I was shopping once and watched a woman holding up a dress for her man to check out. “What do you think honey?” she asked. “It’s ugly, babe,” he answered. “Yeah, but it’s 50% off!” She defended. “Yeah,” he said patiently. “But it’s ugly.”

This, ladies and gentlemen, aptly illustrates the Curse of the Sale.
Oh, the seduction. The deal, the dollars. Retail victory? Or retail folly?

Money is a form of energy and who wants to waste it? Frugality can be power, to be sure, but you only win when you get great value for your money, AND great value for your life. Buying something at full price that will always give you pleasure is a great return on your investment — as opposed to a dozen “what was I thinking?” discounts.

THIS WEEK or ANY WEEK:
Conduct a sensual and aesthetic experiment. {NOTE: This exercise should not cost you a dime.} Go clothes or jewellery shopping with your senses in the lead. Pick out what attracts you. Try a few things on. DO NOT LOOK AT THE PRICE TAGS.

When you’re clear on what you’d ideally like to have, then, and only then, look at the price. Walk away if you can’t afford it. Buy only what you absolutely love. We venture to guess that if you shopped this way all of the time, you’d not only save money in the long run, you’d have a plenty of good looks and feelings to show for it.

Here’s a radical notion: what if you really liked, even outright adored every material thing in your own life? What if the quality, shape, color, function, and feel of the things you owned gave you satisfaction, pride, and delight?

Carrie was an interior designer for years. Many a time she’d come across people who were holding on to futons and tired old chairs long after University days has passed.
“Get rid of it,” she’d advise.
“Well, we hate it, but we really need it.”
“Get rid of it.”

Enter, The Divine Law of The Great Chair.

When you let go of things you don’t love, you create space for things that you do love to show up. EVEN IF: it’s “useful”, it’s filling an “empty” place, it was a gift, it was inherited, expensive, imported, exotic, or you truly loved it once upon a time -– if you don’t like something in your space, it’s dragging you down. This isn’t about old, or new, or what you can afford – this is about how STUFF makes you FEEL.

THIS WEEK: Identify the “old chair(s)” in your life that you’re making do with, and get rid of it. You may have to sit on floor cushions for while, but you’ll be dwelling in possibility – instead of compromise and regret.

And you know what’ll happen? The “Great Chair” you desire will show up. Your neighbor will be getting rid of a chair they don’t like (because they also read Friday Focus,) and it’ll be the Great Chair of your dreams. Or you’ll get a raise next week and treat yourself to…a new Great Chair. Or you’ll find it on a road trip…finally! Your Great Chair, oh-so worth the wait.

Satisfaction and delight feels juuust right.
(PS…please purge responsibly. Deserving friends, charity shops, and shelters are much more practical than landfills.)

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside, dreams.
Who looks inside, awakens.”
– Carl Jung
Plenty of modern-day motivators instruct us to dream BIG. Bigger than life. (What is bigger than life anyway? LIFE is as big as it gets!) And then there are the old-fashioned pessimists who tell you to keep your head out of the clouds and your expectations low.

Super-sized or minimized, reaching for someone else’s dream is a sure way to keep bliss at bay.

THIS WEEK: do a little dream analysis. Create two columns on a page: “My Dreams” + “Because Why”. On one side, write down the dreams you have, or used to have. Go ahead and include the dreams you “think” you should have, or would be “cool” to have.

Then, for each dream, recall what inspired that dream (a movie, a tender inkling in your young psyche, the dying wish of your grandmother?) And ask yourself why you desire that dream to come true. What would that new reality feed in you? How would it make you feel, change your look, inspire you to act? What would it prove, and to whom? How would that dream come true affect others? And where might you go from your new reality?

Consider if some dream modification is in order. What needs to be colorized, amplified, re-fuelled, and sprinkled with extra-strength wishing dust? And what needs to be tossed, smashed, or burned in the sacred fires of your evolving self?
Dreams from the heart are always real.