Christmas Buzz

It is again the time of the year when shoppers are excited to open the papers to have news about sales, look for friends to accompany them to bazaars, bring out their savings which they have been waiting to spend, and, move their muscles with carrying ample shopping bags. Silver bells! Silver bells! December is already here, and it only means Christmas is just around the corner.

But, before we hit the various bazaars that have sprouted throughout the country, we might as well plan first. As Stephen Covey mentioned we have to "start with the end in mind". Thus, if we just want to have fun by acting as a headless chicken when hitting the malls or bazaars, then, there is no need to proceed to the following lines. Mind you, shopping entails practicing higher cognitive skills - that is, creative and critical thinking skills.

Practicing one's thinking in shopping manifests first and foremost by having an idea of what to buy. Are we there in the shops to buy scarves or brooches? Pearl earrings or fancy earrings? Vintage clothes with a twist or classic pieces? Or maybe, to fill in the necessary clothes in our wardrobe (e.g. basic clothes such as white blouse)? By clarifying our purpose in shopping it helps us to be more focused, less stressed, and more efficient. The result: more time to do other things such as preparing a dinner for our family and adding special decorations in our house. In line with "what knowing what to buy" is "how much we ought to spend". We definitely would want to spend the holidays free of financial concerns. If we find ourselves as impulsive buyers maybe it would be of help to allot a fraction of our shopping budget to unexpected good finds. With this healthy practice we are able to stick to our budget and do not feel much deprived at the same time. Gift-giving is also very much part of this season as we want to make our family members and friends feel loved and special. As we do not want to give them the impression of giving a gift just for the sake of giving - this situation means just going with the flow, not knowing the meaning of the feast we are celebrating - we would want to show our loved ones that the gifts we are giving them have been thought about. Again, there is much thinking in shopping. We choose gifts that we ourselves would want to receive and not just any generic product such as keychains, mugs and mass-produced trinkets.

We hope that we are more ready now to go to the malls in this busy time of the year, and end up having more dendrite connections as we do more essential thinking. Enjoy shopping!