This week we enter the beginning of the end! It is the final month of the year and with it comes the sparkling start of the holiday season. The month of December has always felt like a bridge—between who we’ve been this year and who we are hoping to become—but also the continuation of the momentum that begins with Thanksgiving. Holiday party invitations, holiday parting hosting, holiday travel plans, gift-buying, gift-giving, gift-receiving. It is truly a time of abundance but it’s also a time of losing ourselves in the demands, expectations, and distractions of all things material.
So as we step into this month, I invite you to ask yourself a simple question:
Am I focused on consumption or creation?
I admit it’s deceptively simple. Many of us might instantly balk at the idea that we’re focused on consumption but it’s a sneaky business. No matter how generous our actions may appear to be, no matter how massive our gift-giving efforts are, no matter how much we are doing for others, if our motivations are not aligned with creation, sharing, and kindness we miss our opportunity for transformation.
The Kabbalists teach that the purpose of our entire lives—our true spiritual work—is to transform ourselves from beings who desire to receive only for the self alone (consumption) into beings of sharing (creation.)
Consumption is about taking for ourselves. Creation is about giving outside of ourselves.
Consumption says: I want manifestations for myself. Creation says: I want to manifest for others.
It’s important here to say that consumption isn’t inherently bad. Not at all. Consumption is a necessary part of living a fulfilled life, even the kabbalists begin their teaching with: ‘we must have a desire to receive…’ It’s the consciousness behind the desire that matters. Is it a desire to receive for the self? Or a desire to receive in order to share?
When consumption becomes the center of who we are—our comfort, our identity, our default—life starts to feel strangely hollow. We keep getting more and more and yet feel emptier. We keep seeking stimulation but feel increasingly numb. We keep seeking something more, but true fulfillment never comes. Creation, on the other hand, is transformative. It awakens our souls, it’s generative, and it builds connection.
The holiday season brings all of this into sharp focus. It is a time saturated with consumption: buying, planning, rushing, scrolling, acquiring, indulging, comparing, expecting.
But the holidays also hold the potential for profound creation! So many opportunities for generosity, connection, shared meals, meaningful conversations, memories, rituals, presence.
Which version are we choosing?
This month is an energetic mirror, reflecting back patterns we’ve carried all year long. If we’ve been living on autopilot, if we’ve been filling every spare moment with consumption—media, food, purchases, distractions, validation—December will show us. We’ll feel overwhelmed, exhausted, resentful, stressed out, and altogether empty. As always, these negative states of being alert us that our consciousness isn’t where we need it to be and can serve as gentle reminders that we’re in need of a shift.
Feeling Stressed or Overwhelmed?
When we feel stressed or overwhelmed, it’s usually because we are giving or doing something out of obligation which is a form of seeking validation. Say “no” to things that are not aligned with your ability or inspiration.
Feeling Exhausted?
Give to yourself. Exhaustion is a signal that we are not allowing ourselves to receive. But receiving, as I mentioned above, is a necessary aspect of sharing. If you feel yourself burning out, cancel what you can, build in more rest, and refill your cup. You cannot give what you don’t have.
Feeling Resentful?
Resentment sneaks in as a judgment: “why does he leave me to do all of the shopping?” “Why does she never offer to host?” It’s rarely about the other person though and is actually a signal to us that we aren’t asking for what we need. Be it help, a boundary, or a break, identify what you need and gently ask for it.
If all else fails…
Create something. Simply for the sake of creating. Set up a hot chocolate bar as a surprise for your kids after school. Bake cookies. Arrange a bouquet of flowers into a vase. Color. Draw. Write. Build a playlist. Creation shifts our consciousness away from what we aren’t “getting” and aligns us with the energy of the Creator—which is the antidote to pretty much everything.
The holidays bring joy and nostalgia, but also a lot of responsibilities and emotions. The end of the year brings celebration but also reflection and introspection. When we pull ourselves away from the allure of consumption and instead choose a consciousness of creation each day, we will quite literally be creating a holiday of connection, joy, and blessings no matter how chaotic or challenging they may seem. That is always something worth celebrating.
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