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Stay Sparked #45 "Making Holidays Mindful"
6 Plays2 years ago
It is so easy to fall into other obligations of the holidays and get into a transactional mindset. This week we talked about ways to rejuvenate the magic of Gifting and how to make the holidays personal. We also shared a bunch of great gift ideas that don’t involve Amazon.com
LINKS MENTIONED
- Halcyon’s adult letters to Santa. (Eggnography.com)
- Sign up to Halcyon’s mailing list to get the “How to Record a Loved One” Guide.
- Add your offerings to the Community Gift Ideas thread. And Shop for special gifts, too!
- Money Mindset Episode with C-Love (Episode #32)
HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit.
http://poweraffirmation.com/
Click here to get a FREE affirmation for Stay Sparked Listeners!
JANUS REDMOON is a 10-time Burner, and has spent the last several years as an advocate for psychedelic medicine research and treatment. He is the founder and CEO of NuWorld Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company providing mushroom-based, all-natural products to improve and maintain health for both body and mind. (Use code "SPARKED" for 10% off)
http://www.nuworldnutritionals.com
HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation YouTube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. His other podcast is "Hard on the 80's."
http://JohnStyn.com
MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online.
https://dubsutra.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Stay Sparked Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:03
Speaker
On this show, we explore how to stay inspired in the modern world through the most profound lessons from Burning Man, relationships, entrepreneurship, psychedelics, spirituality, travel, and more.
Mindfulness and Modern Traditions During Holidays
00:00:16
Speaker
On today's episode, we talk about bringing mindfulness into the holidays.
00:00:21
Speaker
We talked about how to reconnect with the spirit of gifting.
00:00:25
Speaker
And how to bring old traditions into our modern times.
00:00:30
Speaker
Enjoy the episode.
Meet the Hosts: Halcyon, Betsy, and Giannis
00:00:32
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:33
Speaker
We are three longtime friends that have been having inspiring conversations for over a decade.
00:00:37
Speaker
Now we get together and share those conversations with you.
00:00:40
Speaker
I'm Halcyon.
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm Betsy.
00:00:43
Speaker
And I'm Giannis.
00:00:44
Speaker
And we like to start our gatherings with a little bit of gratitude.
00:00:48
Speaker
So Betsy, can you start us off?
Gratitude and Memories in the Holiday Season
00:00:50
Speaker
Sure.
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes, I am grateful for this time of year.
00:00:54
Speaker
We are entering into the holiday season and there's just so much beauty and lights and creativity.
00:01:02
Speaker
And I see a lot of holiday spirit around town and it just, I'm so grateful for that.
00:01:12
Speaker
I am grateful in this moment for my friend Craig, also known as C-Love.
00:01:19
Speaker
He is a wizard with the financial planning and financial aspects of life, and he has been gracious enough to
00:01:27
Speaker
Work with my partner and I to get our financial acts together and he's given us a lot of good tips and good Good ideas and really gotten us and gotten us pointed in the right direction and same direction as well So that's been I'm definitely feeling gratitude for him on this on this morning Yeah, well, yeah and pointing back to one of our previous episodes that he was one of our guests and
00:01:50
Speaker
Indeed.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:51
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There's a lot of good stuff came out of that.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:53
Speaker
A lot of good stuff came out of that, uh, the little trifecta of money episodes we had.
00:01:57
Speaker
Awesome.
00:01:58
Speaker
Uh, if you haven't, yeah, if you haven't heard those listeners, uh, feel free to go back and check them out.
00:02:01
Speaker
Money mindsets parts one through three.
00:02:03
Speaker
Well, I am grateful this week for an opportunity I had to record my parents.
00:02:10
Speaker
I recorded a lot of my grandpa when he was alive, but I kept meaning to, I got to record my parents.
00:02:15
Speaker
And I finally sat down and just had these beautiful conversations with my folks.
00:02:21
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It was so inspiring.
00:02:22
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I then recorded my partner's parents when they were in town.
00:02:26
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And it's just, I, I'm, it's so, I just feel like I had this treasure now, this footage of them laughing and some crying and giving advice to their grandkids.
00:02:35
Speaker
And, you know, actually I made a little like tips of things that I learned while doing it that I'll put in the show notes.
00:02:39
Speaker
If you, if you want to do a little recording of your, someone you love for the holidays, check that out.
Challenges of Holiday Obligations and Consumerism
00:02:45
Speaker
Speaking of the holidays, we're going to be talking about the holidays today and specifically about how,
00:02:51
Speaker
we have a tendency to kind of get them inflicted upon us and how we kind of fall into these ruts where we have obligations and we have to do things
00:03:02
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And we kind of lose the connection to some of what makes this time of year joyful.
00:03:09
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And while we're not speaking to any specific faiths or traditions, it's whatever our faiths and our traditions are, sometimes we can really become distant to them and caught into this consumer frenzy of purchasing and horrible songs.
00:03:30
Speaker
Wait, I love Christmas music.
00:03:32
Speaker
You know, I take it back.
00:03:33
Speaker
They're really growing on me.
00:03:35
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Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum.
00:03:38
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It's so funny.
00:03:39
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I was actually thinking about how the Christmas music, there's so much of it.
00:03:43
Speaker
And it's pretty much one of the only times of year that there's like a genre of music, you know, all through December, there's a specific genre that is played.
00:03:53
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No other time of year that there's like such consistency.
00:03:57
Speaker
Every store you go into, like so many different places are playing Christmas music all through December.
00:04:03
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It's pretty fascinating.
00:04:04
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I had a friend who would that was one of their go to soothing self-care things is when they were feeling down, they would put on Christmas music because it would bring back some of the warm feelings from their youth of those memories.
00:04:19
Speaker
So it doesn't have to be during the year.
00:04:21
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Just people will think you crazy if you're listening to it during the year.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's maybe what makes it so special is that you only listen to it one time of the year.
00:04:30
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Yeah.
00:04:30
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Well, it's like those, I would say your friend is pretty fortunate housing because I know there's a lot of people that might, that Christmas music might be triggering for them.
