Making Your Gifts Fuel For A Fulfilled Life

Each and Every Single Day, Advertisements Flood Our Eyes, Ears, and Every Other Sense. We Live In A Society That Is Inundated With Marketing, Advertising, and Campaigns From All Angles Describing To You All of The Things That You NEED That You Didn't Even Know Existed! If You Listen To The Radio Or Watch T.V. For More Than 30 Seconds You Can Find Yourself Desiring A New Wardrobe, Some Cool Looking Headphones, The Next Number iPhone Because The One You Just Bought 3 Months Ago Is “So Outdated” Now. And Let’s Not Even Discuss The Offset Chance You Have Amazon Prime…Good Grief If You Do, I Do Not Need To Explain The Tremendous Gift AND The GIGANTIC CURSE This Feature Can Have On Our Lives and Our Bank Accounts…But Let’s Be Real, You May Not Need Another Pair of Compression Socks, But How Can You Pass On It When It Will Be At Your Doorstep In 48 Hours…That's Right…You Can't!

I Have Adopted A New Mindset Toward Gift Giving That Directly Coincides With My Mindset Toward Life. In An Essence It’s An Attitude That Should Be Applied To All of Life!

If You’ve Been Reading Any of My ‘Little’ Monday Menu Emails For Any Bit of Time (Which I Thank You For), Or If You Happen To Be Around Me Every Day I Trust You Have Picked Up On The Notion That I Am A Firm Believer That The Time We Have Been Blessed With On This Earth Is of Extreme Value. With This Precious Time It Should Be Spent LIVING, Making Memories, Creating Events That Do Not Necessitate A Price Tag, Quality of Craftsmanship, or Flashy Color To Attract Our Attentions. No This Time Is Our GIFT and Thus Our GIFTS Should Reflect It As Such.

Many of These Gifts In Fact Have No Real Price Tag Because They Are Simply What I Call “Planned Experience Days”…Which Are Simply Going Out With Somebody To Experience Something Awesome, New, Fun, or To Simply ‘BE’ With That Other Person!

So From Now On I Am Making It My Focal Point To Only (And By Only I Mean The Majority of The Time) Give Gifts That Require An Event To Be Attended or Task To Be Done. Tickets To Concerts, Sporting Events, Painting With Twists, Getaways of All Sorts, Planned Daily Agendas, Play Tickets, Cooking Classes, Etc. Whenever Possible I Am Focusing On Giving Gifts That Also Include Me, Which May Seem Selfish (And Perhaps It Is A Bit), But More-So Because I Care About The People For Whom I Give Gifts and I Feel Excessively Deep In This Notion of Giving’ Gifts of Tasks’ and Want To Build Experiences With Them. It’s Such An Easy Switch Yet The Payoff Is Exponential.

So Whether It's A Birthday , Holiday, or Whatever The Occasion May Be and Our Desires Are To Just Go Buy This, That, and The Other Just Because It’s On Sale, Clearance, or Because It's The Newest “Must Have”…Try To Focus On The Meaning and Fulfilled Time Here On The Planet…What Would Be More Impactful and Heartfelt…A New Sweater or A New Experience?

When Our Lives Come To A Close or Even When We Look Back At The Previous Years of Our Lives It Should Be Filled With “Remember When We ______”, Instead of Remember That Pair of Shoes I Had.

Things I’ve Been and Am Continuing To Buy People:

- Concert Tickets (Avett Brothers, Specifically)

- More Concert Tickets

- Tickets To A Red Wings Game

- Planned Day To Frankenmuth…To Simply Walk Around and Drink German Coffee

- Planned Day To Traverse City…To Simply Walk Around and Drink Cherry Flavored Coffee

- Tickets To Pistons Games

- Gift Certificates To Movies and Coffee Shop For Afterward

- 2 Sessions At A Float Deprivation Tank In Southfield

- Gift Certificates To New Restaurants

- Spa Day Gift Certificate

- Package of Guitar/Piano Lessons

- Gift Certificates To Cooking Classes

- Christmas Play Tickets

- Planned Day To The Detroit Institute of Arts

- A Kettlebell…Yes, That's Technically An Item But Think About All The Fun Experiences They Will Have With It!

- Free Zarate Fitness Bootcamp Certificates…Because Let’s Be Honest What Better Experience Is That?

And Much More…. (Note That Gift Certificates Are OK...For Things That Must Be Done, Not Just Bought!)

Now This Does Not Mean That Material Gifts Are Pointless, Non-Heartfelt, or Not A Good Thing…No No, All Gifts Small or Big Have Very Significant Meaning…If There Is Meaning Behind Them. In Addition I Think It’s A Great Thing To Give Gifts of All Kind To Those In Your Life! They Make Us Happy, They Bring Us Joy, and They Can Simply Be Downright Awesome! The Amazing, Wonderful, and Often Brash Speaking Joleen Job Got Me A Detroit Tigers Baseball Hat Scentsy For My Classroom Before With Coffee Scented Wax Stuff For Inside It and It Has Been Making My Teaching Days Exponentially Happier Ever Since…Isn’t Joleen Awesome! However, I’m Just Saying That It Would Be Awesome If We Shifted The Majority of Our Focus Toward Creating Memories and Not Artifacts!

Build A Life of Moments Not Mementos…Let Your Recollections Become Your Mementos!