Money Energy Law #8:
Sleep is your friend. Quality sleep will give you the resilience to deal with financial stress.
In my last blog post about Law #7, we talked about how money never sleeps. That may be good for money, but it’s not good for you. There’s an inverse relationship between quality of sleep and coping with financial stress. I was reminded recently that stress is not just about the dollars, or how much you have or don’t have. It’s about feelings that feed a sense of lack of control that impact your ability to generate money. Often these thoughts about the uncertainty of money can keep us awake at night.
When your worries over money prevent you from sleeping, that’s “financial insomnia”; it’s not good. Sometimes that stress is from short-term or fleeting concerns about a financial decision, such as a choice made when deciding between competing products and services—and hoping it’s the right one. But the most worrying financial insomnia is the one that leads to prolonged mental stress, which may become potentially harmful to your physical well-being.
It takes consciousness and a desire to change.
Regardless of what creates unsettling images and fears of your financial future, I believe it requires a proactive approach to overcome the behavioral risks that influence your Money Energy potential. That’s because these emotions are not just associated with money, these same behaviors influence all your life energies.
So, what can you do when your sleep is affected by uncomfortable thoughts about financial well-being? The best place to start is thinking positively about yourself, your identity, your achievements, and the experiences you are looking forward to. This includes positive thoughts and perspectives about money and your aspirations. That may be easier said than done, so perhaps just think about what you have accomplished, starting with your ability to manage expenses and having the finances to achieve your short-term goals and your aspirations to achieve a lifestyle-sustaining retirement income down the road. The more you build a positive relationship with money, the more your quality of life and mental health (and therefore physical health) will improve.
Avoiding Long-term Financial Insomnia
I mentioned earlier the old proverb, “money never sleeps,” which is generally understood to mean that your investments are potentially earning a return on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis. But consider this, the proverb has a broader meaning. The idea that our minds shut down during sleep is now the subject of many scientific studies. In reality, some areas of our mind become less active, while others become more active during the night.
Research published in Current Biology reveals that complex stimuli continue to be processed while sleeping, similarly to when awake.1 But what does that mean in terms of those thoughts about our financial well-being? During our sleeping hours, all those anxieties or fears associated with the uncertainty associated with money are being processed in your brain while you lay in bed.
The Impact Within a Working Organization
I’d like to introduce you to Robert Davies. He is a consultant who specializes in working with groups of executives responsible for the management of the company finances of their respective organizations. Robert is an Initiator; he prefers to take the lead and set the agenda. He is visionary and strategic. He speaks candidly with his clients and related to me a recent experience with a group of executives, all of whom presented as though they were burnt out.
Recently, he held a session with a group of finance executives and began by asking the following: “What tend to be your last thoughts before sleep?”
What follows are a summary of their responses:
Going through the issues of the day
Remembering invoices that need to be paid
Planning a financial presentation for the next day
Reliving a challenging budget or financial management conflict
Wishing not to have agreed to a business finance commitment
Checking the budget submitted to the board to see if it still holds up
When asked a slightly different question, “On a personal level, when do you check in with your investments? “—the response was unanimous and interesting. All agreed in unison that they checked their investments “every morning and again as the last activity at night.”
Earlier, the group had discussed how financial concerns inevitably can’t be shut off, and so the next question Robert asked was: “Do you have a routine to relax your mind before sleep?”
I listen to a meditation app.
I read a book.
I catch up on social media.
I plan my next day.
I have a relaxing beverage.
I share my to-do list with my partner.
It’s interesting how, even though the money was not their own, the financial well-being of their employer was on their minds before heading off to sleep. This is known as a self-sacrifice bias—and as it sounds, that’s the tendency of prioritizing other’s interests and well-being over your own interests. And they all found personal coping mechanisms to help them before retiring for the evening to distract their minds from the business issues. This goes to show how Money Energy influences many parts of our lives both personally and professionally, and the responsibility of the money we manage has its own energy. Replaying our workday and the business decisions associated with money can equally disrupt your sleep quality.
After pondering this story, I discussed the scenario with a few friends, who I value as subject matter experts in the way of people management, to learn how they tackle financial insomnia. Interestingly, they all knew of it and suffered from it as well from time to time. I was then provided this phrase: early to bed, early to rise—then run, swim, or meditate. When you become well-versed in Money Energy and its influence over the body, you learn how the flow and thoughts of money are intertwined in our overall life energy and activities, including sleep.
I consider them part of the Money Energy Community because they know it’s real, weave it into their topics of discussion, and help introduce the concept to others who suffer from financial insomnia. Perhaps that’s another underlying learning lesson. We do not have to remain in an unconscious state of mind about money forever. The impact of self-knowledge about Money Energy can change the course of life, destiny, and generations.
If you or someone you know is experiencing sleep deprivation resulting from financial concerns, there are a few basic actions you can take. First and foremost, be aware of the value that sleep has in our waking lives and make it a priority. Be disciplined and schedule it. But above all else, take time to understand the root causes of what keeps you awake at night; you’ll be surprised to find that much of your insomnia is deeply rooted in decisions made or to be made where money is involved.
So, tonight I hope you experience positive Money Energy…and sweet dreams!
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1Source: The Sleeping Brain, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214009944