If you are not content today, there is nothing you can buy this week to change that. -Joshua Becker
Happy Thanksgiving week, friends! This week is all about the pie, the side dishes (anyone else live for mashed potatoes and stuffing?!), the football, and the quality time with the ones we love. I hope you have the very best Thanksgiving weekend!
With this week also comes Black Friday and I wanted to share some quick thoughts on contentment before the busiest shopping day of the year.
Contentment Thoughts
According to a Forbes article, Americans are estimated to spend about $730 billion this holiday season, beginning on Black Friday. We could feed all the hungry people in America for 6 years with all that cash. Yikes.
Contentment is defined as a state of happiness and satisfaction. I think we can all agree it can be hard to be content in America. Our culture, led by advertisers, tell us we need bigger, we need better, we need more. They lead us to believe if we can just purchase the upgraded phone (with three cameras!!!), we will take and share photographer-like pictures. They tell us if we shoulder the designer bag, we have ‘made it’. They beat us over the head with ‘fashion as unique as you are’, ‘ultimate driving machines’, and ‘a diamond is forever’.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t have nice things, I just think it is in our favor to be aware we are being fed advertisements at an alarming rate, especially leading up to Black Friday. In fact, Americans see anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 advertisements everyday. And I would argue we are not immune to them.
Research shows contentment cannot be bought. Not with a phone, a bag, or a diamond. Instead, gratitude has been linked to happiness. Most studies done on the topic of gratitude and happiness support an association. Practicing gratitude is free (no coupon code needed) and can lead to contentment. This book helped me begin to notice and have gratitude for the simple things all around me. Simply acknowledging and noting things, people, and experiences to be grateful for can lead to a more contented life.
Earlier this week I completed a short exercise in order to be intentional with the weekend ahead. Here it is…
Make a list of priorities for the weekend.
I made a list of priorities for the weekend in order of importance and they include:
1. Spend time with friends and family and be fully present with my people.
2. Practice gratitude.
3. Eat good food.
4. Read.
5. Watch football with my family.
6. Do some online shopping for a few things still on my Christmas shopping list.
Check in throughout the weekend.
Over the next several days, I plan to check in with myself to see if my actions are aligned with the priorities on my list. If I find myself 10 minutes in to an Instagram scroll instead of reading the book on my nightstand, I hope I can point myself back to my priorities. If after my 10 minutes of scrolling Instagram, I find myself shopping (because of those pesky advertisements), I hope I can point myself back to my priorities.
Nothing I purchase on Black Friday will bring me contentment. Instead I can find contentment in my gratitude for family, relationships, and God. Today I am grateful for much. What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?