00:04:41
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I've spoken to people who actually avoid going out because during this time of year, because the likelihood of them encountering or to the word you used before having Christmas music inflicted upon them is, can be like, uh,
00:04:56
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You know, it's like, you know, they got some PTSD around hearing Mariah Carey's voice or the little drummer boy, what have you.
00:05:05
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Oh, yeah.
00:05:05
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I mean, it's powerful.
00:05:07
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Yeah.
00:05:08
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And maybe that's a place to touch on before we dive into it is just a recognition that holidays can be a time of wonderful memories and also a time of a lot of difficulties and grief and bringing back memories of people we've lost or times when we did not have the experiences that so many people had or that we saw on TV.
00:05:30
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And so this is definitely a rich experience
00:05:35
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place of experience.
00:05:36
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And there is no wrong way, as long as you are being present to it.
00:05:40
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And that's kind of, I think what we were going to talk to you today.
Reframing Holidays: Finding Joy and Personal Choice
00:05:43
Speaker
And I'm curious if there's any, uh, you know, traditions in your holidays that over time you realized this did not serve you anymore and you no longer do.
00:05:54
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Um, I will chime in on that real briefly.
00:05:56
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Um, and, and say that there, you know, like most of it, most of it, especially like around, around Christmas.
00:06:03
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So, um,
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Because there's so much have to around this time of year.
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There's so much obligation.
00:06:12
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And really a lot of holidays kind of fall into that.
00:06:14
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You know, it's like Valentine's Day is an example of like an obligatory holiday that we have to, we feel compelled to do something to, which kind of takes the joy out of it, takes the fun out of it.
00:06:25
Speaker
And I think we enjoy, you know, this time of year, Christmas time and holiday time, you know,
00:06:32
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Hanukkah and such as a, as a child, because there's, it's, it's like, there's a get to ask.
00:06:37
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Oh, we get to do this.
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We get to show.
00:06:39
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I get to receive presents.
00:06:40
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I get to do all this stuff.
00:06:41
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But as we grow, as we get older, it turns from get to, to have to.
00:06:45
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So, and I think that's what kind of kills the joy out of it for a lot of us.
00:06:50
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So, um,
00:06:52
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We get to make that choice to kind of, I'm not, I'm getting rid of obligations in my life.
00:06:56
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So therefore I'm not going to participate in this holiday at all.
00:06:58
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It's like, well, so this is my own process with it.
00:07:01
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And I have kind of, kind of gone from through that, gone to that, through that.
00:07:05
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And now I'm on the other side of it.
00:07:06
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It's like, okay, now here's an opportunity to reframe all of it, to, to experience the, the get to aspect of it.
00:07:14
Speaker
What do I get to do?
00:07:15
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What parts of this holiday do I get to do?
00:07:18
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recreate and re-experience for myself and my loved ones.
00:07:21
Speaker
And it's really, it's an empowering place for me to approach holidays.
00:07:25
Speaker
Beautifully said.
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah, I feel similar when there is that differentiation between the pressures of having to do certain things, whether that is sending gifts or showing up at a dinner versus like the enjoyment of getting gifts, giving gifts.
00:07:42
Speaker
I actually, just the other day, I had a moment of feeling like, oh,
00:07:47
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God, I really don't want to have to go through that whole thing of wrapping and sending and going to the post office.
00:07:53
Speaker
And I felt this heaviness.
00:07:55
Speaker
And then I was like, wait a second.
00:07:56
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Like, I don't want to send my family presents from that place because I'm feeling pressure to, there's no pressure from them for me to send them gifts.
00:08:04
Speaker
That's all internal.
00:08:05
Speaker
And so then I ended up checking in with my sister and I said,
00:08:09
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Hey, I know we've been giving each other gifts for years and I know we're both on a similar trajectory around saving money and she's like currently remodeling her house and there's some financial considerations.
00:08:22
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And I said, why don't we maybe either take a year off or maybe we just send each other a drawing or something.
00:08:29
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And we both just kind of like lit up in that consideration and it just, I felt so much more lightness.
00:08:37
Speaker
You know, it's really cool to be able to find new ways of sharing the holiday spirit.
00:08:45
Speaker
So like this year for, for me, I'm sending cards, which felt really good.
00:08:49
Speaker
Whereas other times I'm like putting a lot more effort into sending gifts.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:55
Speaker
You touched on one of the huge tragedies, I think of, of the modern holiday season, which is we, I mean, we have a holiday that is really focused around gifting, you know, one of the Burning Man 10 principles.
00:09:07
Speaker
And yet, because it has slipped into obligation, you know,
00:09:11
Speaker
It is not really a gift.
00:09:12
Speaker
A gift is when you give something without any expectation and that person is lit up by the gift and you get to feel the joy of their joy.
00:09:21
Speaker
But when it is expected, it's not really a gift.
00:09:24
Speaker
It's kind of a transaction.
00:09:26
Speaker
And so much of what happens during, I think, Christmas time, if you don't consciously fight it, you fall into transaction mode.
00:09:32
Speaker
You fall into, I got to do this.
00:09:34
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I need to get that.
00:09:35
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I got to do this.
00:09:36
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I need to do that.
00:09:37
Speaker
And you really lose the joy of it.
00:09:38
Speaker
And I think so.
00:09:38
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I think that's one of the huge kind of recalibrations that we can do is to remind ourselves, wait a minute, how do I make this gifting?
00:09:46
Speaker
I love what you did with your sister.
00:09:47
Speaker
And I think that instead of thinking, what do I need to get for this person?
00:09:51
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Think, how can I make their world a little brighter?
00:09:57
Speaker
And if you can do anything from that space, it could be a phone call.
00:10:01
Speaker
It could be, you know, there's just, it totally changes the equation from, oh, I got to get on Amazon and find something that delivers in two day and click, click, click and get them a gift card.
00:10:12
Speaker
Like, oh, that's, that is such a transactional way to experience the holidays.
00:10:17
Speaker
And the words gift exchange feels to me like, you know, it's an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp or whatever.
00:10:25
Speaker
And it's just like the gifting doesn't really have much to do with the exchange.
00:10:30
Speaker
Like if there's an exchange, then it kind of takes the...
00:10:34
Speaker
you know, the, the meaning out of the word gift.
