A Walker in the Suburbs

The path to serenity lies in living in the moment. But the moment is hard to find when Christmas shopping. So this year, I’m trying to shop mindfully, to enjoy the process a little more, to choose special gifts for the people I love but not obsess about finding the perfect item.

It’s an attitude shift. It’s about serendipity, stumbling across a scarf with texture and dash or a cunning little teapot. But it requires stores with odd jumbles of merchandise (which I’ve found by steering clear of the mall) and that the shopper (me) browse with open eyes and calm spirit.

Here’s where mindfulness comes in. I’ve noticed that it’s only when I leave behind any notion of finding the perfect gift that all the perfectly good gifts appear.

On Saturday, about three weeks after returning from our European vacation, Tom and I — in one day — bought a car and a dishwasher. We’re doing our part to revive the world economy. But let me explain: The car is used and the dishwasher is mid-range. We’ve been washing dishes by hand since January and getting by with three or four drivers, two cars and a bike for weeks now. The combined mileage of the cars in our driveway is over 600,000. It’s time. But that doesn’t make it any easier. Spending money is hard for me. But I have noticed something. The more I spend, the easier it gets. Once the wheels of consumption are greased, they spin quite nicely. Maybe there’s a lesson in this?