Through assessment of our personal experiences when it comes to financial decisions, one can acknowledge the emotions that led to, and may continue to lead our financial habits and attitudes.
By bringing the open aware state of mind we call mindfulness into the picture, one can forgive oneself for past poor decisions to then let go of fear and embark on a complete turnaround to plan for a sound financial strategy.
Negative urgency impulsivity leads us to spend our money foolishly, and this prevents us from examining and addressing our emotional distress mindfully. Studies directed by researchers at the Australian Journal of Psychology (2013) found that compulsive buying — which could be coined as foolish spending — is driven by the need to release negative states of mind. This behavior clearly negatively affects financial management practices.
Through meditation one can tackle emotional biases, which have been instilled in our life stories that may include, but not, limited to, (1) having been exposed to poor financial practices by our parents during our formative years, (2) fear ingrained by poor environmental factors, such as the negative hit college graduates suffered during the market collapse in 2008 that continues to affect the ability to create wealth let alone manage wealth. And these are only a couple of instances where personal experiences affect the development of reactive emotions that perpetuate poor financial decisions.
These factors lead to stress and shut our minds down to moving toward financial empowerment practices.
A study by the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (2016) underlines that individuals’ readiness to learn financial educational strategies can be improved by gaining insight of human behavioral tendencies through mindfulness. Working on our emotional skills will facilitate us to make sound decisions regarding financial matters. And understanding our fears will afford one the ability to become more assertive when assessing the level of risk one can manage to boost our financial independence.
Breaking our mental obstacles through meditation and practicing compassion with oneself will provide the mind space to pave the way to efficient financial planning.
A Bank of America Merrill Lynch study (2017) argued that over two-thirds of millennials conveyed that financial stress outdoes their ability to be productive.
Cultivating mind space has the potential to help one make better money choices. One creates the mind space to identify one’s needs and motivations by letting go of fear through means of self-forgiveness for poor-outcomes from one’s past. By doing so, one can identify and prioritize goals.
Stop making things confusing and create the conditions to start controlling your attitudes. This can be done by formulating new habits by developing emotional skills which will facilitate the mind space to plan for thoughtful, intuitive, and a compassionate financial future.
My question to you is this: Would you rather let fear-driven impulsive behavior lead you to believe that you are incompetent when it comes to financial planning or take each day as a new beginning to break away from foolish-financial behaviors and build your vibrant financial wholeness?
