Episode Summary

In this episode special guest, Spencer Sherman, a celebrated financial advisor, author, and co-founder of Abacus Wealth Partners, shares his insights on integrating mindfulness into money management.  Spencer explains that practicing gratitude can help with decision-making by reducing the tendency to ruminate over negative experiences. He discusses human survival wiring, which naturally directs attention to potential threats, leading people to dwell on negatives like critical emails or market losses.

Throughout the discussion, various practical examples of incorporating mindfulness are provided. The concept of “microdosing” mindfulness is introduced as a way to build a more consistent practice. The conversation also highlights the need to recognize and sit with challenging emotions rather than trying to immediately fix them. The episode concludes with a gratitude meditation led by Sherman, focusing on appreciating current abilities and relationships while recognizing that others may feel grateful for us as well. Join us today and hear how you can practice mindfulness in your life!

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

• Why humans are naturally wired to focus on the negative and how we can rewire that thought process
• The importance of practicing gratitude in our daily lives
• How to use mindfulness to shift your thinking around finances
• The best way to approach gratitude, and it shouldn’t be on a To-Do list
• The reason those little moments of mindfulness can be the most impactful
• Why it is critical to recognize gratitude within your community and how that can foster interconnectedness
• A better approach to handling negative emotions
• How to shift your thinking from desires to appreciation (and the positive impact that can have on your life)
• An impactful way of breaking negative patterns to open new possibilities
• An understanding of how to realistically view your problems and how to reduce overreactions to negative events

Resources:

• Explore more of Spencer’s mindfulness-based approach to money via his free resources, book, the Your Inner Compass finance course, or his in-person appearances and events.

Stay Connected:

• Visit Spencer’s website to learn more about Fearless Finance and connect with Spencer on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn or at Spencer@AbacusWealth.com
• Join the Abacus community by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn
• Connect with Mary Beth on Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn
• Connect with Neela on Twitter, Instagram, and on LinkedIn

Transcript of the Episode

Mary Beth [00:00:14]:

Hey there. Welcome to the If Money Were Easy podcast, the show where we teach you how to expand what’s possible with your money. We are your hosts, Marybeth Storjohann 

Neela [00:00:25]:

and Neela Hummel, 

Mary Beth [00:00:26]:

certified financial planners & Co CEOs of Abacus Wealth Partners. Today on the show we are talking about the power of gratitude. 

Neela [00:00:36]:

Today with us, we are joined by Spencer Sherman, a leading financial advisor, author, public speaker and the founder and former CEO of Abacus, a values driven financial planning and investment management firm. That place sounds familiar. A successful CEO, entrepreneur, public speaker, teacher and author, Spencer bridges the worlds of mindfulness and money. He skillfully guides audiences, workshop participants, readers and clients to examine intentions, practices and actions that cultivate a wise relationship with what we value most. A meditation practitioner for over 35 years, Spencer attributes his compassionate leadership and business success to the daily cultivation of mindfulness. As a teacher, he works with leaders and change makers to develop their own sense of enoughness, both personally and professionally. He’s the bestselling author of the Cure for Money Madness and has led workshops at Esalen and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has been practicing mindfulness since 1980 and is a qualified teacher of mindfulness based stress reduction. He is a certified Search Inside Yourself teacher. A New York native living in California, Spencer now devotes much of his time to sharing his mindfulness based approach to money through books, fearless finance and personal appearances. Spencer, welcome back to the show.

Mary Beth [00:02:01]:

Thanks for being here. 

Spencer [00:02:02]:

Very grateful to be here with both of you. 

Mary Beth [00:02:04]:

Very grateful to have you here. On theme with our topic of gratitude today. 

Neela [00:02:09]:

So much gratitude for you. 

Mary Beth [00:02:10]:

So much gratitude. I love hearing Spencer’s bio because as you’re saying things, I’m like, ooh, mindfulness based stress reduction, let’s talk about that. Yes, anything like that sounds great also. So we’ll have you back for another topic.

Neela [00:02:23]:

Show us the way. 