00:10:37
Speaker
So, so yeah, anytime we can, you know, kind of reframe that for ourselves and kind of get back to the gifting part of it as, as really is, is, you know, there's a lot of good, there's a lot of good stuff that comes out of that.
Meaningful Gift Giving and Supportive Gestures
00:10:50
Speaker
And recently my partner and I just had a baby as I beat me over the head with many times already.
00:10:55
Speaker
But we have experienced, you know, the, the meal train concept, which is just essentially people dropping by and dropping off meals and
00:11:03
Speaker
Staying for a little visit, perhaps, and then moving on their way.
00:11:05
Speaker
And that feels the experience is so, so much richer.
00:11:10
Speaker
It feels like a real gift that I'm getting that we're receiving from our friends and our loved ones.
00:11:16
Speaker
And something along those lines, the experience is feels so much more heartfelt than just another experience.
00:11:23
Speaker
you know, a token or a thing that I have to find a place for in my house or closet or whatever.
00:11:28
Speaker
So those are great.
00:11:30
Speaker
But for me personally, the receiving the experience and the connection with our loved ones runs a lot deeper for me.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
And in the spirit of the season, gift exchanges are a very big part of the activities that a lot of people do.
00:11:48
Speaker
You know, a lot of the gatherings, it's inevitable.
00:11:51
Speaker
There's going to be white elephant kind of things and all kinds of different family setups of exchangings, right?
00:11:58
Speaker
But we're not going to change that structure, but how can we get creative within it, right?
00:12:03
Speaker
And not just kind of going into that transactional mindset and just feeling the pressure of like,
00:12:08
Speaker
buying some random thing for a person like how can we get really creative so um we i think we did an episode last year on um gift giving so might be good to go back and look at that but i i actually had a spark around a new creative way to contribute to a gift exchange that is actually betterment for the planet rather than just some stuff and so i um
00:12:35
Speaker
I thought about actually planting trees.
00:12:38
Speaker
So it's a $30 gift card or contribution to this white elephant and going on to a reforestation page, which I love Eden reforestation is one that I contribute to and planting trees in the name of this exchange.
00:12:55
Speaker
And and I feel like that that is a present that actually makes a really positive difference in the world versus just like, you know, stuff, more stuff.
00:13:04
Speaker
We also have plenty.
00:13:05
Speaker
We all have plenty, plenty of stuff.
00:13:07
Speaker
Most people I know are actually trying to get rid of stuff.
00:13:10
Speaker
Right.
00:13:11
Speaker
Trying to get more stuff.
00:13:12
Speaker
Right.
00:13:13
Speaker
And so I think it's really fun to be able to get into that mindset of, you know, how can we be just a little more out of the box in some of these traditions that we're.
00:13:25
Speaker
we're kind of not tied into, but we're inevitably likely going to be participating in this time of year.
Exploring and Personalizing Holiday Traditions
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, totally.
00:13:33
Speaker
Real quick, that kind of sparks me the idea of like a charity gift exchange where everyone is,
00:13:40
Speaker
selects a charity and contributes to that charity in someone else's name.
00:13:45
Speaker
And if you're getting together with like, you know, a dozen people, perhaps, or even five people or 30 people, whatever, everybody does the same thing.
00:13:52
Speaker
And then we're exposing all of our friends to this, this charity that they may not have heard about.
00:13:58
Speaker
And that's going to spark a lot of things for, I think, a lot of people be like, oh, I didn't even know that was a thing.
00:14:02
Speaker
I'm going to contribute to that to myself.
00:14:05
Speaker
That would be fantastic.
00:14:06
Speaker
I would be all about, I would be all over like a charity gift exchange.
00:14:09
Speaker
I may have to organize that myself.
00:14:12
Speaker
My grandpa, every year, he would get me and my brother like a goat.
00:14:19
Speaker
or something through heifer.org, he would buy, you know, an animal, a farm animal for a family that would, that would help them, you know, get milk or something like that.
00:14:27
Speaker
And I do that quite often with my nephews.
00:14:30
Speaker
And I find, you know, no, no diss on my nephews, but most kids, you know, when they get this like gluttony of presents, they don't have the same appreciation when they just this wrapping paper and just so much stuff at once.
00:14:44
Speaker
So I've never been that good a gift giver to kids at Christmas time because they're just,
00:14:49
Speaker
buried in it.
00:14:50
Speaker
So I'll usually give them a chicken or a goat and then try to be more generous when they're not expecting it, when it actually does feel like a gift and they get surprised by a feeling of, oh, this was a nice gesture because you wanted to, not because you were obligated to.
00:15:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:09
Speaker
And, you know, just calling us into the consideration of this conversation around rituals, holiday rituals and things like where they come from.
00:15:18
Speaker
Why do we give gifts around Christmas and these different holidays?
00:15:22
Speaker
And there's a lot of different things that are part of these traditions that we're doing that might not necessarily have much meaning or maybe we don't always know what the symbolism is.
00:15:36
Speaker
And so it's like, how do we really participate in a more evolutionary way, embracing what is here now versus, you know, the older traditions of why we're doing things.
00:15:46
Speaker
And so for me, I was raised Jewish and we celebrate Hanukkah on both sides.
00:15:52
Speaker
So my parents were divorced.
00:15:53
Speaker
So I went to two different grandparents and we would celebrate Hanukkah.
00:15:56
Speaker
And what I recall from that time is it was a lot about presents, you know, of course, as a little kid, I think, oh, we get presents every eight nights in a row, you know, but some of the spiritual components I didn't really understand.
00:16:11
Speaker
And I, I, I,
00:16:13
Speaker
The feeling I have when I recall it in my body now and my memory is it felt a little bit robotic.
00:16:20
Speaker
You know, I didn't feel much of a spiritual connection to this process that we would, you know, light the menorah and we'd spin the dreidel.
00:16:28
Speaker
And, you know, maybe some stories were shared a little bit, but I felt very disconnected from where the traditions came from.
00:16:37
Speaker
And this year actually was the first year that I lit my own menorah because I don't live near my family and my grandparents are all deceased.
00:16:47
Speaker
And so we don't really practice, but I have a menorah and I got candles for the first time and I lit the menorah with a dear friend of mine.
