How mindfulness can improve your finances
Our mind is constantly releasing chemicals into the body that affects our mental stability, health and wellbeing.
There is a negative emphasis in the world that’s pushing us into a state of instability, leaving us vulnerable to marketing and credit, while missing out on what we really need.
If we focus on the negativity brought by the world through marketing, we will struggle in our relationships and achieving the things that matter.
What we really need is resilience for the mind.
Thanks to researcher and speaker Chelsea Pottinger for her insights into this topic. Learn more about Chelsea at EQ Minds.
How can we improve our finances with mindfulness?
#1 Consciously Focus
Every day we make thousands of decisions, and yet we can only hold 4 to 6 things in our present mind. That’s due to our subconscious processing 80% of our thoughts and decisions for us (automated behind the scenes). Be careful of things that will take you down the route of negativity.
Case Study:
A study found that 90% of Australians check their phones as soon as we wake up to consume email, news and social media. By doing this, we send our brains into ‘beta’ brainwaves of high stress (cortisol and adrenaline). This has a significant impact on the physical structure of the brain, our ability to perform and our overall health and wellbeing.
#2 Cultivate Gratitude
Harvard research suggests that practising just 30 seconds of gratitude a day will strengthen and grow the part of the brain that builds resilience.
A grateful attitude shifts your perspective from negative to positive and brings you into the here and now. Gratitude helps us make better decisions in life.
Image: Chelsea Pottenger, an internationally accredited Mindfulness & Meditation Expert
In our community, we encourage the use of our financial tools to help us see our progress and celebrate the wins. We encourage couples to go out to a cafe and spend time talking about and recognising the positive changes in their finances.
Exercise:
What are 3 things in your finances that you’re grateful for?
Write them down…
#3 Practice the art of save-to-purchase
Speaking of gratitude… It makes a big difference to our relationships when you make a purchase with cash over credit.
Credit allows you to purchase something immediately, creating a hit of dopamine. This chemical is highly additive and makes our emotions volatile. The brain is subconsciously held captive to this credit chemical, because the world is so effective at marketing this way.
Purchasing with cash on the other hand, produces the chemical Seratonin that stabilises our emotions and will leave us fulfilled, satisfied.
While it takes longer to save, there are more benefits in waiting… You feel better about the purchase, it may come at a better price, someone may gift it to you, or you might realise you don’t need it after all.
Community Insights:
We’ve discovered that couples who have the habit of gratitude and saving-to-purchase (using financial tools/apps) are significantly more happy, content and are achieving their goals, with clarity.
To recap, we can improve our life by mindfully:
Consciously deciding what we focus on
Utilise financial apps and tools to track the wins and cultivate gratitude
Say no to credit and stabilise our emotions (creating resilience)
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