Mary Beth [00:02:24]:

Show us, show us. So I know this past month in November, you spent a lot of time with Abacus advisors. You lead us Abacus team in meditation, I think four times a week. And gratitude was the theme in November. We often talk about intersection of mindfulness and money. And so when it comes to personal finances, why is gratitude such a critical piece of our financial wellbeing puzzle? 

Spencer [00:02:50]:

Well, I was thinking about this early this morning and what came to me is there’s this neuroscientist, Rick Hansen, who says that we’re Teflon for good and we’re Velcro for the negative, we’re Teflon for the positive, we’re Velcro for the negative. And it’s like, wow, I shouldn’t have bought that stock. I should have more money now. I shouldn’t have taken that job. Instead of appreciating all the good decisions we have made in our lives, we tend to say, if only I had bought a house in New York City, an apartment in New York City, 20 years ago. You know, I was about to buy it, then I backed away. So that theme of gratitude is really a game changer with shifting our neural pathways in the brain so that we start leaning more towards recognizing, not throwing away, the negative. We can learn from the negative, but there’s this overindulgence often around the negative. And what if we start acknowledging and appreciating what we do have, the all the wise decisions we’ve made in our, in our years that’s going to help create a brain that’s more likely to make wiser decisions in the future. Because we all know that when we’re stuck on the negative and in that rumination, I mean, they’ve done studies on this, the best of ourselves doesn’t come forward when we’re stuck in rumination versus when we’re experiencing that sense of gratitude. So, I mean, it’s funny because of course, we’re just past Thanksgiving and that word is used so much. I think there’s almost been a dilution of the power of gratitude because it’s so talked about, right? Oh, yeah, I gotta feel grateful, you know, gotta do my gratitude practice. And we miss the profoundness of this practice, of the possibility of shifting from a mindset of wanting things to be different. I want my kid to be different. I want my business partner to be different. I want my finances to be different. 

Spencer [00:04:59]:

I want the weather to be different. I want my house to be different. To having this gratitude for the way things are right now. Gratitude doesn’t mean we’re not open to change. In fact, I believe that we’re more likely to have change when we’re in that place of gratitude. 

Neela [00:05:17]:

So when you say Teflon for the good, Velcro to the bad, I do have to give a nod to those of you who are maybe investing in some petrochemical free cookware. Teflon is essentially when you repel, right? So it’s like if you are cooking an egg, slides right off. It just slides right off. And you can do it without Teflon, I should say. And if you’ve seen Erin Brockovich, you know, see that. But going back to the core point, essentially, it’s easy for us from a human nature standpoint, to dwell in the bad and not appreciate the good? 

Spencer [00:05:51]:

Yeah. 

Neela [00:05:52]:

Is that kind of what you’re saying, that it’s, it’s almost like we are focusing on what could have been versus what is? 

Spencer [00:05:59]:

Yes. And one of the reasons for this that scientists give is that we’re wired for survival. And if you miss the oncoming car, your history, if you miss the patch of blueberries over there, well, you’re probably going to survive. So we don’t, we don’t have as much attention for the positives in our lives. We have more attention on what might really hurt us. So we get that email and that now feels like a car coming at us. And we dwell on that email. What did that person mean, why they say that the whole rumination results and our whole day can be clouded with those thoughts of that email instead of getting our work done.

Neela [00:06:45]:

And is it acute when you think about finances in particular? Because that sounds like something that we do across the board, but how does it show up in finance in particular? 

Spencer [00:06:58]:

Yeah. So I think that example of, you know, I talked. Many friends will talk about their mistakes with their finances and they’re this dwelling on all the mistakes they’ve made. Like, one friend sold all his investments when Trump got elected in 2016. Well, there’s no evidence for that. His emotions that came forth. And emotions are something to be aware of. But maybe we should shift from the idea of following emotions to following evidence. Go to another E word, following the evidence. And there’s no evidence for that. But I think he’s somebody, for example, and like a lot of us, like myself, without doing the practices, this mind of mine tends to be the Velcro for the negative. And if we’re Velcro for negative, we’re looking for negative possibilities. And if suddenly a politician gets elected or something happens, we might just see the negative aspect of that and miss that. Oh, well, there’s positive aspects to this also. Or that there isn’t actually any evidence for this negative event leading to a sustained negative investment impact. 

