Transitions—negative, neutral, and positive—are ever present in our work life, our thoughts, and our political landscape. While our mind’s survival bias leads us to focus more on negative changes (often at the cost of our ability to thrive), Buddhist wisdom offers another perspective: understanding impermanence unlocks some of the most beneficial mind states, like joy, equanimity, selflessness, and love. In my work with thousands of clients and students, I’ve found that getting comfortable with change is also key to a healthy relationship with our finances.
Picture yourself savoring a perfect cappuccino. How often does your mind drift to wanting the experience to last longer, or to feeling disappointed when it ends? These thoughts dilute our ability to fully enjoy the present moment. And this mirrors how we approach many of life's transitions, including those involving work and money.
Several decades ago, I was enjoying the early success of the financial services company I created. Positive transitions like this one feel great - I actually felt invincible and quickly opened a new branch office—an impulsive decision that cost money and time (when we realized that we didn’t do enough due diligence).
These experiences taught me that
positive transitions are delicate. When the markets are high, we cling to the level of our investments, forgetting the market history of volatility and impermanence. When the markets do eventually fall, we might feel shame, regret, even betrayal.
The financial media often urges us to take action based on daily events. Proceed with caution. No one has a reliable crystal ball and things often change more quickly and differently than the media can predict. My decades of work as an advisor have taught me that
successful investors don't let temporary transitions or events drive their career, financial, and/or investment decisions.
Transitions are real-life examples of impermanence. When I was visiting one of my favorite teachers - Ajahn Amaro, a scholarly Buddhist monk for over 40 years - in London last month, he said to me: “If you can allow yourself to completely understand impermanence, you’ll experience great equanimity and happiness regardless of what life serves you.”
How YOU can benefit from this Buddhist understanding:
- Reflect back several years on a change with work, finances, or politics. Did your sense of well-being shift substantially and permanently because of that negative or positive event? Research shows that we revert back to our default level of well-being and that good or bad events don’t permanently alter our longer term happiness. This awareness helps us cultivate happiness that’s independent of conditions or outcomes. Yes, this is aspirational, but it can be very healthy for your soul and your wallet. Why? Because, we make better spending and other decisions when we’re not so swayed by our transient emotions.
- When you suffer a business or economic setback, recognize that you still might have more money today than you had 10-20 years ago.
- Practice letting yourself feel and savor the joy of a positive transition, even for a few moments, without dwelling on how long it might last or the fear of losing it, whether it be a cup of coffee or a productive day at work. It will slowly increase your mind’s ability to soak in the good.
- Ask yourself: What can I learn from prior positive and negative transitions? Did I have a bias (like overconfidence during positive transitions, and/or catastrophic thinking during negative ones)? This is our opportunity: to bring awareness to these patterns and gain insights, and then to use these insights to develop a more balanced perspective.
And, cultivating the skill of enjoying the positive, without extrapolating or fabricating stories about the future, will begin to impact every area of your life. You’ll likely make wiser financial and work decisions. Just remember that positive transitions are delicate. For example, if you’re optimistic about recent political changes, balance your exuberance by reflecting on the ephemeral nature of political leadership.
When I hired someone a few years ago, like all hires, I couldn’t predict how long she’d stay. She in fact left after one year, but it was one of the best working years of my life. I think she taught me how to enjoy what I have without clinging or believing that something will stay this way forever.
It may sound grim at first glance, but the recognition of impermanence with money, with people, with everything, can help us create a mind that’s wiser, less reactive, and has greater perspective. Yes, joy, equanimity, confidence, and selflessness flow from that faucet. If you want abundance, start living your life as if impermanence is here to stay.
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