Five Ways to Make Your Black Friday More Mindful

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Shopping as a bonding activity

Shopping can be a bonding activity between friends and family members. But making positive connections with people you don't know (offering a cashier a warm thanks for example) has a remarkably powerful impact on well-being and even physical health.

These short moments of connection expand your awareness in ways that accrue to create lasting and beneficial changes in your life.

Hardwired for generosity

Getting great deals is fun, but it turns out that giving to charity feels even better.

If you get the opportunity to give a little extra for a good cause, go ahead and do it.

Gift selection: a way to focus on your relationships

Gift-giving inspires us to think about others and what they would really like to receive. Take a moment before you pay to consider your partner’s/friend's or family member's preferred method of receiving, and how that would best translate into a material object or an experience.

Even couples who have been together forever get gifts wrong all the time; we tend to choose presents for others that we’d want to receive ourselves.

Savor pleasure wherever it arises

Our brains are wired for pleasure, and we can find it in many different pursuits and at many different levels.

Shopping offers plenty of opportunities for savoring: from your mochaccino pit stop to the sense of satisfaction you feel when you’ve crossed something off your gift list.

Black Friday: Using the forced pauses to your benefit

Black Friday can involved a lot of unexpected and unwanted pauses, whether in traffic or in line. Use the pauses to practice being in the moment.

Check out the setting around you. How do the people look? Even notice the products displayed in the stored. Really take it all in. Then notice your breath, how you feel. If you’re shopping at home, pause while the images load to gaze out a window, take three deep breaths, and notice the world outside the screen.