Since I live and breathe financial well-being, I thought I’d start there. This past year was a great time to look inward, reflect on my individual relationship with money, and think about how I want to spend my hard-earned money. During quarantine, it was relatively easy to save since we were limited in what we could do. No travel expenses, no eating out. The only thing we really spent money on was take out and that was well worth it. With everything opening up now, it's tempting to make up for lost time and go overboard with spending.
This is where scarcity mindset comes in and constantly feeling like you don't have enough. Whether you're chasing after more money or more things, scarcity mindset is especially common when it comes to money and consumerism. This is problematic because this feeling of never having enough leads us to think that we don't currently have what we need and that what we want lies outside of us. It's true, we all have wants and needs. However if you come from a place of feeling like your life is complete and full (an abundance mindset!) without having to buy this and that, then it's likely you’ll feel much happier in the long run. It’s also a relief to not have to worry and waste brain space to dwell on all the things you don’t have.
As Chopra says, "your mindset can radically affect the course of your life. Overwhelming research on mindset shows that the way you think about yourself and the world around you can drastically change the way you learn, how you handle stress, how you create success, your resiliency, and even how your immune system functions."
What’s interesting is that most people think that if their salary doubled or even tripled, they would feel much better about their finances. However, research has shown us that we tend to spend the same percentage of our earnings regardless of how much we earn. Lifestyle creep gets in the way of that ever elusive feeling of financial satisfaction. A Princeton University study found that there’s a correlation between happiness and wealth, but only to a point of about $75,000 per year. When people make more than $75,000 a year, their happiness doesn’t increase.
That’s why it’s important and beneficial to have a mindset of abundance. Let’s focus on and be grateful for everything we do have, not everything we don’t have. Instead of thinking about buying our way to happiness and meaning, let’s create happiness and meaning out of everything we already have in our lives. This week I’m choosing to be grateful for all the things I am so lucky to have - our new baby, being able to see our family & friends, good health and vaccines, beautiful summer weather, farm fresh fruits and veggies from the local farmers market, the Olympics, so many things!
What are you grateful for these days? What’s giving you happiness and meaning?