Deepak Chopra on Changing Your Money Mindset

Finding Purpose

“I was brought up in a tradition where meaning and purpose came number one,” said Deepak Chopra, who probably needs no introduction. Dr. Chopra has sold millions of books, founded the Chopra Foundation, and serves as a clinical professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego.

“I give thanks to my mother, who said, ‘There are two goddesses. There’s the goddess of wealth and abundance, as there’s the goddess of wisdom. You should pursue the goddess of wisdom, and then the goddess of wealth will get jealous and she’ll pursue you,” Chopra said on SoFi’s YouTube series Richer Lives.

He summed up the moral of the story to Brian Walsh, SoFi’s Head of Advice and Planning, and financial literacy advocate Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF: “Don’t go directly after the money, go after the wisdom, the service, the value, and the money will come.”

Self-Awareness, Not Selfies

A SoFi survey found that 86% of employees feel stressed about their finances. That might not be the entire story, however, according to Chopra.

“When you ask people what they are stressed about, they say money,” he said. “But actually, if you go deeper, most people are stressed about relationships. They don’t have an ability to form nurturing relationships because they’re always trying to impress everybody else.”

Chopra would like to see more people focus on what’s important in their lives, such as nurturing their health and relationships, instead of comparing themselves to other people on social media.

“I see a lot of people buying stuff that they don’t need, with money that they haven’t earned, to impress people that they don’t like,” he said.

The Happiness Equation

“You will never have enough money to be happy,” Chopra said. “Money is not the secret to happiness.

How does one become happy? He broke it down with the “Happiness Equation,” which is H = S + C + V. H stands for happiness. C is for condition of living (essentially, the material conditions of your life). V stands for voluntary choices, whether we indulge in compulsive shopping, drinking too much, etc., which give us pleasure for a moment until the feeling quickly fades.

The most important factor in your happiness, he said, is S, or set point, which is your attitude toward life, no matter what your circumstances are.

“If your parents were constantly complaining, condemning, criticizing, and playing the victim, you will grow up to have an unhappy set point,” he said. “On the other hand, if your parents were always looking for opportunities, and saying good luck is opportunity meeting preparedness, then you’re always reframing adversities as challenges and as opportunities.”

Luckily, Chopra said, you can change your set point through mindfulness, self-inquiry, questioning your beliefs, and other methods.

Watch the full episode on SoFi’s YouTube channel!

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