“Dusking” is the old Dutch ritual of observing the coming of night.
Though originally practised by farmers who would sit and wait for dusk before eating dinner by candlelight, the practice is having a revival in Europe. Today, many celebrate dusking as a way to disconnect from screens and find a sense of peace.
But the benefits of dusking don’t stop at personal wellbeing – this mindfulness practice can also improve your financial planning.
Lead with calmness
Dusking allows you to regain a sense of calm, especially after a frenetic, screen-loaded day.
In a Guardian article, Marjolijn van Heemstra, the Dutch poet and a major proponent of dusking, stated that “people miss darkness, even if they don’t know it. On my night walks, people are amazed at how calm they feel”.
By restoring calm, dusking allows you to regain your connection to the natural rhythm of the world, rather than the pace that has been artificially constructed in your working life.
Similarly, approaching your financial planning with calmness can benefit your wealth, helping you to avoid making rushed decisions like panic-selling investments in the face of market volatility.
Rather than being reactive, remember that volatility is a natural part of investing, and markets are historically known to recover. This can help prevent you from locking in your losses because, provided you stay calm and hold your investments, your wealth could recover with the markets.
Remain focused and pay attention
Dusking involves paying close attention to something that you might typically dismiss: the coming of night.
Rather than simply noticing the arrival of night, dusking involves immersing yourself in the space around you and seeing how it changes under a darkening sky.
This same focus can also be applied to your financial plan.
If you stay focused and stick to your plan diligently, you are more likely to reach your objectives in later life. Conversely, losing sight of your objectives can take your plan in the wrong direction.
Similarly, dusking also teaches the importance of paying attention; the practice involves staring at a fixed object and perceiving how it changes over time, like a tree disappearing into the night.
According to the Independent, our attention spans have shortened to a mere 47 seconds due to modern content-consuming culture. Dusking teaches you to break away from artificial distractions and pay attention to what’s around you.
If you apply this attentiveness to your financial planning, you’re more likely to spot obstacles early on and find ways to circumvent them, like using lifetime gifting to enhance your estate’s tax efficiency.
Create breathing space
The dusking revival has largely come about as a way to disconnect from the screens and content that dominate much of our day-to-day lives.
Rather than spending the evening staring at your phone, you can use dusking to leave technological distractions behind and connect more concretely with reality.
Creating space between you and your phone helps you to stop giving too much of your time and attention to it. The same applies to financial planning.
You can build up stress by spending too much time micromanaging your financial plan and agonising over specific details.
If this behaviour continues for too long, you might start associating your financial plan with anxiety, even though it is designed to help you lead a happy life.
Likewise, if you give in too much to the idea of perfection with your finances, you might be more likely to panic when market volatility or other factors threaten the stability of your wealth. This apprehension could lead to mistakes and knee-jerk reactions that harm your plan in the long term.
Like dusking and technology, it’s important to create a healthy amount of space between you and your financial plan. Rather than fussing over details, you can automate your savings, investments, and retirement plans. As a result, you continue to build wealth in the background, and your financial plan won’t cause you any unnecessary stress.
Reframe your relationship with the dark (and financial planning)
Alongside mindfulness practices, dusking allows you to reshape your relationship with the dark.
Common associations with fear, mystery, and the unknown can cause many to avoid spending time outside at night.
Instead, dusking embraces darkness.
Likewise, if you typically avoid financial planning, you can instead take the opportunity to rewire your relationship with it using good habits. Take the aforementioned mindfulness practices into account by leading with calmness and focus.
Reframing your relationship with financial planning can allow you to take control of your wealth and give you the opportunity to achieve more from it.
Get in touch
If you’d like professional help establishing healthy financial planning practices, consider reaching out to your Milsted Langdon financial planner today.
Please get in touch or email us at advice@mlifa.co.uk for more information.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.