Walking through Fred Meyer today to the onslaught of jingling bells, decorated trees and signs of “The Holiday Season” firmly upon us, I feel compelled to share my Gift Philosophy.

In the 3 years I have been formally assisting people to sort through their possessions, the “It was a gift” subject always comes up at least once. My theory on gifts is simple. People give gifts for 2 reasons:

1) To add JOY or EASE to your life,

2) To have some passive-aggressive game of control over you.

I know this sounds harsh at first, but think about it a minute. I have yet to hear someone come up with a 3rd option that is anything other than a slightly different wording of option #1 or #2 above.

So, if we can agree that the basic giving of gifts falls in one of these two categories, and the item in question is not adding JOY or EASE to your life – you get to decide if you are playing the game, or not. Maybe it’s time for a trip to the donation center with that bright pink vase. Or an eBay posting for the dozens of Hummel’s from your mother-in-law that are hiding under your bed.

And one more thought on the subject ~ as we move into Gift Giving Season ~ consider the “stuff” factor as you begin your holiday shopping. Maybe this is a year to gift an experience (cooking class, movie tickets, etc.) rather than a dust collection object for the shelf!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 2:01 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.