Mary Beth [00:08:18]:

I want to go back to what you mentioned earlier about the a little bit of a dilution of gratitude. It’s so a bit mainstream, Right. Everybody’s talking about gratitude, talking about gratitude, practices. We talk about, okay, you know, we go around, everybody says the one thing you’re grateful for, we have that jolt, right? We have the jolt. When we talk about the thing we’re grateful for, we have the little jolt. We talk about, we have our gratitude journal. Write down my three things I’m grateful for? What does it mean to be grateful in the moment versus in practice and versus in life? Do they feed into each other? How is one different from another? You mentioned a gratitude practice. And what does that look like? And what can that do for someone? 

Spencer [00:08:53]:

So, you know, when I started practicing, doing these gratitude practice, which is, you can say, is a form of a mindfulness practice, I was so enamored with to do lists. And it’s like, okay, this is another thing to check off my to do list. But when you do it that way, you’re not really doing it. I mean, it’s better probably than not doing it at all. But when it comes to these practices, if it comes from this sincere, dedicated place, it’s going to have a way bigger impact on you. And that’s what I’m sort of distinguishing that. That sometimes we can get into this almost it’s rote. Like, yes, I’m just gonna do my gratitude. 

Mary Beth [00:09:33]:

Like I did my journal. I wrote my three things done. Check. It’s in that box. Let’s put it back on the shelf. Versus this transformation, this transformative process of sitting with it and being with it and feeling it. 

Spencer [00:09:44]:

Right. Of really moving into, like, I’m noticing. And this pertains also to your question, Neela. Like, I’m noticing this desire, this want. I really want that new couch that I saw, my friend’s house. And what if I just shift for a moment to really appreciating the couch I have or the home I have or the kitchen that I have? And yes, it’s not. I don’t have the perfect couch. But as I really cultivate this quality of being okay or even happy with content with the things that I have, it really starts to shift the wanting of my friend’s sofa. I mean, all of a sudden it’s like, oh, I actually forgot about that. I need my friend’s sofa. You know, I’m. I’m real. I’m in a whole different mindset now. You know, we all have that experience of, like, I need to have this thing. Yeah. Thinking, like, something bad would happen if we didn’t get this thing. And then a few weeks later, we’re in a completely different mindset. Wow. Yeah. I didn’t buy it. And I’m no worse off. You know, maybe I’m even better off. So this gratitude practice, this appreciation, if we do it with this sincerity of really feeling this appreciation for what we do have in our lives, it can change the way we spend money. We can end up spending much more wisely. 

Neela [00:11:09]:

That super resonated with me, what you said, Spencer, because it’s like instead of this being one more item that we’re adding to a to do list, you’re basically saying, hey, don’t put on the to do list, but incorporate it in little doses throughout your day and throughout your life so that it almost serves to soften maybe some of these like very triggering, tough emotional moments and just incorporating this pause and reflection throughout versus something that you’re trying to like do in a vacuum and then put it on a shelf and then go on with your day. It permeates your day. 

Spencer [00:11:46]:

Yes, Yes. I love what you said about that, about doing it throughout the day. Because it’s funny, I’ve been saying a lot lately, it’s not so kind to interrupt others, but super polite to interrupt yourself. And when you’re feeling that like, I want things to be different at work, I want this colleague to be different, I want this client to be different. To just interject a one minute gratitude practice and now you’re doing it from a place of wanting to change the quality of your mind. You have a reason for doing it. It’s not just to check off the to do list box. You’re doing it with a certain intention that I don’t want to be trapped with this thought that this client needs to change or this employee needs to change because that’s a very stuck place to be. It’s probably not going to get very far with wanting people to be different, wanting our kids to be different or whatever. So that interjecting or in that moment of unhappiness with a current situation and feeling the gratitude can really open up the mind to see a new possibility of how to work with a challenging situation. 

Mary Beth [00:13:02]:

What are some of the tools that you use to interrupt that rumination? Right. When you’re in it, it’s hard to notice that you’re in it. And so how, how have you over the years done it or how have you coached others to become more aware?

