It’s easy to think that the connection between mindfulness and financial management is reserved for a few rich eccentrics and has very little use for people with everyday financial struggles. After all, how can getting up and meditating in the morning translate to an increase in real world dollars?

But what if I told you that this is a very ancient practice… and that cultures all over the world have been tapping into the benefits of mindfulness to improve their financial prospects for a very long time? 

I believe that part of my job as a financial advisor is to educate as many people as possible on the mindset that is more likely than all the rest to lead to better financial decisions, more income, and greater financial freedom and security. After 30 years in the field—and having co-founded a wealth management company that oversees over $4.4 billion in assets—I can tell you that mindfulness is one of the best ways to build the mindset necessary for financial success. 

The question is: how does it work?

I’ve identified five principles of mindfulness and how they can directly influence your finances:

Awareness. Meditation doesn’t always have to be about shutting everything out. Sometimes it’s beneficial to meditate on one specific thing, increasing your awareness of its presence in the world. For instance, if you meditate on the thought that you are enough, you will train your brain to seek out opportunities that reinforce the idea that you are enough—for example, taking a moment to appreciate something beautiful in your surroundings, be it sunshine or rain. It also helps to be aware of the lessons from the past that influence your present-day financial decisions, which is something that can also be discovered during certain meditations. Knowing what’s in your emotional bank account can have a profound impact on understanding the habits and behaviors that go into building your FDIC-insured one.

Resilience to fluctuations. Sometimes we make rash investment decisions in response to market fluctuations, completely forgetting that ups and downs are completely normal. Mindfulness helps with this by reminding us that us the bigger picture is always in flux, but the present moment is always stable. The same mindset can be applied to money. When we remember that markets fluctuate, we’re more like to practice better investing habits. 

Habit. Practicing good, daily habits with meditation trains your brain to practice good, daily habits with other things—especially money. While meditation has benefits even if done irregularly, it works best when practiced daily. Your finances work the same way. If you can make checking your numbers a daily habit, then you will eliminate unnecessary financial anxieties, such as not quite knowing how much is in the bank account. It will also be easier to determine how much needs to be done to get your finances where you want them.

Calm responses. Everybody, rich or poor, knows how easy it is to be anxious about money in the face of uncertainty. However, it’s the ones who respond calmly who tend to walk away with more money whenever faced with a financial crisis. Practicing mindfulness trains our ability to respond to stressful situations with calmness and clarity. 

State of positivity. It’s no secret that when you’re in a state of positivity, you’re more likely to create positive things. When you focus your positivity on things like your income opportunities, your business relationships, and your self-worth being greater than your net worth, a healthier relationship with money begins to grow. 

Applying the basic techniques of mindfulness to money allows us the calm and clarity needed for better financial management. What’s more is that by building a healthier money mindset, we don’t just increase our outer wealth, but we realize our true inner worth.  

My new course, Your Inner Compass, will teach you how to apply mindfulness techniques to money so you can begin improving your relationship with money today. Learn more about the course (and a free preview) here.