If you have stress about your finances… sadly, you’re in good company. To be honest, stress and money (or the lack of it) have been closely associated since the first coin was minted thousands of years ago. To put it bluntly, many of us live way outside our means. Perhaps all of us live in too big an economic footprint. Over the years, retail therapy has been the norm for many. From a psychological perspective, the ego’s addiction for material items is never satisfied and each purchase becomes a “fix” until the next purchase. Pulling in the reins on spending, seeing a monthly deposit to one’s saving account as a required expense and learning to cut back on unnecessary purchases becomes a whole new mindset and that itself can cause stress. It may be hard, but its not impossible. Before you go shopping make a list of what you intend to buy and stick to the list. The next time you take out your wallet, credit card or checkbook, ask yourself if you really NEED this item. Scaling back on living expenses will become the norm for all of us and the sooner we can adapt to this mindset, the less stress we’ll have down the road.
• Stress Tip for the Day:
Many purchases are made on impulse, whether it’s window shopping or browsing through website catalogues. Consider putting every purchase you make this week on a 24-hour hold. Sleep on it and see if you still feel the same way the next day. Most likely its something you can live without.
• Books Worth Noting:
My good friend, colleague and mentor, Larry Dossey, MD had a new book out, titled, The Power of Premonitions. As someone who has quite of few of these I think this is something we should all become more familiar with. You can read an excerpt from his book at” www.larrydossey.com
• Photo of the Day:
For the powerpoint slide set for my textbook, I took several images of money (spare change in my pocket that day, plus a few credit cards.)
• Quote for the Day:
“The best way to save money is to fold in half and place it back in your wallet.”
—Anonymous
Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned expert in the fields of stress management, mind-body-spirit healing and stress and human spirituality. He is the author of over 10 books including the bestsellers, Stand Like Mountain, Flow Like Water, Stressed Is Desserts Spelled Backward, The Art of Calm, Quiet Mind, Fearless Heart and Managing Stress (6E). He can be reached through his website:www.brianlukeseaward.net
© Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D.
