[Dws-News] August is Mindful Consumption Month!

[dws-updates at floridamindfulness.org]

Dear Friends,

This August, many of us in the Tampa Sangha and throughout our broader
Florida Community of Mindfulness (FCM) will once again be observing a full
month of Mindful Consumption. We invite you to share in this wonderful
practice with us.

During our month of Mindful Consumption, we will use our mindfulness and
the support of our Sangha brothers and sisters to look deeply into our
consumer habits. We will consider consumption in the broadest sense: our
shopping habits; food purchasing and eating habits; alcohol/drug usage;
TV/radio/CD listening; internet surfing/emailing, instant messaging;
filler-type activities; use of energy; conversations and other social
interactions; work habits; etc. We’re all different but most of us have
some level of consumption that may be worth examining to see if it's
healthy or a symptom of an underlying feeling that we may wish to look at
more closely. To do this, we need to increase our awareness of our
consumption patterns – to actually see what we’re doing – as well as
understand why.

During August, participants in this practice will seek to limit our
acquisition and consumption of things to only those items that are
necessary for the health and well being of ourselves and others. We'll
closely observe our consumer impulses and our mind when we "think" we need
to purchase something. We'll question its need in our lives, and whether
our consumption habits effects those who have less than us and may prevent
them from being able to get the true necessities for their lives. Many may
maintain a journal for the month to help facilitate this deep looking. It
may also be an opportune time to contribute items and clothing we no
longer want or need from our home to a local homeless shelter.

We will be providing more support to participants, both through FCM email
and through our local Sangha, throughout the month of August. We will also
have an online forum through the FCM website that we can use to share our
practice during the month. We hope you can share in our Mindful
Consumption month as much as possible, as we continue to work to transform
our lives and bring greater joy to ourselves and others.

With metta,

The Tampa Sangha