00:16:54
Speaker
who's not Jewish.
00:16:56
Speaker
And it felt really beautiful to do it in a way that was more connected to a prayerful intent.
00:17:04
Speaker
So lighting a candle can be very
00:17:07
Speaker
symbolic of of prayer and of connecting to spirit.
00:17:12
Speaker
And when we lit them in Nora, I could feel my heart, I could feel this connection to my roots and to you know, the homeland.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I was able to speak
00:17:26
Speaker
these prayers in Hebrew from a different place, from a more heart-centered, more connected place.
00:17:33
Speaker
And when we got into this great conversation around miracles and why this, you know, is a practice, why we light these eight candles.
00:17:40
Speaker
And then we started talking about radiance and light and what that means and what are miracles.
00:17:46
Speaker
And we started sending out miracles to people that might need them.
00:17:49
Speaker
We started thinking about people in Israel and all over the world.
00:17:52
Speaker
And it felt so meaningful and so much more
00:17:56
Speaker
So connected than I had ever really felt in the more sort of robotic, just kind of like light the candle, do the thing, make the thing happen.
00:18:05
Speaker
And it was really, it felt really nourishing and inspiring.
00:18:09
Speaker
That's beautiful.
00:18:10
Speaker
I love that making it personal and making it experiential and really feeling it.
00:18:16
Speaker
And I think that we should be encouraged to create and bring to the meaning that resonates with us, going from robotic to
00:18:27
Speaker
to what, what feeds us.
00:18:29
Speaker
Like I do not identify as a Christian, but I do appreciate the story of the birth of Jesus.
00:18:36
Speaker
And I do appreciate the idea of the birth of the Christ consciousness that is possible in all of us, you know, and relating to the longest day of the year, getting, you know, the days are getting longer.
00:18:46
Speaker
And that kind of the, the, the bringing of light to the world and to ourselves is the way that I find like a personal relationship to the holidays.
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's something to be gained from learning about where these traditions come from.
00:19:05
Speaker
And I think I wouldn't deign for myself to be anything more than I can only paraphrase what I've heard.
00:19:12
Speaker
But the internet is a deep and wide place.
00:19:16
Speaker
If you have some questions as to how the beginnings of Hanukkah or the beginnings of celebrating Christmas or Kwanzaa or whatever the case may be, that information is certainly out there.
00:19:28
Speaker
But I think learning the origins of Hanukkah
00:19:31
Speaker
these traditions will allow us to bring into the present day.
00:19:34
Speaker
Like what, okay.
00:19:35
Speaker
So resonates about that with me, if anything, and then how can I do, how can I, you know, approach this now with a renewed sense of, of, of interest and a new sense of resonance?
00:19:49
Speaker
Like for me,
00:19:51
Speaker
Recently, over the last few years, like finding out the origins of like the whole Santa and the Christmas tree and things like that.
00:20:01
Speaker
Listening to a Norwegian guy talk about how back in the day.
00:20:07
Speaker
And there was a Norwegian shaman and shamans in Scandinavia would dress in red.
00:20:14
Speaker
And they would always come around at this time of year, it was kind of to the solstice.
00:20:18
Speaker
And they would have their mushrooms, like their Amanita mushrooms, which are usually red.
00:20:22
Speaker
They would hang them from the tree to dry out for the season.
00:20:27
Speaker
And these trees are usually fir trees up there.
00:20:30
Speaker
And so these trees, these fir trees would have these red mushrooms.
00:20:34
Speaker
ornaments essentially with mushrooms hanging from them these mushrooms would drop their spores on the ground below so it was not uncommon for you to be walking into the woods seeing a you may or may not have seen a red garbed shaman with a hat and a fur hat like you guys are wearing now near a tree with all these red red
00:20:55
Speaker
Mushrooms hanging from it and the spores that fell underneath the tree would have produced their own mushrooms.
00:21:00
Speaker
So these are the presents surrounding the base of these fir trees.
00:21:05
Speaker
And this is like he's like this.
00:21:06
Speaker
This is essentially a Christmas tree.
00:21:07
Speaker
This is what we had.
00:21:09
Speaker
This is what we have turned that into is, you know, putting ornaments on a tree presents underneath the tree.
00:21:15
Speaker
This is these were all mushroom based.
00:21:18
Speaker
You know, origins from from from Scandinavia and they ended up in Siberia as well.
00:21:25
Speaker
So this is where this stuff came from.
00:21:28
Speaker
So how do we feel about that now?
00:21:30
Speaker
Can we it's like and for me personally, I was like, that's actually very cool.
00:21:34
Speaker
I can get behind that.
00:21:35
Speaker
Not that I'm going to hang a bunch of mushrooms, you know, from the tree.
00:21:38
Speaker
Not that I not that I haven't.
00:21:40
Speaker
Oh, I want to hang mushrooms from a Christmas tree.
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
Can I just pause you and say, use code SPARK to get 10% off on New World Nutritionals for a mushroom supplement?
00:21:48
Speaker
Yes, indeed.
00:21:50
Speaker
Right.
00:21:50
Speaker
Says the mushroom guy in our group.
00:21:52
Speaker
Amazing.
00:21:52
Speaker
Yeah, right.
00:21:53
Speaker
Exactly.
00:21:54
Speaker
But I found that to be very cool and realizing where these traditions come from and be like, okay, I can get behind that.
00:22:04
Speaker
And even like, you know, how, you know, Christianity, I don't want to deviate too much, but you know, Christianity has a lot of roots in sun worship from back in the day with as far as like the sun going away for three days and coming back, you know, it's like low in the sky, but now it's coming back and how we've.
00:22:22
Speaker
kind of turn this into stories for ourselves.
00:22:26
Speaker
And, you know, these are seasonal, you know, these are, these are seasonal stories as well.
00:22:31
Speaker
So learning though.
00:22:33
Speaker
So yeah, just to kind of bring it full circle, just learning the origins of a lot of this stuff can really kind of bring us back into, bring our interests back into these traditions moving forward.
00:22:42
Speaker
Beautiful share.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah.
Creating New Traditions and Sharing Joy
00:22:44
Speaker
I love that.
00:22:44
Speaker
That's a major spark.
