Last month, many of you joined me in the “Follow Every Generous Impulse” pledge. Max wrote:

Very few newsletters in my life have moved me to physical motions, so that alone was impressive. I appreciate the call to expand generosity further with the way I listen, the way I undo fear-based mental thoughts and habits, and even experimenting with walking in a generous posture.

How have you experimented with this practice? 

I recently spent a few days at a vacation rental with a group of friends. One day, someone asked for a lunch clean-up volunteer. My first impulse was to say “yes,” but then I immediately noticed the thought: “I don’t have time and I already did my share of clean-up at breakfast.” 

Then I thought about the pledge, and realized that it is really about listening to your inclination to be generous, rather than being generous out of an obligation or a desire to impress others. 

My recommendation is to listen to your bodily felt intuition, rather than your mental chatter, for the direction of your generosity. Often, I’m critical of myself, but on that day, I appreciated myself for not reacting to those fearful, stingy thoughts. I also got a bonus: for the rest of that day, I believe that my following that generous impulse at lunch helped produce a spacious mind. 

So, what does a spacious mind have to do with making money and living your best life?

First, let’s recognize that you might have more experience with an unspacious mind, when you’re in an unproductive habit pattern or addiction. When I’m in this headspace, my mind feels tense, fearful, and crowded. For example, when I’m worried about losing money in the markets (one of my patterns), my mind is less able to recognize the opportunity in front of me. This happened just the other day, when I was looking at the news and stock market on my phone instead of using my phone to call a potential client. I was narrowing my aperture instead of widening it. 

Image via JefCaine.com

Here’s a 5-step mini practice to help you cultivate a spacious mind. This is one that you can try at home or work:

1. Set your timer for 4 minutes.
2. Go to a window with a view or go outside and widen your gaze. Look out, with as wide an aperture as possible. Let your left eye gaze left and your right eye gaze right. (1 minute)
3. Let go of following any trains of thought and allow your inhales and exhales to become slower. (1 minute)
4. Allow your exhales to be longer than your inhales. (2 minutes)
5. When the timer rings, take advantage of this more spacious mind and apply it right now to your most important project or financial issue.

Brown University Medical School Professor Jud Brewer says that this exercise invites the body into its parasympathetic nervous system (a calm state). Often, because of our evolutionary wiring for survival, we’re narrowing our vision to see the potential predator. When we widen our gaze, we’re tricking the brain into thinking there’s no immediate danger. Without a real threat, our mind expands, and becomes spacious, because it instinctively knows that our life is not on the line. This is a movement from surviving to thriving. 

What if you made more of your financial decisions from a spacious mind instead of a threatened mind? Try it out right now and see if you have a new perspective on your current financial challenge.