Q: Dear Todd, how can mindfulness help in saving money?

TODD ANSWERS: When we are fully present, we make smarter decisions because we are not off somewhere else.

Saving money, investing money, and working towards some goal, all happen in the here and now.

When we give this moment our full attention, we naturally create a better future. Like a squirrel who gathers nuts for the winter, we too know instinctually without thinking that we need to save money, we need to acquire a certain amount of resources to live well, and we need to spend wisely.

If we live in the future, we can neglect our duties of the moment. We still need to use the time to schedule future meetings, make plans, etc… But we don’t need to let time use us and make us miserable or obsess about the past and future to the point that we miss out on the present.

And when we do it properly, we make plans with presence, we schedule future appointments with mindfulness, and in this way, we don’t sacrifice the present for tomorrow.