00:22:46
Speaker
I think we really do have this beautiful gift to be able to do our own research and look up the traditions and then bring them into the gatherings, right?
00:22:55
Speaker
Because a lot of the holidays are very much about gathering and sharing food, sharing meals, sharing stories, sharing time together, being in the merriment of breaking bread and drinks and things like that.
00:23:09
Speaker
And the conversations are
00:23:10
Speaker
you know, maybe don't always go back to the holiday traditions or different things.
00:23:17
Speaker
What I've experienced is a lot of catching up.
00:23:19
Speaker
And so I think it's a really beautiful thing to be an instigator in a gathering of conversations around why we're gathering or, you know, hey, did you ever hear that story around the Norwegian shaman, you know, on the Christmas tree and like bringing these kinds of stories or Thanksgiving, right?
00:23:35
Speaker
Like really bringing forward a conversation of
00:23:38
Speaker
What does giving thanks mean to you?
00:23:40
Speaker
And really helping to just facilitate some of these deeper traditions and conversations that can help us connect
00:23:50
Speaker
As much as I think it's good to reconnect with old traditions, I also want to welcome people to create traditions and to start traditions.
00:23:58
Speaker
My family doesn't have a huge history post when my ancestors came to this country.
00:24:06
Speaker
They left a lot of their culture and their traditions behind.
00:24:09
Speaker
And so my family has created a lot of things that they do along the way.
00:24:15
Speaker
And I find that there's something just really beautiful about having tradition creating being a creative way to connect with family.
00:24:24
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:24:26
Speaker
And you know what, I'm feeling sparked to instigate a little something for our listeners.
00:24:32
Speaker
Do you have a family tradition that's new, something that you guys do on the holidays, whether that is Christmas time or New Year's or another holiday?
00:24:42
Speaker
And if you do, hop on Instagram and put in the comments.
00:24:46
Speaker
Love to hear some of your traditions that have really sparked you and your family.
00:24:53
Speaker
Awesome.
00:24:54
Speaker
I want to share one of my family's traditions, which is... I was just about to ask you.
00:25:01
Speaker
We do an adult letter to Santa every year.
00:25:06
Speaker
So when we got to be a certain age, we started leaving.
00:25:12
Speaker
I think our first one was we left out...
00:25:15
Speaker
celery and carrots and suggested that we were concerned about Santa's health and that maybe you should try to watch his weight.
00:25:24
Speaker
That was the year I got charcoal in my stocking.
00:25:26
Speaker
But each year we have this kind of, it's like an improv routine that we play with Santa where we try to do something funny.
00:25:34
Speaker
Like last year, sometimes we'll do like business ideas.
00:25:36
Speaker
We said, hey, what do you do the rest of the year?
00:25:39
Speaker
You could be a competitor to DoorDash.
00:25:40
Speaker
If you can get all around the world in one night, you could totally take these companies out of business.
00:25:45
Speaker
And then Santa will write back something really hilarious.
00:25:47
Speaker
And so it's a way to keep, you know, whimsy and new traditions.
00:25:52
Speaker
Actually, it's not new anymore.
00:25:53
Speaker
We've been doing it for many years.
00:25:55
Speaker
In fact, I think eggnography.com is where we collect all of our silly Christmas seeds.
00:26:01
Speaker
Eggnography.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
Oh, man, I can't wait to see what you come up with this year, considering more access to AI.
00:26:09
Speaker
You're really good at playing with the artful expressions and playful expressions with AI.
00:26:14
Speaker
Let's see how Santa comes through this year.
00:26:17
Speaker
Last year, I had ChatGPT write the letter to Santa, and it was amazing.
00:26:24
Speaker
It was dry.
00:26:25
Speaker
So we'll see how far ChatGPT has come in a year.
00:26:29
Speaker
I imagine it's improved.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's funny.
00:26:33
Speaker
So, Betsy, you spoke a little bit about your experience, like Lightning the Menorah.
00:26:39
Speaker
Is there any other traditions that you have adapted for today?
00:26:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:46
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I don't know if this is necessarily a tradition, but it's a way of celebrating that I feel brings a lot of joy for me personally.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I think a lot of people to resonate with this is the, the artful expression of holiday decorations.
00:27:02
Speaker
I love it so much.
00:27:04
Speaker
I feel like it is the time of year where
00:27:07
Speaker
I can make these displays on the table or put lights up in my house, have these little elements of the holiday spirit sparkling through the house.
00:27:20
Speaker
And that just feels so good to me.
00:27:23
Speaker
I feel this sense of...
00:27:26
Speaker
cozy connection to my home on a much deeper level when I when I put these little special things out.
00:27:34
Speaker
And it brings a nostalgia too, because there's certain special pieces that I've collected over many years that are, you know, that I store all year long, except for December, and I get to pull them out.
00:27:46
Speaker
a couple of special ornaments that I've kept.
00:27:49
Speaker
And then also one of the things I love, this is kind of a new way of doing it the last few years.
00:27:54
Speaker
So I don't want to store a ton of Christmas decorations because I just don't have the storage and it just feels a little bit wasteful.
00:28:02
Speaker
And so what I have been doing is I've donated a lot of the Christmas decorations to thrift stores.
00:28:09
Speaker
And then at the beginning of December, I go back to the thrift store and I pick out new different elements.
00:28:15
Speaker
and then have them in my house for the season.
00:28:19
Speaker
And then I go back to that same thrift store or a different thrift store and then donate them back.
00:28:23
Speaker
Right.
00:28:24
Speaker
And so they stay in circulation and it kind of brings this freshness and newness.
00:28:29
Speaker
And I feel like that that is a really wonderful way of getting to celebrate.
00:28:34
Speaker
I don't I don't really know where the tradition comes from decorating the home, but it's just always been there.
00:28:42
Speaker
And the first time I ever got to experience it was when I was six, when my dad remarried a woman who their family celebrated huge Christmas style.
00:28:51
Speaker
And, you know, like I said, I was raised Jewish.
00:28:53
Speaker
And so we didn't really do a lot of that.
00:28:55
Speaker
But when I first got to see the full expression of a Catholic home, that was like,
00:29:01
Speaker
all the lights and Christmas trees and ribbons everywhere, all of it, like my eyes and soul were just sparkling.
