Transform From Consumer to Creator this Black Friday

This was the note I sent out to folks on my email list after the big Thanksgiving dinner we had last night.  If you missed it, make sure you are on my email list by subscribing in the box to the right.

As I enjoy the post-Thanksgiving festivities at my sister’s house (with my mom, stepmom, grandma, boyfriend, ex-husband, children and many friends of the family) I am hoping this email will help keep you from being sucked into the illusion that is Black Friday and perpetuating the consumer culture that has created a lack of sustainability for so many.

The holidays have always been a stressful time for me. No matter how much money I had in the bank, I felt the pressure of the consumption cycle. Buy more. Consume more. More, more, more, more, more.

Whether I had the money to indulge it or not didn’t matter, it simply didn’t feel good inside of me. But, I bought into it, hook, line and sinker.

I found myself caught up in the month long shopping spree, inevitably culminating a few days before Christmas with frantic buying of last minute gifts. Did I buy enough, give enough, show my love enough?

Recently, someone posted an article in our Facebook group for the Whole Truth Show about a movement to refocus gift giving this year from buying ‘stuff’ to investing in services provided by small business owners, with a focus on purchasing from local community businesses.

Black Friday is consciously designed to manipulate us to consume more. (I just heard that Target started letting people line up last night at midnight to buy half-priced electronics and appliances; it’s smart marketing for sure and on the flip side I can feel the intensity of the pressure to buy, buy, buy and it just does not feel good.)

You’ve likely received plenty of advertisements encouraging you to consume, consume, consume as a way of expressing love to your friends & family.

It’s a lie, a manipulation, profit-seeking at the expense of your well-being. Wake up early, get in line for the best deals, buy into the scarcity, conditioning, control.

LET’S DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Let’s make today about shifting you from a cycle of consumption to one of creation.

When you shift from being a consumer to being a creator, you discover that your resources are infinite. You no longer have to worry about not having enough. From this place of creation, it’s always about how much more you can give than what you do not have.

So today, rather than consuming, look at what you have to create and contribute to your loved ones and others in your community by offering your gifts as an alternative to mass consumption. Or, invest in the creative pursuits and services of local business owners in your community as gifts for your friends and family.

I’d like to give you two opportunities to tap into your own infinite creative Source this holiday season so you can make the shift from consumer to creator and own your destiny.

#1: Join Craig & I at this years Integral Spiritual Experience in Pacific Grove, CA – December 28 to January 1, 2012.

This year’s theme is Kosmic Creativity, and we can’t imagine a better way to usher in 2012 than in divine connection to creative source. Read more about the event and watch a short interview I did with Robert MacNaughton here (and get a special code to save $100 on registration).

#2: The second opportunity is to join me absolutely free at Suzanne Evans’ Be The Change 2012 live event.

Tickets for this event will sell for as much as $2,497, but because I am a premier sponsor of the event and the only speaker sharing the mainstage with Suzanne, I am able to gift you with a ticket at absolutely no cost. (You will need to reserve your ticket with a small deposit that is refunded immediately upon your arrival at the event.)

I cannot imagine a better gift to ask for from your family or to give an entrepreneur you love this holiday season than the gift of attending one or both of these events. It is at live events that some of my most creative possibilities have showed up over the years.

Let’s move out of the consumer culture, and into the infinite creativity that propels us beyond lack and limitation – no matter what’s happening in the greater world economy.

I hope to either see you at the Integral Spiritual Experience over New Year’s or at Suzanne’s Be the Change 2012 Live Event March 29-31, 2012.

Note: Please grab your free ticket to Suzanne’s event today as I only have 50 tickets to give away and this message is going out to thousands of our subscribers.  Go here to read all the details about Be the Change (location, dates, etc.), but don’t buy your ticket there because you get it here for free.

I’d love to hear how you are going to make this day (and this Holiday Season as a whole) about creating not consuming.  Share with me in the comments.