If you are having problems with your finances it may be that have an addiction to spending money. This may seem bizarre given that addiction is commonly linked with alcoholics, drug addicts and gamblers. But addiction is a behaviour that many people use at some time or another to change their mood.
Jim Orford, PhD in the addiction Research Unit of Institute of Psychiatry and author of Excessive Appetites, one of the leading key texts in addiction, writes that "an addiction is an excessive appetite whatever its object and the personal inclinations of appetitive behaviour may be used by people to change their emotions."
It is usually the small shopping excursions that do the most damage to your budget. Those cheap items in the fashion stores can make a huge dent in your wallet over time. A pound here and two pounds there adds up, and if you are needing a pick-me-up this is not the way to do it.
Justifiying Your Impulsive Shopping Spree
In an impulsive shopping spree reasonable thinking has disappeared. The Collins Pocket Dictionary, (1981) defines impulse as "a sudden inclination to act without thought." So, if you are not thinking you cannot be in control of your actions, and you leave yourself wide open for anything to happen, which is what happens in addiction.
Being driven by justifications in spending money such as "I gotta have it, it is so cheap, I need it now" is only imploring your behaviour and giving yourself reasons to continue using the behaviour. Your actions are already out of control.
Know what is Driving Your Adictive Spending Habits
To take control and make sound spending decisions you need to hear the thoughts that drive you to spend impulsively. "Getting to know your enemy is a first step in peace building," says Stella Cornelius of The Conflict Resolution Network.
Feelings are a good guide. There may be a rush of excitement, adrenaline being pumped through your body as you follow your impulsive thoughts. And each time you let the impulse drive you, you are losing control and becoming addicted.
It is no different than the alchoholic that has allowed alcohol a free reign. "One is never enough and a thousand too many" - Twelve Steps.
Using Mindfulness
Thich Nhat Hanh, author of The Miracle of Mindfulness, says in explaining about meditation, "if you want to know your own mind there is only one way: to observe and recognise everything about it." This must be done at all times, during day-to-day life no less than during the hour of meditation.
Tips to Empower Your Spending Habits
- Slow down - learn and practice some relaxation on a daily basis, this will help in self-control
- Add some positive thoughts to your mind such as: I have plenty of everything for what I need in the here and now
- Learn to nurture yourself so you are not so needy and wanting for material things
- Keep a spending diary - write down every penny you spend
- Seek support from financial cousellors - you don't have to struggle on your own
In a state of true harmony, on the day that the sun shines from inside and love is abounding there is plenty of everything, life is satisfying and it is not because of how much money there is. If you desire something, and you feel truly deserving, you will find the way toward it without having a debt or settling for less. That is one of the laws of the universe. Trying to control or manipulate life through the means of money is a form of addiction.
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