00:29:10
Speaker
It was beauty, so much beauty.
00:29:13
Speaker
Oh my God.
00:29:14
Speaker
And I really treasure that as a practice, just to bring joy into the home, bring some creativity, bring some color, some expression.
00:29:24
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:29:25
Speaker
Nice, nice.
00:29:27
Speaker
It's my partner and I haven't had, we just started the discussion as to what we're going to do for, you know, for our family now, like around the holidays.
00:29:38
Speaker
And because right now we're like, we're not getting a tree.
00:29:41
Speaker
We're not doing much of
00:29:42
Speaker
And haven't got a tree since we've been together for like the last three years or so.
00:29:46
Speaker
But we're like, okay, but it's fun for kids to be like part of that.
00:29:51
Speaker
And to like know that this time of year, like, yeah, we're going to decorate the house a little bit or we're going to have a tree.
00:29:56
Speaker
It doesn't have to involve gifts, but it just has to involve, you know, celebrating, celebrating the season.
00:30:01
Speaker
And so we're in active conversations about how we're going to do that and, you know, what we're going to incorporate, what we're going to kind of leave out.
00:30:08
Speaker
So we're in a place of creating our own.
00:30:11
Speaker
traditions, um, starting now, which feels, which feels really good.
Sustainable Holiday Practices and Refreshing Traditions
00:30:15
Speaker
It's, it's, it's, I'm looking forward to like kind of seeing this time of year through, uh, through a little, little guy's eyes.
00:30:22
Speaker
Oh my gosh.
00:30:24
Speaker
It is such a different experience.
00:30:26
Speaker
Last year I got to spend Christmas with Asher.
00:30:29
Speaker
He was three and a half at the time.
00:30:31
Speaker
And, uh, it's like Christmas was totally reborn to spend Christmas with a little kid is a very different experience.
00:30:38
Speaker
And it really is, is a, is a, is a real hoot.
00:30:43
Speaker
It does bring out that, it brings out the inner child in us when we're around other little kids, right?
00:30:48
Speaker
We get to be in that kind of like playful curiosity.
00:30:52
Speaker
And, you know, I feel like Christmas especially brings a lot of imagination, right?
00:30:57
Speaker
Because Santa, this idea of Santa, this like this character, the spirit, you know, that comes and brings gifts and holiday spirit.
00:31:06
Speaker
It feels like a lightness of our own childlike innocence and imagination.
00:31:11
Speaker
You mentioned a minute ago getting things at the thrift store, and I'm glad you said that because I think that it's as we're talking about gifts and gift ideas, it's a there's no reason to fall into the you got to buy something new.
00:31:24
Speaker
You got to make more plastic.
00:31:25
Speaker
You got to create things for the landfill.
00:31:27
Speaker
You know, a used gift, a regifted gift, as we were talking about, is a perfectly acceptable gift.
00:31:35
Speaker
way to do it, especially if you go back to that idea of your goal is an obligation, but how can I make this person's world a little brighter?
00:31:41
Speaker
So if you have something that you would like to give to them and without buying something new, perfect.
00:31:48
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:31:50
Speaker
I love doing that with my special clothing items that I haven't worn in a long time.
00:31:54
Speaker
Like I have a collection of dresses.
00:31:57
Speaker
I love dresses, but I don't need all of those dresses.
00:32:00
Speaker
And I look through some of my clothes every year and check in.
00:32:04
Speaker
Have I worn this the last year?
00:32:06
Speaker
maybe the last two years, would this actually look better on someone?
00:32:10
Speaker
You know, maybe I paid a lot of money for a beautiful dress and I have a dear friend that would likely wear it.
00:32:16
Speaker
And I love doing that.
00:32:17
Speaker
I have certain friends that do that with me as well.
00:32:19
Speaker
And I always feel so special when someone gifts me something special from their closet because it's like, oh, wow, she was thinking of me.
00:32:26
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:32:27
Speaker
She wore this.
00:32:27
Speaker
This is every time I put it on, I think of her
00:32:30
Speaker
I think I'm a huge fan of regifting because it's also just more sustainable as well.
00:32:38
Speaker
And then the other thing I actually wanted to talk about with the gifting is sort of a pet peeve of mine.
00:32:44
Speaker
I got a few, but like all the wrappings, you know,
00:32:51
Speaker
When I go to a gift exchange kind of thing, and then we're about to start opening and someone pulls out that trash bag and they're like, we'll take all the wrappings.
00:32:59
Speaker
And then people are throwing the perfectly good gift bags in there and crumpling all of this beautiful paper up that's been used one time.
00:33:09
Speaker
I really love to be able to encourage like taking those ribbons off, reusing them.
00:33:15
Speaker
tying them on the tree, maybe putting them in another bin that can be reused rather than just throwing in the landfill.
00:33:22
Speaker
Mindfulness around the holidays is like, I think such a valuable thing around our consumption, our contribution to keeping the landfills a little bit lighter, right?
00:33:33
Speaker
The simple things we can do.
00:33:36
Speaker
Totally.
00:33:36
Speaker
I'm a big fan of bags.
00:33:39
Speaker
Every year I go to my mom's house and I pick up a batch of Christmas bags that I've been using for years and years and years.
00:33:47
Speaker
And then I will leave them there after Christmas and just keep reusing them, keep reusing them, keep reusing them.
00:33:52
Speaker
That's great.
00:33:53
Speaker
You're lucky you have the storage for that.
00:33:55
Speaker
And also just on a side note, thrift stores will take gift bags.
00:34:00
Speaker
Right.
00:34:01
Speaker
So you can actually donate good, you know, those beautiful gift bags that we all circulate.
00:34:06
Speaker
You don't actually have to go buy new ones anymore.
00:34:08
Speaker
There's so many.
00:34:10
Speaker
Don't throw them away.
00:34:12
Speaker
Yeah, my partner and I have a ribbon that we just reuse.
00:34:17
Speaker
It's such a cheap $1.50 ribbon, but it's like one of those curly red ones.
00:34:21
Speaker
So it's fun.
00:34:22
Speaker
And we just kind of use that and just tape it to the next box and pull it off.
