Inner work.
In yoga, essentially, is what we come to do. We look within us so the world around us becomes better. We practice, we observe our patterns during our asanas, we start to notice where our thoughts tend to go. We build the amazing habit of Mindfullness.
The idea of being mindful was introduced to me via meditation. Observe your thoughts. Do not judge. Just watch. Accept. Practice this during every interaction. Everything should be mindful.
And then I read this article. The way I do one thing is the way I do everything. It made sense, and went nicely with the idea of Mindfulness meditations. I dug the idea of it, and it also scared me a bit. I'll share why later on..
The idea of being mindful was introduced to me via meditation. Observe your thoughts. Do not judge. Just watch. Accept. Practice this during every interaction. Everything should be mindful.
And then I read this article. The way I do one thing is the way I do everything. It made sense, and went nicely with the idea of Mindfulness meditations. I dug the idea of it, and it also scared me a bit. I'll share why later on..
So I am mindful. I look within. It's working. I'm proud of all the work I've done in the last few years. It's surely made my life better. I live full of integrity, I practice what I preach.
But at the corner of my mind, there was something I was abandoning in this "being mindful" business.
My finances.
I never looked hard at my finances. I didn't want to see. Student loans, rent, taxes. All overwhelming. So I just paid. and just paid bills and paid bills. That was enough for me.
I've known for a long time that I am not mindful with my money. I was actually CARELESS.
So for 2015, I decided to look at this part of my life with a magnifying glass.
I've known for a long time that I am not mindful with my money. I was actually CARELESS.
So for 2015, I decided to look at this part of my life with a magnifying glass.
So here it's how I've started with my "Financial Inner work."
- My very financially savy LITTLE sister recommened me to her financial planner, we spoke for about 2 hours and went through many different ways I can start investing.
- I set very tangible, realistic, and clear money related goals. I review these every week along with my other intentions.
- I got Mint on my iPad and IPhone. It takes about one hour to set up. Every morning I go through my budgets and expenses, and see what I need to pay. It's free!
- I have also started to follow Dave Ramsey. This was a suggestion from a friend on Facebook. He has amazing tips to help sort your finances out.
- I ask for help. I know I don't know much about finances, so now I ask! I have some very knowledgable clients so I pick their brains, I ask my friends that are doing well financially how they do it.
And now I am that girl that sticks to budgets! Ok, and although in January my taxi budget was way over (so cold!) I am learning how to live within my means and responsibly and invest.
If I'm meditating every day, I need to look at my bank accounts everyday. If I am exercising and doing yoga, then I need to take care of every part of myself in the same manner. Just like the article said- I need to do EVERYTHING the same way.
Little things like making coffee at home, buying Kind bars in bulk and putting them in my purse instead of buying them at health stores (about 75 cents more), taking yoga classes from friends, inviting friends over for dinner instead of going out. They all count.
The journey has just started! I see light at the end of the tunnel!
How do you stay on track with your money?
