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Why does spending feel so good, and then so bad?

Sometimes the pleasure starts before you buy anything. You see it. You want it. You imagine having it. The anticipation itself can be enough to light up the brain.

The high is in the hunt.

Episode Eight is about what happens when spending becomes emotional. Why tapping a phone or swiping a card can disconnect us from the feeling of money leaving. How flash sales, social pressure, and the need to be seen can pull us into purchases we never planned to make. And one question that can tell you whether you’re buying something because it matters to you, or because you want somebody else to notice.

There’s also debt. The “buy now, pain later” effect. Why postponing the payment can make the real cost easier to ignore, and the difference between debt that helps move your life forward and debt that leaves you working harder just to stay in place.

Spending isn’t the problem. The question is what’s driving it.

This week’s practice begins before you tap. Four letters: HALT.

Join me next time for Episode Nine, Is It Better to Give Than to Receive?

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Reading Your Own Life With Swami Larry is written and hosted by Larry Lee. Season One is based on a manuscript written by Swami Larry with Faith Bleasdale.

New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

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