Spencer [00:13:21]:

Yeah, well, certainly just doing it helps us. We start to become more aware, we get comfortable interrupting ourselves there. I go down that path of, you know, either this criticizing myself or criticizing others, or in this fantasy of maybe winning the lottery or something incredible happening to my finances and interrupting that pattern. And wow, this is a great time for gratitude. I mean, it’s so accessible, the gratitude practice. Right. We can just do it even during a meeting, we can feel some gratitude. I’m not happy in this, in this meeting right now, but can I appreciate that I’m breathing, I’m present, I’m listening to what people are saying. I don’t like everything people are saying, but I’m going to appreciate that I’m here. I’m here. And who knows how the meeting might evolve If I can just appreciate myself for a moment, it could change the course of the meeting. 

Mary Beth [00:14:21]:

So you’re saying noticing. So the first thing is noticing. And I know one of the things that talks about quite a bit with mindfulness is not judging, just noting. Just noting that you are ruminating, not judging it. Because then often you start judging yourself. Well, I’m ruminating. And then you go down this other negative path of judging yourself. So noting the rumination, noting the negative thought and then not judging and then interrupting, moving from there note and then into gratitude. 

Spencer [00:14:47]:

Yeah, that’s very good. Because often we are judging in the moment. Maybe we’re catching ourselves. And you ask, how do you, how do you start to catch yourself more? And I think it comes with practice and an intention to say, I’m going to start interrupting myself because I don’t want the same old same old. And then we, we notice that judging thought we have, and as you’re saying, Mary Beth, is. that’s the first opportunity to not judge the judging thought is to say, okay, a lot of minds, it’s universal to judge. 

Neela [00:15:26]:

Yeah.

Spencer [00:15:26]:

I mean, that’s what these machines do. They tend to judge. And some of this comes from that. What I spoke about earlier, that survival bias that we have, that fight flight mechanism that we have to preserve ourselves comes from judging because we’re constantly on guard, like, am I safe?

Neela [00:15:43]:

Right. 

Spencer [00:15:43]:

So if we can interrupt that and say, okay, there’s that mind that’s judging. I’m okay with, with this mind that just had that judging thought, but I’m not going to pursue that judging thought. I’m not going to get involved with it. 

Neela [00:15:58]:

It’s interesting, Spencer, if you think about how we’re wired. You know, in the early days of humankind, we probably didn’t have the luxury of that pause. Right. We needed to react quickly. And so we’re almost going against human nature. 

Spencer [00:16:14]:

Right. 

Neela [00:16:14]:

Because we needed quick responses because it literally could have meant life or death because there’s a lion coming and that lion is going to eat us. If we’re too busy, like going easy on ourselves for being overly judgmental, we’re going to be eaten by a lion. And so we’re almost going against our inherent programming in inviting that pause or that space. 

Spencer [00:16:33]:

Yes, absolutely. You want the survival instinct when you’re crossing a street and a car is coming at you, you don’t want to ponder it or do a gratitude practice when the car is coming at you. Oh, I really appreciate that. I’m still alive. I’m still not hit by the car. You want to jump out of the way. That’s perfect. But unfortunately, we take that into the workplace, we pick that into our finances, and now we’re doing that with, oh, if I don’t get this house, it can feel like our life is on the line. My spouse won’t be happy. My kids won’t be happier. I won’t be happy if I don’t get this house. And now I’m going to bid for a house, maybe overbid on a house that I don’t love. But I feel the compulsion. Yeah, right, right. 

Neela [00:17:23]:

Can you give our listeners a tool of how to get started in something like this? Because I remember when I first started learning about mindfulness, I think I approached it the way you talked about with the to do list, where I’m like, okay, I need, like, a unit of mindfulness in my day, and I don’t know where to put that unit. But I’m also like. It feels very nebulous of like, okay, what is a gratitude practice? What is a mindful practice? How does one start? 

