“You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.”

  
Abraham Lincoln

Many of us are unable to resist compulsive shopping urges. We are abused by them and often driven by them to irrational acts of purchase. To disobey them entails total destruction of the psyche. But did you know that you can actually stand up to these brutes and scare them off?

Your basic inability to resist them arises out of the fact that if you do not yield, they will persist, and for you this is like having a hornet flying circles in your living room.

Enter the mindfulness tactic, your power hornet-swatter. Here is how to use it:

1. Next time a shopping urge (which is basically a thought) arises,
remember that the thought is an object, and you are the one who
is aware of it.
2. Let the shopping thought exist in your presence. Do not try to
suppress it or make it persist.
3. Do not yield to it.
4. It will irritatingly persist.
5. Just keep watching it. Let it persist. Do not worry about this;
the thought is harmless, let it stay as long as it wants.
6. Do not yield to it.
7. Carry on with other tasks of your day.
8. Let it persist for hours, days or whatever.
9. Finally it will give up and go away, because your brain will realize that is speaking to a wall.
10. Rinse and repeat for three more buying urges.
11. The next time you get a shopping thought, remember that you are
now capable of not yielding to it, and decide whether you want to
yield or not from your new position of strength, not out of fear as
you would before.
12. Act according to your decision.

If you follow these steps diligently, your spending pattern and your life will significantly change for the better.

Important Extra Tip: When you sense anger coming on, you can use the same mindfulness tactic to avoid impetuous behavior that you might regret later.

To your mental and financial freedom!

By: Lakshman Balaraman

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