Home
>
Positive Attitude Tips
>
Mindfulness and Money: Monkeying Around

Mindfulness and Money: Monkeying Around

Kasia is a talented landscape designer who speaks several languages, and when she jokes about being a "Polish princess" it's because she actually has the pedigree to support that claim.

That's not why she's amazing. What's remarkable about Kasia is her ability to play with words in a creative way.

You don't have to speak five languages in order to play with words, but I'm guessing that playing with words is pretty helpful when you're trying to learn five languages! So, let's take a page from Kasia's multilingual notebook and see how she plays with one particular word in English.

The word? Money.

Now, Kasia could rattle off the appropriate word for "money" in more than five languages if asked, but what she focuses on is tweaking that word so that it loses whatever negativity, scariness, or other baggage it might have for her.

So, whenever she hears or says the word "money" she substitutes it in her own head with the word "monkeys"--and watches how that completely shifts the tone.

Think about it. What if whenever you said, "I don't have enough money for that" you instead said, "I don't have enough monkeys for that"?

Or how about this: "counting money" or "saving money" becomes "counting monkeys" or "saving monkeys" instead.

Suddenly, those retirement plans and college savings programs don't seem so scary. In fact, they start to sound kind of fun and interesting.

Now, I'm not saying you can give up on the concept of money altogether and just joke around about the idea of financial security.

No, no, no. I'm saying that you can use this quirky little mindfulness technique to help you lighten up about an area that may cause a great deal of stress or frustration for you.

Money can be a pretty malleable concept, and depending on how we were raised (and a whole bunch of other factors), we develop our own sense of its value, importance, purpose, and possibilities.

Substituting the word "monkey" for "money" allows us to become more aware of the number of times per day we hear, see, or say that word, and it helps us zero in on the physical and psychological responses we may have as it triggers our own particular reaction.

Listen as you and others say the following phrases:

"If only I had enough monkeys for that!"

"I'm saving my monkeys to buy _____."

"I need to make more monkeys."

"When I have enough monkeys, I'll live the life of my dreams."

"It seems like I'm constantly running out of monkeys."

"My husband and I are always fighting about monkeys."

and my personal favorite:

"Monkeys don't grow on trees, you know."

I once spent a winter studying primates at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. I stood outside in the snow for hours making little notes about the Japanese snow monkeys I was observing. I became quite attached to them by simply watching them interact with each other.

They had their grouchy days, just like humans, but overall, they were lighthearted and playful even in their old age. And their demeanor could shift dramatically when one of them would initiate play--suddenly, there was much chasing and chattering before they all settled down again for a group grooming session.

In other words, things were unpredictable, but even during chaotic moments, they seemed to recognize that soon enough, they'd be hunkered down together quite calmly.

Money can be like that. You try hard to control it, but whether you invest in the stock market, real estate, college tuition, or orthodontia, there are times when you wonder why you bother at all. Just when you think things are going smoothly, something comes along and zaps a huge chunk out of your bank account.

Start viewing money management as monkey management, and you'll begin to feel lighter about the whole process of saving and spending. There are benefits to controlling your finances, no doubt about it. But there are also advantages to seeing money as an unpredictable and even amusing character that sparks greater mindfulness and helps us see what matters most.

Try a little monkey mindfulness whenever you write checks or make a deposit. Picture them having a swingin' good time in your bank account, and grin a little even as they leave the compound.

There will be others climbing in soon enough.

Maya Talisman Frost has taught thousands of people how to pay attention, and her eyes-wide-open approach to mindfulness has been featured in over 100 print and web publications around the world. Through her company, Real-World Mindfulness Training, she offers ebooks, ecourses, playshops and private sessions to help people learn how to play with mindfulness. To read her free special report, "The Dirty Little Secret About Meditation" visit her website at http://www.real-worldmindfulness.com

home cleaning services Bannockburn ..

In The News:

Astronomers have discovered asteroid 2025 SC79, a skyscraper-sized space rock orbiting the sun in just 128 days. the second-fastest known.

The Fox News AI Newsletter delivers the latest developments form the world of artificial intelligence, including the technology's challenges and opportunities.

A cyberattack on SimonMed Imaging exposed personal information of 1.2 million patients, including medical records, financial details and identity papers.

Spotify's managed accounts for kids under 13 now available in at least seven countries, allowing parents to filter and block explicit content and songs.

Friendly text conversations about BBQs and social events can lead to WEEX gold trading scams that target older adults with fake investment opportunities.

California company Skyeports creates self-healing glass spheres from Moon regolith that generate solar power and support plant growth for sustainable lunar living.

Cleafy researchers discover fake VPN streaming app Mobdro Pro that installs Klopatra banking Trojan, giving attackers full control over Android devices.

Police departments across the U.S. and Canada are adopting virtual reality training to better prepare officers for high-pressure, real-world situations.

House Bill 469 would prevent AI systems from owning property, serving as executives, or gaining legal personhood in Ohio under Representative Thaddeus Claggett's proposal.

Public voter records expose retirees' personal details to election scammers who create targeted cons using names, addresses, and voting history data.

Instead of fearing what comes next with artificial intelligence, think outside the box. Here are high-earning AI jobs that don't require a computer science degree.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like "please" and "thank you" cost millions annually, while direct prompts may improve ChatGPT accuracy by several points.

Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.

New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.

Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

Survey of 1,000 students shows teens using AI for personal relationships while two-thirds of parents remain unaware of their children's AI usage.

Cybersecurity experts warn about a ShadowLeak vulnerability that weaponized ChatGPT's Deep Research agent to steal personal data from Gmail accounts through hidden commands.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving system faces federal investigation following 58 reports of crashes, with six vehicles running red lights before colliding with other cars.

The Fox News AI Newsletter brings you the latest developments on artificial intelligence, with news on OpenAI moving to soon allow erotica for adult users.

Eric Schmidt alerts that hackers can reverse-engineer AI models to bypass safety measures, citing examples like the jailbroken ChatGPT variant called DAN.

Cybercriminals exploit Microsoft Teams through impersonation, malicious links and fake profiles to gather intel and deliver ransomware to personal and work devices.

Google, Dior, Allianz and dozens of other companies lost sensitive customer data in Salesforce-related breaches affecting millions of records across multiple sectors.

Apple launches iOS 26 with new Preview app that combines document editing, PDF annotation and scanning features into one streamlined iPhone experience.

New AI road monitoring system uses sensor-embedded fabric to predict infrastructure problems, potentially reducing maintenance costs and traffic disruptions for cities.

Holiday charity scams target retirees through lookalike organization names, untraceable payment requests, and data broker information to steal donations.

Mindfulness and Money: Monkeying Around

Positive Attitude Tips