Spencer [00:17:48]:

Yeah, well, maybe we should start with the opposite for a moment here. And you can just feel. We can all do this right now, of just feeling what it. What it’s like. You can almost feel it in your hands. When you want things, you want something to be different, or you just want something in your life. You want a bigger house, you. You want your children to be different, your spouse to be different, your friends, your colleagues to be different. At work, you want more success. That wanting. What does that feel like? I can feel my. My shoulders tensing up. 

Neela [00:18:20]:

Yeah. 

Spencer [00:18:21]:

And the awareness of that tension, it’s sort of like the white knuckling of when we’re driving that extra tension that we add into our lives that can motivate us to do the gratitude practice with a lot of intention instead of just checking off the to do list. So that’s what I would say is to find a motivation that feels genuine to you. Like, why are you practicing instead of, I’m just going to do it because Neela and Mary Beth and Spencer said it’s a good thing to do. Find that reason within yourself, that motivation for doing it. And for me, it’s like, I don’t enjoy myself when I’m in that place of not feeling grateful for the way things are right now. You know, when I’m in that, I want things to be different. I need things to be different. It’s a different person. I don’t feel that ease in myself. I feel like my mind is more of that, that fight, flight. There’s not as much color in the mind. So that all motivates me to do these interruptions and say, oh, wow, here’s another opportunity for practice. And there’s many, many moments that I miss, you know, and I stay in that tight place, but every now and then I’m like, oh, wow. I notice the way I’m driving. I mean, driving is a great metaphor for life. We notice when we’re driving and we’re doing it in a fearful place of maybe not getting someplace on time and we’re not driving in a. In a very healthy way and to just see if we can appreciate, wow, at least I’m going to get to the meeting. You know, that might help us actually get there earlier because when we’re tense, we’re likely to miss the exit. And that’s a metaphor for our lives. Also, you know that the tension excludes the wisdom. You know, we all know that sometimes we can get two hours of work done in 15 minutes. Well, it’s because probably we’re more in a more relaxed state in those moments than we were over efforting. Yeah, right. 

Neela [00:20:29]:

I love the driving reference that very much hits close to home because I live in Los Angeles and so there is a fair amount of driving in LA, but thinking of driving home and feeling nervous and the idea of trying to catch every light and not letting somebody merge into you versus chilling out, letting people merge, going the speed limit, listening to some good music or a good podcast like this great one called If Money Were Easy and how you arrive feeling so different. 

Spencer [00:20:59]:

Yeah. I mean, the other thing. 

Neela [00:21:01]:

Because you also arrive. 

Mary Beth [00:21:03]:

Because you arrive. 

Neela [00:21:04]:

Because you also arrive. 

Spencer [00:21:05]:

You also arrived. And that’s a, that’s a good place to start. Right there is just, you know, sensing the gratitude that you’re here, that you, you didn’t get into a car accident today, somebody on the planet did and isn’t here anymore to feel that gratitude, to feel gratitude for the finances you do have. 

Neela [00:21:26]:

Yeah. 

Spencer [00:21:26]:

You know, the evidence is that even those with millions or even billions wanting more, wanting things to be different. 

Neela [00:21:34]:

Right.

Spencer [00:21:34]:

And what if we break that pattern because everyone’s doing it and it’s not bringing them more success, more health, more mental health. What if we break that pattern and just Appreciate the amount of money we have. That’s something you do right in this moment here. You know, one of my favorite meditation teachers, he said, and it really landed for me. I’m not saying this for you. Do 30 minutes from now. Do it right now, right as you’re listening to this program. Appreciating the finances you have, the amount of money you have, appreciating your spouse, even though your spouse maybe isn’t a saver like you are, or a spender like you are. Appreciating what they bring to the relationship. 