00:34:26
Speaker
And it's somewhere around here now, but we're definitely going to be using that again.
00:34:30
Speaker
And we just like, we'll put that on the thing and I'll give it to her.
00:34:33
Speaker
It's like, oh, thank you.
00:34:35
Speaker
All right, I'll be right back.
00:34:36
Speaker
And then she'll take it and go and then come back with her gift from me with the same ribbon on it.
00:34:41
Speaker
I think it adds magic.
00:34:42
Speaker
It adds magic every time.
00:34:44
Speaker
It's a magic ribbon.
00:34:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:46
Speaker
Now, and there's, I want to, I do want to acknowledge that there's something to be said for like, you know, this, this, this wrapping paper, like we're going to wrap this gift when you're a child.
00:34:54
Speaker
There's something very fun about a four-year-old.
00:34:56
Speaker
Oh, this gift is for me.
00:34:58
Speaker
Like just ripping that, ripping it open and all that.
00:35:00
Speaker
So it has, it has a purpose for,
00:35:03
Speaker
up to a point after like okay you're okay all right kid you're eight years old it's not if here's your gift it's in a bag you know so so i think that has that has a purpose for sure um at some point but yeah that that reminds me of like what um you know it's it's we're creating we're recreating like traditions and there's there's something to be said for like the idea like bethie you mentioned like regifting
00:35:29
Speaker
you know, the idea, let's, let's keep it moving.
00:35:31
Speaker
You know, this, this, this tradition that we've grown up with, like we do the same thing we've always done since we were like children, we've done the same thing for the last 10 years.
00:35:38
Speaker
Like, no, it's like, let's, let's do something new.
00:35:41
Speaker
Let's keep it, let's, let's keep it moving.
00:35:42
Speaker
Like, let's add something, let's drop something that is tradition, quote unquote, and add something to the holiday thing.
00:35:50
Speaker
And kind of keep this going on a,
00:35:52
Speaker
On a frequent basis, I think it just kind of keeps things fresh, keeps things.
00:35:56
Speaker
It would keep my interest in the holiday season a lot more like crisp, knowing that there's going to be something new that we're doing this year, even if I don't know what that is yet.
00:36:05
Speaker
But, you know, have that be the tradition.
00:36:08
Speaker
You know, we're doing something new.
00:36:09
Speaker
We don't know what it is yet, but it's going to be new.
00:36:11
Speaker
That's our tradition is always doing something new every year.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yeah, staying sparked.
00:36:15
Speaker
That's it, right?
00:36:16
Speaker
Like staying inspired, staying sparked and, you know, honoring where we've come from and doing certain things and building that tradition really anchors it in.
00:36:25
Speaker
And also staying in that place of creative exploration around how can we actually keep this going and evolving?
Service and Volunteering: Combating Loneliness
00:36:34
Speaker
And I think on that note, we're probably getting close to our completion.
00:36:38
Speaker
If you guys want to close it out with some holiday closing sparks.
00:36:43
Speaker
Ho, ho, ho.
00:36:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:36:46
Speaker
Well, little boys and girls, I've got a couple of sparks that I want to share of.
00:36:51
Speaker
Just a couple other gifting ideas that I think do a good job of keeping us in that gifting mentality of without falling into the obligation.
00:37:03
Speaker
One idea is digitizing your memories.
00:37:05
Speaker
If you've got old slides or VHS tapes, it's an awesome thing to do for the family and really kind of brings brings you like a time portal to your family's past.
00:37:16
Speaker
Another one is.
00:37:18
Speaker
buying things local or from artists, you know, that it's getting out of the headspace of trying to get a cheap gift or the best deal and buying things from the local place or from a place online where it costs a little bit more.
00:37:34
Speaker
But then you're gifting to the recipient.
00:37:36
Speaker
I mean, excuse me, the vendor.
00:37:39
Speaker
not just to a big multinational corporation.
00:37:42
Speaker
And then when you buy something handmade, you're giving two gifts.
00:37:45
Speaker
You're giving a gift to the recipient and you are giving a gift to someone's creative path.
00:37:50
Speaker
And you are telling them that you value them and that you're giving them a big like thumbs up, keep being a creative person in this world.
00:37:56
Speaker
And so there's a, it's a double,
00:37:58
Speaker
howie whammy and then the last thing i'll say what i started with which is uh making a time capsule recording of somebody it could be a kid or a parent or a grandparent it is you will never regret having an authentic video footage of someone you love so that's my closing spark i love that yeah that's a good that's a good idea that's a good idea and i would like to kind of flip it and you
00:38:27
Speaker
and kind of approaching the season and just kind of reminding people, it's a kind of a note to self, certainly, but it's also as a reminder to people, if there's something you need or something you would want to,
00:38:40
Speaker
get over whatever is kind of keeping you from doing that and from asking for that and ask.
00:38:45
Speaker
And that can be a community ask.
00:38:47
Speaker
It can be a one-to-one ask, but now is, now is a good time for that.
00:38:51
Speaker
If there's something that you've been needing and that's like, and this is not to say like, Oh, I want an Xbox, you know, Hey, Betsy, get me an Xbox.
00:38:58
Speaker
But something like I could, you know, if I could use some help around the house, if I could use some, some assistance with the, with the, with the baby or, you know, whatever, whatever,
00:39:08
Speaker
whatever it is that we feel that we could we can need we could use or we could use a break from something please feel free to ask that and and i i think we we're always kind of surprised by just the the the amount of community that we actually do have and how how willing that community is to to assist and help we're we're we're loving generous people by nature i think that that's true for all of us and
00:39:33
Speaker
Giving somebody the opportunity to help is a gift in itself.
00:39:38
Speaker
So test the season.
00:39:40
Speaker
If there's something we could use assistance on some level, please feel free to ask.
00:39:46
Speaker
And you might be surprised by what comes back.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yes, it is the season of giving.
00:39:51
Speaker
So beautiful.
00:39:52
Speaker
And you know, in the spirit of that, my closing spark, you know, this time of year is, can be lonely for some, you know, it can bring up a lot of different feelings.
00:40:02
Speaker
If we don't have family, if we don't have a partner, maybe we've experienced loss in previous years.
