Summer Solstice – Reset and Recovery Week Four Financial Rest

As we continue my series for an intentionally restful summer. We are up to Week Four for  #SummerReset and #SummerRecovery using the 6 important areas of wellness: Physical, Social, Emotional, Financial, Intellectual, and Spiritual. This week is also about Financial Wellness and Rest. Be sure to read last week’s post on Emotional Rest!

Week four we are thinking about how we take intentional rest for our Financial Wellness. Our Financial Wellness addresses our relationship to money. Often when we think about money, we worry about not having enough. That worry creates anxiety, fear, and unrest. To take a rest from feeling that burden of worry, here are five ways that you can reframe your financial wellness and take an intentional rest break. 

• Review Your Budget – Sit down with all of your accounts and do a full review of how you spend and make your money. Consider how financial abundance comes to you, beyond your paycheck. If you do not keep a budget for yourself, map out a simple one that includes all of your bills (rent, mortgage, utilities, phone, etc.) and other weekly/monthly expenses (food, gas, starbucks). Identify if there are any expenses that can be eliminated. Monthly subscriptions that you really do not use can be a good place to start. 

• Take a Spending Break – Once you’ve identified the weekly/monthly expenses, take a spending break from anything that does not appear on that list. Yep, I’m asking you to put the phone down and take a step away from Amazon prime. Still feeling like spending, implement a “sleep on it” rule to help ward off impulsive and boredom purchases. 

• Redefine and reestablish your boundaries/expectations – Boundaries are important for our financial wellbeing. Do you have a designated floor (a threshold that you do not let the account drop below) for your savings account? Do you have a savings account? Do you have a thought process for what you do when unexpected money comes your way? Such as, saving or spending or a mix of both. 

• Future Gratitude – This is part of the mindset shift for financial wellness. Take some time and reflect on this question: If you were to wake up tomorrow morning and be living your perfect life/day, what would you be grateful for? Reflect and write down that gratitude as though you were experiencing it right now. You will experience the emotions of gratitude, joy, security, and calm in the present as you think about the future space. 

• Adjust and Reframe Your Money Thoughts – Have you heard of “The Secret”? Essentially this is the belief that what we think about is what we receive from the universe. If you are always worrying about debt, you will continue to receive debt from the universe. Try an affirmation about abundance instead. This is one of my favorites: “I am increasingly magnetic to health, wealth, abundance, prosperity, and money.” Take a deep breath and then repeat the affirmation to yourself 5 – 10 times and end with another deep breath. 

Financial wellness is an important part of our whole being as humans. Feeling secure with money impacts all areas of our lives. It is important that we stop the pendulum swing from worrying about not having enough and just not thinking about it at all. Be sure to come next week, as I highlight how to employ rest for our intellectual wellness.