Are you Thankful for What You Have? photo courtesy of andrewarchy

Chances are if you’re reading 1HappyCorner.com you like to shop. You enjoy giving the perfect gift to your loved ones and, from time to time, you enjoy treating yourself to the perfect gift, too. But making sure we can still be passionate about shopping while feeling thankful for what we have can be tricky. Even though Thanksgiving is five months away, here are some ways to keep that quest for bigger and better things from letting you forget how blessed you are.

Stop Comparing Yourself

If you find yourself shopping right after you notice the neighbors have new patio furniture or your sibling saunters around in a new designer outfit, then you may be comparing yourself with others. Shopping should be a fun search for lovely things that you need or that make you happy. But if you’re simply buying in order to keep up with the Jones’, then ask yourself why you’re feeling the need to impress others with your purchases.

Rethink About What You Have

Always feel like someone else has it better than you? Consider the fact that one billion people in the world don’t have clean drinking water. Just enjoying that cool glass of water or that long hot shower should make you feel thankful. Rethink about what you have. Your surplus may be what someone else needs to survive.

Find Some Suffering

A great way to get your priorities straight and truly be grateful for what you have is to find some suffering and do something about it. Maybe you can start shopping for supplies for a local homeless shelter or help an unemployed mom get an outfit for a job interview. There are plenty of ways you can put your passion for shopping to good use.

See What Others are Doing

Need some inspiration to help you realize just how much you have? Check out The Junky Car Club, run by a man who exchanged his nice car for a beater so he could give to more causes or The Uniform Project started by a woman who’s wearing the same dress for 365 days to raise money for school children in the slums of India.

Give It Away

Giving  your treasured belongings away may seem scary. After all, they’re yours and you bought them for a reason. But if you can give a few things away to someone who might need them even more than you do, you’ll prove that you own your stuff, and that your stuff doesn’t own you.