Mary Beth [00:22:15]:

One of the things that I found over the past few years in terms of just mindfulness and gratitude in general is try to practice it when I actually have more spaciousness because initially I need a unit of mindfulness is this idea of this unit of mindfulness will fix this. If I am mindful, I will feel better. And so then I’m forcing it, then I’m grumpy because then I don’t feel better. And so it’s not really flowing it, you know, I started more from this like tense, anxious space. And so allowing when I’m walking, when I walk the kids to school, on the walk back, noticing the trees or the. The varying shades of green, different textures of green, you know, when I’m eating, I know it’s when you’re washing the dishes. And so those different moments that I do, and they are, they are moments I’m not sitting for 10 minutes of time. It’s, you know, maybe a minute here, two minutes there. But incorporating it throughout my day. Spencer, as you mentioned, how do my hands feel? Just mini kind of micro dosing. This mindfulness and these moments of gratitude, of feeling grateful for the gardeners in our community. Right. Beyond my possessions, grateful for what else is out there in the community outside of my home that I have found it is much more impactful as I microdosed it in moments of spaciousness. And then it’s a tool now that I can go to, you know, when I am feeling tense or anxious. But it was really hard to start from a tense and anxious space because I felt like I was trying to cram it in and it was there to solve a problem more than it was a way of being, if that makes sense. 

Spencer [00:23:38]:

Yes. You’re saying that sometimes it was helpful to start with things that were not so problematic. 

Mary Beth [00:23:44]:

Yes. Yes. 

Spencer [00:23:45]:

Don’t start with the most challenging thing. 

Mary Beth [00:23:47]:

Yeah, not like I’m feeling angry at my husband now. I should be very grateful for him and then just going to fix it. Right, that’s not going to work. Right? But if I go outside and start somewhere else. 

Spencer [00:23:55]:

You know, start to agreement with that. Yes. You know, it’s like we’re starting out here. If you’re just a beginning cyclist, don’t do it in New York City traffic on your first day. A little. In a little simpler situation. Yeah. When there’s something more neutral happening. Start this gratitude practice and just know there’s so much evidence around it. But also to keep checking in with yourself. And this is another way to shift it from being a to do list. Thing is, how do you feel before and afterwards? You know, after you appreciate the money you have or the friends you have or the house you have, how do you feel afterwards after doing that practice? And that will start to form a mind that folds into gratitude much more easily, especially in the more challenging moments. And you know, in those moments, sometimes the best you might be able to do, which is. Can be extraordinary, is to just say, I appreciate that I was able to just interrupt myself for a moment and notice how angry I am at this thing at work, for example, or at what happened today with my finances. I’m so upset about it and just acknowledging that and nothing needs to change. I’m just going to allow it to be right right now. Even that can produce wonders.

Neela [00:25:16]:

And that it doesn’t need to be fixed. 

Spencer [00:25:18]:

It doesn’t need to be fixed. That’s right. That’s right. Because often when we’re in that fix it mode, that’s when we often take the unwise action. Right. And sometimes just allowing things to be, allowing myself to feel, we’re also building up the quality of resilience, which is a beautiful quality to cultivate in the mind that we don’t have to get rid of a difficult feeling right away. We can be with it, which trains us to be with a business setback. You know, some people, and you’ve probably had this sense as CEOs, like, oh, something bad just happened. Therefore we should do X, Y, Z. We should terminate these three people. And maybe that’s wise. But maybe it’s this impulsive move because I don’t want to feel the discomfort of what’s happening right now. And maybe I shouldn’t sell my stocks in the downturn. It’s uncomfortable. Yes. And I’ll probably feel comfortable right after I sell my stocks, but in a month or two or three or whatever, when the market bounces back, it’s not going to feel so good. Right. So how do I cultivate this resilience? To be with something that feels challenging can be really helpful. For our mental health and for our finances. 

Neela [00:26:33]:

Right. 

Mary Beth [00:26:34]:

Yeah.

Neela [00:26:34]:

I think we all fantasize about a world where we don’t face challenges, where you’re like, if I can just have this thing, then my life will be easy and then I won’t face adversity. But that’s the human condition, is to have challenges and that the growth happens when we overcome those challenges or we sit through that discomfort and that I don’t know of a single person alive who doesn’t have any issues. Everybody’s got problems. That’s just what being human is. And so, like, there is no there there. You’re never going to, like, solve problems for good. 

