Money and Mindfulness

There is little doubt that mindfulness can support our well-being and our relationships. That includes our financial well-being and our relationship with money. It does so in many ways.

Anyone that has experienced mindfulness will know that it can bring unconscious behaviour patterns into consciousness highlighting habits that may not be serving us such as mindless consumption.

We come to realise that we are not our thoughts, beliefs and emotions. In this way, we gain detachment from them and an ability to choose whether we allow them to drive our behaviour unchecked.

It gifts us the knowledge that we are more than our financial situation. We know that our net worth is not a reflection of our true self worth.

An often used description of mindfulness is present moment awareness. As someone who, for many years, resisted goal setting, discovering or rediscovering mindfulness eight years ago through the MBSR programme in some way gave me a convenient justification for this resistance.

Over time, however, I came to understand that my lack of a future vision and goals were holding me back. I had to revisit what this description of mindfulness really meant.

In the context of my financial future, I realised that whilst worrying about it was certainly not very mindful, failing to plan for it was somewhat mindless too! In short, I discovered that it was possible to plan for the future mindfully.

The key for me was being satisfied with where I was yet eager for more, a concept I discovered from listening to Abraham-Hicks. Failure to accept and be satisfied with your current financial situation, no matter how inadequate you may deem it, will make your journey towards greater financial well-being far more difficult than it needs to be.

You may eventually get to where you set out but it will be with an energy of striving rather than allowing. And what happens when you get there? You’ll probably just want more.

No matter how ‘bad’ you may view your current financial situation, accepting where you are and being satisfied with that for now will make your journey towards greater financial well-being far more enjoyable.

It will mean that when you do reach your financial goals, you’ll be able to celebrate the wins. It doesn’t mean that you’ll stop there but it means you won’t be constantly living in a “I’ll be happy when... or “I’ll feel secure when…” state of mind or mindlessness.

Here's to being satisfied with where we are, eager for more, mindfully planning for our financial future and allowing it all to unfold.

So, enjoy your financial well-being journey, celebrate the wins, learn from the set-backs and maybe in time come to celebrate them too. No matter what, always move forward, mindfully of course 😉

THE END unless...

To further explore how inner work can change your outer experience of money, you can access the recording from our June 2021 workshop collaboration with @bronwenallancoach 🎬🎥 “MOG, Money and Me - how the practices of mindfulness, optimism and gratitude can support our relationship with money”.

Reach out through our contact form or by email at annemarie@moneycoaching.ie for more details.