00:40:08
Speaker
And so there can be a lot of feelings of sadness and loneliness.
00:40:12
Speaker
One of the wonderful ways that we can help to move through that
00:40:17
Speaker
is by getting in service.
00:40:19
Speaker
You know, there's a lot of really beautiful ways that we can contribute our time.
00:40:24
Speaker
There's orphanages that we can go hold babies.
00:40:27
Speaker
There's old folks homes that you can go just play chess.
00:40:30
Speaker
You know, you can go cook at different homeless shelters.
00:40:35
Speaker
It's a really beautiful way to be able to feel good and feel better and not to kind of like drowned in the holiday blues that can sometimes come up.
00:40:46
Speaker
So getting in service this time of year and
00:40:49
Speaker
You know, all year, but especially this time of year, because there's a lot more people out there that could use some holiday, holiday sparks and enjoy.
00:40:57
Speaker
And it can be as simple as time.
00:40:59
Speaker
Indeed.
00:41:01
Speaker
Well said.
00:41:03
Speaker
Well said.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:04
Speaker
Cool.
00:41:04
Speaker
Well, I think we all have ways that we can play a role in your holiday gifting.
Intentional Gifts and Personal Offerings
00:41:13
Speaker
How can people gift something of Betsy's to a loved one?
00:41:19
Speaker
Well, thank you so much.
00:41:21
Speaker
I am actually doing an event tonight called shopping with intention.
00:41:24
Speaker
So I really love sparking people to live a more intentional lifestyle.
00:41:29
Speaker
And I have a project called the power affirmation journal, and it is a tool to be able to help people to get in more touch with their thoughts, thinking more mindfully, acting more mindfully, being more intentional.
00:41:44
Speaker
You can find that poweraffirmation.com.
00:41:46
Speaker
There's the journal, there's some audio affirmations and some other wonderful practices to live with greater intention.
00:41:53
Speaker
And also I love doing massage and body work, healing work.
00:41:57
Speaker
So that's also a really great way to give someone that you love some healing touch.
00:42:02
Speaker
It doesn't contribute to the like more stuff and we have to store, but it actually is a gift that can really support someone's
00:42:09
Speaker
well-being.
00:42:10
Speaker
So if I'm that person for you, you can find me on finkelwho.com.
00:42:14
Speaker
That's my last name as well.
00:42:16
Speaker
And I have a little free gift for you guys too in our show notes, an audio affirmation to support your highest inspired mindset.
00:42:25
Speaker
Fantastic.
00:42:26
Speaker
Fantastic.
00:42:27
Speaker
So I on that note of giving and sharing, I might have a company my nutritional supplement company is called New World Nutritionals spelled in you world nutritionals.
00:42:39
Speaker
And we have mushroom based products that are designed to elevate and improve your state of mind helps us learning focus intention and just kind of getting your mind right.
00:42:48
Speaker
My partner is often referred to it as a spa day for your brain.
00:42:52
Speaker
And I'm happy to say a lot of people are getting really good results with it.
00:42:54
Speaker
So feel free to check it out at newworldnutritionals.com.
00:42:59
Speaker
And you can use the code SPARKED, as in stay SPARKED, for 10% off of all of our products.
00:43:05
Speaker
Awesome.
00:43:06
Speaker
You know, I have actually gifted a affirmation journal and New World Nutritionals at the holidays in the past.
00:43:13
Speaker
So my list is getting shorter this year, too, just as you speak.
00:43:18
Speaker
Thank you, sir.
00:43:19
Speaker
I've got a few things that could work as gifts.
00:43:23
Speaker
I have a T-shirt store.
00:43:25
Speaker
I have a how to make a video of your of your family.
00:43:31
Speaker
And all my things are available at johnston.com.
00:43:34
Speaker
But I will put in the show notes, a special thing about how to record your family, because I think that would be a fun thing.
00:43:40
Speaker
I also will put a link to
00:43:42
Speaker
a, a, a collection that I do each year of community people that are offering things.
00:43:48
Speaker
So if you're looking for something to buy, uh, and if you, or you have something that you sell, I urge you to leave a link in the comment on the thread that I will post so that other people who are trying to do good with their purchase power can, can support you.
00:44:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:05
Speaker
Like where, where do you get a goat?
00:44:07
Speaker
I want to go.
00:44:09
Speaker
I got a goat guy.
00:44:12
Speaker
You got a guy with a goat?
00:44:15
Speaker
Fantastic.
00:44:16
Speaker
I know someone who wants a goat, but she doesn't even know it.
00:44:23
Speaker
Betsy, would you close us out with an affirmation?
00:44:28
Speaker
Yes, I would love to.
00:44:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for this conversation.
00:44:33
Speaker
Love to focus our intention today on gratitude and affirmation of gratitude.
00:44:38
Speaker
So if you like, you can just take a deep breath and maybe place your hand on your hearts.
00:44:43
Speaker
I am grateful.
00:44:45
Speaker
I am grateful.
00:44:47
Speaker
I am so grateful for this life.
00:44:49
Speaker
I'm so grateful for this time of year.
00:44:51
Speaker
I'm so grateful for the joy that I see and feel.
00:44:56
Speaker
I am so grateful for my body.
00:44:58
Speaker
I'm so grateful for my family.
00:44:59
Speaker
I'm so grateful for the sunshine.
00:45:02
Speaker
I'm so grateful for all of life.
00:45:05
Speaker
Thank you, life.
00:45:06
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:06
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:07
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:07
Speaker
Thank you, life.
00:45:08
Speaker
Thank you.
00:45:09
Speaker
allowing gratitude continue to linger in our day and our days ahead.
00:45:14
Speaker
Remembering there is just so much to be thankful for.
00:45:16
Speaker
And the more that we give thanks, there is more to give thanks for.
00:45:20
Speaker
And then that creates a ripple of more gratitude in the world.
00:45:25
Speaker
So thank you guys so much.
00:45:27
Speaker
Thank you very much, Betsy.
00:45:30
Speaker
All right.
00:45:32
Speaker
Thanks for joining us.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:45:35
Speaker
Happy holidays.
00:45:36
Speaker
Stay smart people.