Spencer [00:27:10]:

Wish you had told me that, you know, 30, 40 years ago. Neela. It’s so true what you’re saying. It’s so true. And every business leader, every one of us, every, you know, person who is dealing with their finances is going to benefit from the recognition of this inevitable ups and downs, that even if you’re lucky and your money keeps growing every single year, how you view your money is going to keep changing. And to recognize that is so freeing. Than to expect there to be no setbacks, no moments where you’re going to feel, oh, wow, yeah, I did make more money and I have all this extra money this year, but I’m actually not doing a good job with my money. It’s not really being used well. I mean, there’s always going to be even a setback in the way we see things. 

Neela [00:28:03]:

Yeah. 

Spencer [00:28:03]:

So that recognition, I feel is freedom, that we don’t overreact to the downturns like you’re saying. And we don’t fantasize that if, if only I could be like that other person. Right. Or if only I had taken that job, things would have been perfect. Yeah. So wise. I hope there’s some younger people hearing that on the show, too. 

Mary Beth [00:28:26]:

I’m listening to this on repeat. 

Spencer [00:28:28]:

Yes. 

Neela [00:28:29]:

Right. 

Mary Beth [00:28:31]:

So, Spencer, instead of doing our traditional closing questions, we were hoping that you could lead us in a five minute meditation around gratitude. 

Spencer [00:28:39]:

Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, that’s perfect. So, yeah, so we’ll just set this up. That the intention here, you know, I like letting go of expectations of anything major happening is, is a good sort of intention to go in with. And we’re going to do a practice around, as you say, gratitude around appreciating what’s already happening, what we already have. All right, so I’m going to invite you, if you’re comfortable, to close your eyes, because it just kind of tunes out all the visual distraction. And I think I’m going to close my eyes for most of this as well. And if you can have your feet flat on the floor, and as you close your eyes, you might become aware that this body is breathing itself. So even without us trying to do anything, the body, without any effort on our part, in fact, the body does even better with breathing when we just let the breath happen. It’s appreciating this inhale, this exhale, this oxygen flowing to all parts of the body, inviting this appreciation, this gratitude for the heartbeat. It’s a little more subtle. You might even sense this beating heart supplying the body, the brain, with blood. And then gratitude for. For this brain, this magnificent powerful mind that we have, this ability to be creative and see new perspectives, feeling the flavor, the physical quality of gratitude in the body. What’s it like as you’re appreciating this breath, this heartbeat, this brain? Maybe there’s a sense of relaxation as we’re moving from wanting to appreciating. Appreciating perhaps your greatest gift, your presence.

Spencer [00:31:53]:

As you’re sitting upright, sensing this magnificent presence that you have, feeling gratitude for your intelligence, your sense of humor, your friends and family and the. Even the money. You have the house, you have the food. Feel the body’s rhythm start to slow down, maybe the shoulders are starting to soften. And also be aware that as you’re doing this gratitude practice, somebody might be feeling grateful for you right now. And to let that in. And even if they’re not doing a specific practice, perhaps your friends, your children, your parents, your spouse, your partners are feeling grateful for you again, feeling your presence, this gratitude for your ability to breathe and think and respond with wisdom instead of reaction. As we close this meditation, we’re not closing down. This feeling of gratitude inside, you can keep that with you for the rest of the day. The sense of all that you have within, that’s independent of what happens in the rest of today. So keeping that all, sustaining that gratitude as you open your eyes. 

Mary Beth [00:34:57]:

Thank you, Spencer. That was powerful.

Spencer [00:34:59]:

Thank you. 

Neela [00:35:00]:

I’m going to keep coming back to this one. Yeah, that was great. 

Mary Beth [00:35:03]:

That’s really nice. Thank you for being here with us. We appreciate your time and your wisdom as always.

Spencer [00:35:10]:

Thank you both. It’s amazing, Amazing work you’re both doing. Love it. And may this spread to many, many people. May many people benefit from all the work that you’re doing. Thank you very much. I’m grateful for each of you. 

Mary Beth [00:35:24]:

Thank you. 

Neela [00:35:25]:

Thanks, Spencer. 

Neela [00:35:29]:

Thank you for listening to today’s episode of If Money Were Easy. If you’re looking for more information on how you can expand what’s possible with your money, head to abacuswealth.com that’s abacuswealth.com for more analysis and resources Created by our team. 

Neela [00:36:11]:

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