Transforming our beliefs about money

Thanks to Gustavo for this great path photo from Argentina!

How do you feel about money? Is it an issue for you? Do you feel like you’ve never got enough? Like you need some more, and you just can’t figure out how to get it?

Let’s go back to the first question: how do you feel about money? Would any of the following statements apply to you? While reading through the list, if you think of other statements that apply to your beliefs about money, make note of them.

• Money is limited.
• Time is money.
• The love of money is the root of all evil.
• I never have enough money.
• Having money gives you more options.
• If I had more money, I would be more generous with it.
• Money doesn’t make you happy.
• Money can’t buy happiness.
• People who don’t want money don’t have a healthy relationship with it.
• People who want money are superficial.
• There are more important things in life than money.
• Money isn’t everything.
• Money doesn’t grow on trees.
• Money can only be earned through hard work.
• It will take me years to save enough money to buy XYZ.

These can all be defined as limiting beliefs, or ideas that hold you back from something. Think about the statements that you identified with, as well as the ones you wrote down on your own. How do you feel about your beliefs on money?

Some people have negative associations to having more money than they need. These beliefs may have come from parents, family members, teachers, friends, or other people in their lives. We may act on these beliefs as if they were true, when in fact they are just beliefs.

Have you heard the statement that money is energy? Actually, everything is energy in some form or another, so it’s not surprising that money is also considered energy. How would it be if you took your list of beliefs about money and replaced the word “money” with the word “energy”?

So that means we’ve got:

• Money Energy is limited.
• Time is money energy.
• The love of money energy is the root of all evil.
• I never have enough money energy.
• Having money energy gives you more options.
• If I had more money energy, I would be more generous with it.
• Money Energy doesn’t make you happy.
• Money Energy can’t buy happiness.
• People who don’t want money energy don’t have a healthy relationship with it.
• People who want money energy are superficial.
• There are more important things in life than money energy.
• Money Energy isn’t everything.
• Money Energy doesn’t grow on trees.
• Money Energy can only be earned through hard work.
• It will take me years to save enough money energy to buy XYZ. (insert whatever it is you’re saving for)

How do your statements sound now? Different? Better? You may find that the “positive” ones make more sense, and the “negative” ones just sound silly. And money, in and of itself, is not “positive” or “negative.” It’s neutral. It all depends on what we make of it and how we use it.

Think about this: money is not real. The metal coins and paper bills that we carry around every day are no longer backed by a gold reserve. Money has value only because people accept it as payment for goods and services on the expectation that others will do the same. Considering this fact, the statement that money is energy takes on more significance.

And because money is energy and is not backed by gold reserves, if you have more money that doesn’t mean there’s less available for everyone else. There’s no fixed amount of money on our planet.

So if you want more, and want to let go of limiting beliefs you may hold about it, consider adopting wealth consciousness as part of your life. By no means am I an expert in this area, so I’m including a couple of suggestions below.

Law of Attraction fans may enjoy the Million Dollar Experiment, whose goal is to attempt to use the power of intention to manifest $1 million (that’s USD, and of course you can use whichever currency you prefer) for everyone who participates. Participation in the experiment involves making the following intention: “In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.” Check out the link above if you’re interested.

A useful book on the topic of wealth consciousness is A Happy Pocket Full Of Money. Personally, I find setting goals and taking action to be the most useful method of achieving what I want in life. I also believe in increasing awareness, and I think the Law of Attraction has assisted a lot of people in becoming more conscious of their thoughts and intentions. I have found this book to be very useful in challenging my own limiting beliefs about money.

Just to clarify, financial wellness is just one part of my nine areas of wellness. Since I hadn’t touched on this particular area, I decided it was time to get started. It’s an area that I personally like to explore on a regular basis.

What beliefs do you have about money? What beliefs would you like to change? How do you plan to go about changing them?