It's important to balance our self interests with the needs of our planet. Changing the way we think about consumption is one way to do that. And changing our way of shopping during this holiday season could be a good way to start getting rid of some bad habits we've become increasingly stressed out from anyway. A new trend is on the way this year to make gift donations to good causes in a loved ones name that comes with a greeting card explaining how the money will be used. Also, more and more environmentally conscious people are shopping locally this year.
Much of America has become addicted to impulse shopping and overconsumption and it's a hard habit to break. Ecotherapist Robert Francis Johnson puts it this way:
"The consumer culture, it's a mind virus. When you get a virus in your computer, what it does is it destroys your system, your files. So this same idea occurs with consumerism because it destroys our moral and spiritual values. The word (virus) means burn, deplete, destroy, disintegrate, deteriorate, shrink, use, use up and waste or waste away."
If enough of us choose to think more spiritually than materially this season, it would do a lot of good in a whole lot of ways. ~ Patty Ann Smith
