Being mindful can help your finances

“Mindfulness” is a popular concept these days, suggested as a useful discipline in everything from sports psychology to eating habits. I think it’s time we apply it in another important area of our lives, personal finance.

Mindfulness means staying in the present, remaining engaged with what is happening around you and in your mind without judgment. It’s not “self awareness.” It’s keeping your full attention on present experiences and thoughts, without distraction or trying to control things. It’s a part of practicing meditation.

“Mindfulness helps you let go of your attachment to outcome, your emotional attachment to things and ideas,” says Kevin Urban, a Creativity and Mindfulness Coach in New York City. “Money can be an emotional topic, and mindfulness helps us control our emotional states.”

Most people approach their financial life with an agenda: They want to see their assets grow. Sometimes we are so focused on the agenda or goal that we miss opportunities, Urban says. Practicing mindfulness can increase your clarity about what you really want out of life, and clarity brings the wisdom to make rational decisions.

Urban stresses that it’s important to put a financial plan in place and follow it, while remaining mindful of new opportunities and changing circumstances. Being mindful and educating yourself about finances will help you avoid mistakes such as investing all of your money into one “hot stock,” for instance.

Being mindful also can reduce stress and worry over money matters and help you to feel more content with what you have, rather than anxious about what you feel you don’t have or should have.

Mindfulness can also reduce “emotional spending” sprees.

“When people don’t feel good about themselves they look to the external to satisfy their needs,” he says. “When you develop a better understanding of yourself, when you go inward instead of outward, you can be satisfied within.”

Urban recommends two ways to use mindfulness to improve your financial life:

• Take a pause. When you are stressed out about money or possessions, taking a pause to become present in the moment allows you to regain clarity and perspective. “Most people have an external focus of success: the car you drive, the house you live in, the accolades you achieve,” he says. “We are always striving for more. But mindfulness isn’t about striving for anything, it’s about knowing everything that you need is always within.”

• Recognize that “Everything before me is my

teacher.” When things are not going as you wish, financially or otherwise, learn from the experience. “If my portfolio loses value, what does this have to teach me about myself?” Urban says. “Maybe I didn’t ask enough questions, maybe I didn’t understand the product I was investing in, maybe I wasn’t acting realistically.”

Finally, realize that mindfulness is not a onetime event, it is a discipline that must be practiced regularly. “After the holidays is a good time to re-investigate your values, an opportunity to begin a practice of mindfulness,” Urban says. “Mindfulness around money will lead to mindfulness around other aspects of your life.”