I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!

We cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner, well sort of with the help of Bristol Farms. The turkey was already done and all the sides to. We just had to sprinkle marshmallows on top of the candied yams.

It was civilized mayhem in the Beverly Hills supermarket. Later that evening after a good dose of food, we turned on the news to see Black Friday mania sweeping over the U.S.A.

A news reporter interviewed a girl camped outside one of the large department

stores. She’d been there all day on Thanksgiving.

“Do you think you can make more money than working?” he said.

“Yeah! And it’s much more fun. I took a week off of work,” she said.

I watched a video of hundreds of screaming girls waiting late night to buy a pair of Victoria Secret yoga pants that had be discounted to $12.95.

A guy outside Best Buy turned to the people in line behind him and threatened, “If you don’t get back, I’m going to stab you”.

Then a man in San Antonio who jumped the line got punched in the face. He retaliated by pulling a gun and the shoppers quickly scattered to safety. This was just a handful of terrible Black Friday events that occurred.

As I was watching frenzied shoppers, I saw some of the discounts were only 30%. It wasn’t like they were 50 or even 75%. I find it devastating to see people become mean-spirited and violent to get the latest cellphone, turning into animals for a discount which let’s face it isn’t really a discount.

I used to have so much pain inside, I’d numb it by going shopping. I remember counting the minutes for my lunch break so I could hit up the famous Harrods department store in London. It wasn’t far from my office. I spent all the money I’d just earned and then when I wanted something else that I thought would distract me from my true feelings, I stuck the charge on my gold credit card. “Buy now, pay later,” I lied to myself.

The truth was, “Buy now on my credit card, get my parents to pay it off later, they can afford it”.

I was an entitled bitch.

Shopping is fun and I love beautiful things but I’ve learned to make sure that when I buy something, it’s not coming from a place of emotional pain.

Here are some questions to see if you are an emotional shopper:

1. Do you shop when you feel depressed?
2. Are you an impulse shopper?
3. Are you a bargain shopper?
4. Do you always buy what’s on sale?
5. Do you buy something you don’t like that much because it has a big discount?
6. Do you use shopping as retail therapy?
7. Do you feel like you won’t be happy until you get the thing that you want? Then when you get it, the novelty quickly wears off?

Emotional Shopping Checklist

1. Do not shop if you are in a bad mood.
2. Do not shop if you are feeling depressed. Instead go window shopping without your credit cards.
3. Do shop when you’ve been planning for the item. That way, you go into the store, fully conscious and happy. You won’t get struck with anxiety or sticker shock later on.

If someone pressures you and tells you, “It’s the last one in stock,” or, “This offer won’t be available later”.

Say, “Thank you for letting me know”. If you don’t love the item or offer, leave the store and get on with your day.

If you are still thinking about the offer 24 hours later, go back and get it. The difference is, you won’t be buying out of guilt. You’ll be getting the thing you want out of true desire and appreciation.

You deserve good in your life.

Love,

I used to think that if I meditated, prayed and had a spiritual connection, everything would work out exactly how I visualized it.

My story was I ended up loosing everything I owned. I kept meditating, praying and visualizing and couldn’t understand why I was sleeping on my friend’s garage floor.

I didn’t understand why meditation + prayer = spiritual connection wasn’t getting me the results I wanted.

I thought I must have done something terribly wrong that I wasn’t aware of. I prayed to see the truth. I asked spirit on a daily basis why I was struggling but I remained stuck.

One day I sat down with my journal and the words that fell onto the page were “God, spirit, universe, why won’t you help me? Why are you punishing me like this?”

And then it struck me like a lightening bolt. I was angry at God, my spirit guides and how my life had turned out. I blamed spirit and wasn’t taking responsibility for any of my thoughts, feelings or actions.

It was an uncomfortable shameful feeling but the good news is that as I faced that irresponsible part of myself, my life began to improve fast.

Many steps I took, led to turning my life around and I’m sharing what springs from my heart, so that you can have a brighter and happier day.

#1 Look at your life differently. When you wake up in the morning, what are your first thoughts? Whatever you are thinking sets the tone for your day and how it will unfold. Start taking action from a place of consciousness. For example: When I awoke, I felt optimistic and wondered how I was going to achieve what I wanted. I had an internal conversation with that part of me. I told it that I was going to follow my dreams and wanted my spirit to guide me. All I have to do is take the action.

#2 Think of something you want and say, “Yes,” to it. Is it a deeply fulfilling relationship, financial security, a career change, perfect health or a peaceful mind? I started reading Loral Langemeier’s “Yes! Energy”. Instead of working yesterday, I took the entire day with my family. I was telling my husband about wanting to say, “Yes,” to my dreams at every level.

“Let’s look at houses,” my husband Nick said.

“Ok,” I said hesitant.

We pulled on to one of our favorite streets and there was an open house. Nick parked the car and said, “You go in first”.

“I don’t want to,” I said. That was a lie. I didn’t want to go in the house because we didn’t have the money in our bank account to buy it today.

“Go on,” he said.

I reluctantly got out the car and walked down the beautiful driveway. The house was everything I wanted. I loved this house. I sat down in a gorgeous leather chair in the screening room and allowed myself to feel at home.

“What did you think?” the realtor said.

“I love it,” I said.

“Ok, great, let me get your info,” he said.

I was about to tell him, “No,” and why and then I decided to play with the “Yes! Energy” Loral had inspired in me.

Our son Dominick was napping in the car, so Nick went into the house separately. When he came back out he said, “I sat down in this great leather chair in the screening room, it felt awesome”.

“Me to! It was the only place I sat down in the whole house, I guest that’s why we’re married,” I said smiling.

#3 Take counter-intuitive actions. For example: If you usually leap out of the bed in the morning and go straight to email, lie in bed a little longer and read an inspirational book and journal any “aha”. Mix up your daily routine. Do you always go to the same lunch spot or supermarket? Try somewhere new, so you can shift the way you see things. If you decline a potential business proposition or relationship, why are you saying, “No?”

I hope that you get everything that your heart desires and more because you deserve to have an amazing fulfilling life!

Love & miracles,

Joanna Garzilli

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