Some people attempt to repair their sense of self-worth by purchasing luxury items when their egos are threatened because they performed a task poorly or because they were told that they’re not as good as they hoped (or expected). And worse, they’re more likely to use credit cards to pay for these self-indulgences.

Since various studies have established that parting with cash can actually be psychologically painful, one study investigated whether people might be more likely to use a credit card when feeling badly about themselves (Pettit & Sivanathan, 2010).

Someone wronged you. You feel hurt, bruised, and totally justified to hold onto anger. You’ve been treated with disrespect, ripped off, cheated, stepped on. You’re normal to crave justice.

There is a myriad of reasons we can feel wronged, some big and others small. It can be especially difficult to let go of anger if someone has hurt someone we love or someone unable to defend themselves. Whatever the reason, unforgiveness can feel like a gaping wound, a cut that won’t heal. When we wake up, we think about it. When we lay our heads on our pillows at night, we think about it. When happy moments present themselves, our happiness is tainted with anger, hurt, angst. Our anger may feel inescapable.

Have you been there? Most of us can relate to this feeling. But unfortunately, it punishes us more than it punishes the perpetrator. What we want our angst to accomplish is futile and we end up hurting ourselves.

What do people most regret at the end of life? Either not spending enough time with family and friends or spending too much time on inconsequential things. What it all boils down to is not protecting their life’s greatest asset— what they direct their attention to.

Sahaja is all about attention and attentional control. It’s the lifeblood of your existence. Our consciousness manifests as the power of our attention. And our attention gets subtler and begins to focus on better and higher things soon as we perceive any journey of self-improvement, let alone Sahaja meditation.

In our daily lives, the misfortunes of others may trigger feelings of compassion, but we may not always act on them. We pass a beggar on the street without stopping to give him money. We avoid stopping to help a stranded motorist. Perhaps we’re in a hurry, perhaps we’re too focused on our own troubles, or perhaps we simply don’t want to engage with these individuals.

Whatever the excuse, we walk on, assuming that suppressing our compassion won’t cost us anything. But one recent study shows quite the opposite. Researchers found that after people suppress compassionate feelings, they lose a bit of their personal commitment to morality (Cameron & Payne, 2012).

We shop around for many things in our lives – cars, homes, clothes – pretty much everything we need.

And shopping is often a combination of things. It’s about looking at various options, many times trying each option out, deciding if the price justifies the value and so on. Sometimes shopping is driven by social status, peer pressure or suggestions and at other times, it is just plainly impulsive. For many, shopping is a pastime and active part of enjoying their lives.

Unfortunately, meditation doesn’t lend itself all that well to a typical shopping experience. Unlike other shopping experiences, we don’t benefit by shopping around and trying out multiple different techniques. Something like Sahaja meditation is very deep. With any technique, you need patience, perseverance of several weeks – sometimes even months – before you can explore the full benefits.

Here’s why we may feel the need to shop, but shouldn’t.