How practising gratitude can improve your finances – Diana Clement

Gratitude releases dopamine and serotonin in our brains, which makes us feel good and strengthens neural pathways that foster a positive outlook. Photo / 123RF

OPINION

It’s the time of year to be grateful for what we have. With New Year’s resolutions starting to fall by the wayside, a very good way to do better financially this year is to practise gratitude.

Psychologists, neuroscientists and mental health professionals will tell you that practising gratitude is great for your mental and physical health. It can also improve finances.

Gratitude is about counting our blessings and acknowledging the good things in life. It’s about seeing happiness in what we have, not pursuing it. Gratitude releases dopamine and serotonin in our brains, which makes us feel good and strengthens neural pathways that foster a positive outlook. In plain English, it’s the cup half full instead of the cup half empty approach to finances.

From a financial point of view, gratitude curbs impulsive spending. The constant bombardment of adverts, especially at this time of the year, encourages us to buy more and more. By appreciating and being thankful for what we have, gratitude shifts our focus away from a perceived lack in our lives or dissatisfaction and disrupts the cycle of wanting more or thinking we’ll be happy once we’ve overcome the next hurdle in life.

This reduction in impulse buying can save significant amounts of money over time, allowing for more thoughtful spending decisions.

Once we’re content with what we have and step outside the “buy now, think later” approach to spending, gratitude helps cultivate a mindset that allows us to be mindful of our resources, rather than lurching from one payday to the next.

The release of dopamine and serotonin when we’re grateful can have a snowball effect, rewiring the brain over time, said AUT’s Dr Amy Errmann, who researches mindfulness and gratitude. “When we are happier, we’re more likely to make better decisions,” said Errmann. “There are different hypotheses as to why that happens. One is that we have less self-hatred, and therefore we want to make decisions that are better for ourselves. Another is it’s a snowball effect where, when you start to feel good, you enact that in other areas of your life and might be motivated to take better control of your finances.”

Gratitude helps us avoid striving for the unattainable. “Gratitude and mindfulness, which overlap, take us away from this constant need for gratification, especially when it comes to what we have economically,” she said. It might stop us seeking instant gratification and instead save that $50 anyway.

Living in the present and not being delusional about the future can also help us take control of our wider finances and investments because we’re less distracted, said Errmann. “We don’t get caught up with fictional narratives and this constant rumination. For example, I might have some weird imagination around how Bitcoin is going to explode.” Gratitude can also reduce the desire to gamble, she added.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to grow or become better. It just means that we’re actually more realistic about how we can do it.” Being grateful and mindful can help people give back as well.

Here’s the easy bit. Practising gratitude costs nothing more than a journal and pen, which you probably have lying around the house anyway. Unlike other financial strategies that may require a learning curve or upfront investment, gratitude is free and accessible to everyone.

The Health Navigator Charitable Trust has helpful information on its website Healthify.nz about how to get started. Clinical director Dr Janine Bycroft said, “Grab yourself a notebook today and get started by writing down three things you were grateful for today. It could just be the person who opened the door for you, a stranger who smiled, or the herbal tea you drank.

“A lot of people do it when they first wake up in the morning; it helps them start the day in a positive mood.”

Gratitude practice isn’t limited to writing in a journal. Telling others that we’re grateful for them helps us, as well as them. “People could start sharing one thing they’re grateful for at the dinner table, which helps children learn about feelings of gratitude. Or it can be done during a team meeting.”

Other recommendations from Healthify.nz include keeping a reminder, such as a photo or recording, of something you feel grateful for and keeping it with you or putting it on your screensaver. We can pick something we take for granted to be grateful for. Doing gratitude meditation helps as well.