There are many therapies available to ease our burdens. Some are salves we have grown accustomed to using over many years. Their familiar box or container affords us some comfort from the moment we find them in the back of the medicine cabinet. We have confidence that they will ease our discomfort as soon as we dab them on us. Today, many remedies and therapies exist that are found outside the medicine cabinet. There are oils, salves, stones, waters, masks, wraps, seaweeds, lotions, potions, motions, and more. Sometimes, I wonder if we could possibly have as many ailments as they aim to cure. Maybe we do.
There’s another therapy that I haven’t listed but it’s one that I find to be personally relaxing. I call it “retail therapy.” Some of you are very familiar with it; perhaps some of you even overdo your retail therapy. While I don’t engage in retail therapy often enough, I do find that exchanging my exhaustion and stress for something bright, tasty, or comfortable can affect my mood in positive ways. The anticipation of coming home with a box or a bag filled with something new to enjoy tomorrow or on the weekend can produce endorphins that ease the mind and lift the spirit.
I’m not suggesting that you should dump the therapist or the gym membership in favor of valet parking at the mall, but would it hurt to go with a friend or even alone to shop for something new, or something you really need but have put off for some rainy day in the future? Barring the danger of overcompensating for real needs with material goods, there is a fresh feeling we do gain when we begin the day or enter a room with something new about us. What if a new fragrance made you smell like 2007, and not 1970? What if a new pair of shoes gave you a bit of a skip in your step, instead of a pain in your instep? And, what if a new “do” brought fresh smiles and greetings, instead of familiar looks and expectations?
Years ago there was a famous business study that asked the question, “What new paint color on the wall would produce the highest return in production among workers?” Apparently, the gray or green color on the walls had been there for years. An experiment in wall color was supposed to increase the workers’ happiness and therefore their output. After much research into color differences, they concluded that productivity had nothing to do with the color. Rather, the workers’ happiness and output increased because the wall color had changed. Change awakened their senses and their outlook. They were happier. They worked harder. Their boss was happier, too.
Now, you can lie on a table with hot rocks on your back or seaweed wrapped around you up to your eyeballs, but what do you have then? Red marks on your skin and a taste for sushi. I’m not prescribing a shopping spree, but I am suggesting that you permit yourself something new, bright, and, above all, something that pleases you. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll bump into me in the mall; I just don’t shop that often, but when I do…it’s retail therapy!
While I couldn’t find any correlation to retail therapy in Torah this week, I did find this particular gem, “God said to Moses, ‘[Make for your brother Aaron,] the fringed tunic of fine linen; you shall make a headdress of fine linen; you shall make a sash of embroidered work…’” Think about it, do you think Moses had these things just sitting around the tent? Naturally, he went shopping!
From my desk to yours, a lighter, brighter day, and Shabbat Shalom.
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