Five Zen Tips for Living a More Financially Sound Life

Financial health - besides physical and mental health - has become an increasingly important element in our life. Yet we yearn for it, because "making both ends meet" seems easier to talk about than to do. To actually achieve it, it's helpful to know that if we cannot make more money on one end, we should certainly spend less money on the other end. But spending less money is not easy to practice either. This article, therefore, aims to provide information on how to reduce unnecessary spending - especially, through practicing Zen meditation and living a Zen lifestyle.

1. Curbing the impulse buy: Impulse buy hurts, because it's mostly unnecessary stuff. But the impulse is hard to tame, because we don't even know where it came from. Advices such as self-control and being rational may help, but the most fundamental way is by purifying our mind and thoughts through meditation. That is, if our monkey brains don't make noises, there is really no impulse to be curbed or controlled in the first place.

2. Trimming the craving: Craving is the root of many unnecessary spending, including the impulse buy. But the craving here is referred particularly to addictive habits such as gambling, which is virtually a huge money black hole. This type of craving is very tough to combat - without meditation. Meditation is known to cleanse and purify the body and mind. The life force in meditative state can erase the bad recordings in the brain, including craving. So one day you will find yourself automatically throwing away gambling, instead of throwing the dice.

3. Neighbor has it. So what: This is an ego issue. Ego takes its root through comparison with others, such as your neighbors. This is particularly devastating to your financial health if your neighbor is a rich one. It's better to hurt your ego than your financial health. Or even better, cultivate smaller ego so there is nothing to hurt. This is achievable through meditation because meditation cultivates a feeling of contentment - not with how many things achieved, or how much money earned, but simply with being. This awareness renders comparison completely unnecessary.

4. Saving the medication expenditure: Health-related expenditure can be huge, no matter it is physical, mental or psychological health problems. Zen meditation is well-known for its health and mental benefits, and becoming healthier is almost equal to saving money. This slogan is right on, "meditate, not medicate."

5. Minimizing accident-related costs: No matter how careful we are, or how frugal we are, there is always one thing that can potentially turn our life upside down - accidents. Accidents almost always cost a lot of money, and are seemingly uncontrollable. But accidents, according to Buddhism, are just the effect of a preceding cause, that is, karma. So instead of randomly, everything happens to people according to their karma. By resolving our karma through meditation, we can minimize the accidents and the cost associated with it. In this sense, meditation is a very good life insurance.