The Lottery Winner
Admittedly, I was not immune to the lottery madness. I bought five tickets for each member of my family and quickly found myself fantasizing about all the things I would do with our new found fortune. Travel! Homes! Cars! Give back!
But on Thursday morning, like most everyone in America, with the exception of the two lucky winners in Missouri and Arizona, I awoke to the realization that my net worth had remained unchanged. Alas, it was not meant to be…
The hype, however, got me thinking about the ideas of abundance and gratitude. What would it feel like to win the lottery? Would it be possible to cultivate those feelings, without any increase to one’s material wealth?
Last year around this time, John Tierney wrote an article for The New York Times entitled “A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day” on developing “an attitude of gratitude.” After explaining some of its psychological and health benefits, the author included some useful tips for increasing one’s appreciation quotient. This might mean keeping a gratitude journal, doing one generous gesture for another person or simply envisioning life without something otherwise taken for granted.
What, if anything, does this have to do with financial planning? While topics such as the impending fiscal cliff and year-end tax planning are certainly important issues to be addressed, arguably so is approaching one’s finances from a place of gratitude. Beginning from this perspective may provide meaning to other, more traditional aspects of planning, such as budgeting and investing, and may increase the likelihood of implementing these strategies over the long-term.
So today’s unorthodox financial tip is simply to practice more gratitude in whatever way works best for you and see if it makes any impact on how you view your current net worth. Hey, you never know…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/science/a-serving-of-gratitude-brings-healthy-dividends.html