

Volunteer to help the vulnerable.

Help the economy by not shopping. Help the vulnerable.

So much to do. Stay out of the malls. Help the economy by steering it toward values of stewardship, not consumption and growth.

• ← 533: Laura Coe, part 3: The Nature of Love
• A gift your partner will love receiving. No cost or waste. Minutes to prepare. →