How To Practice Self Care When It Comes to Finances
Don’t let money beat you up; it’s not a person
There’s a lot of talk when it comes to our finances — everything about how to invest better, how to save more, and how to get out of debt. But rarely do we talk about the self-care side of it all — taking care of ourselves when it comes to finances rather than heeding the advice of someone that may or may not care about us at all.
There seems to be little hope these days when it comes to finances. The stock market is volatile, people are unemployed, and the world is changing the way we interact with each other, resulting in different ideas surrounding money.
All of these things can cause a lot of stress.
I wish we could take a year off from money. I’m just tired of hearing all about it. People telling me I need to invest in this, or buy this, or trade this, or go here, or go there. It gets exhausting.
What we need to do is practice allowing.
Remember allowance as a kid?
What if we allowed things to be just as they are? No more fighting an uphill battle. No more swimming upstream against the current of neverending advice when it comes to our finances. What if we just took a step back and allowed things to happen so that we can learn from them? This comes at a great cost of course.
We may lose lots of money. We may lose that opportunity to trade that certain stock that could make us one step closer to financial independence. We may miss out on that deal. Or that home.
By allowing ourselves to experience the loss of something whether it be money, or an income stream, or an investment — we don’t set ourselves up for failure — we allow outcomes to happen just as they are. We can learn and grow from that experience.
It’s important to allow things to unfold. Just as plants take time to grow, so does our financial tank and our ability to manifest money materially. By allowing, we grow stronger over time and can withstand any financial setback that comes our way.
We can use Tonglen to shape our idea of financial reality.
There is a balance to everything and you can’t have the good without the bad. The other side of the coin is that someone is going to lose while someone else may win. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t always be the winner. Especially when it comes to finances and money.
We are bombarded with media messages every day telling us to be better with our money, be better with our time, be better with our productivity. Meanwhile, it’s taking a toll on our souls at all costs just to make it to the next level of one-upmanship or to get ahead in this rat race known as life. At the end of the day, we’re not taking care of ourselves in the process.
The ancient Buddhist principle of Tonglen is a meditative practice of “giving and taking”, and “sending and receiving”. It’s a good way to measure the state of your heart. Are you fearful or sad? Breathe it in. Are you happy or elated? Breathe it out. By doing this, you are practicing compassion.
By receiving and giving, taking and sending, we are essentially practicing flow in our lives. This allows the state to affect our consciousness on a deeper level and allow things to be just as they are — to give back to the world while simultaneously receiving something for ourselves. When you breathe in the world’s problems and breathe back out to the world joy and abundance, it will come back to you in some way. This is known as a meditative practice that we all should consider.
It’s an exchange. Just like money.
We are changed when we know that we are abundant.
When we accept the good and the bad, or the flow of things, we can already be abundant. Nothing can thwart us. Nothing can stop us because the other side of the coin is that it has to be just as it is for us to be just as we are now.
There is no alternative. You cannot constantly have the good without having the bad. You cannot always be winning with money without taking risks and failing, losing at times. Abundance is already within you. The good and the bad. There is no lack, but only what we perceive. All of it is there to change you and teach you something. To grow.
It’s an experience.
Let money have its way with you. The good and the bad. Allow things. Practice breathing in what it is you don’t like. Then breathe out back into the world the things that you do like. Know that abundance will come back to you a hundredfold.
