Money problems, at their root, are always mindset problems. The greatest financial obstacle we face is our lack of awareness of the impact of our thoughts on the results we have in life. This is something that most of us have not been taught. Instead, we learned to hold on to limiting beliefs and sabotage ourselves unconsciously.
Maybe you think your problem is that you do not have enough money, or earn enough money, or whatever may be true for you. The reality is that money is an abstraction. Money isn’t really something you can “have” but it is something you can have a relationship with. People try to manage their money and fail miserably, but what they don’t realise is that you shouldn’t try to manage money, you should learn to manage yourself.
Maybe you think you have no control over your financial situation. Maybe you say to yourself the reason why your financial situation is unsatisfactory is because of the poor economy, or tax laws, or poor job opportunities… It is true that all of these elements play a role in our financial situation. But in order to improve a situation, you need to focus on what you can control.
You are in the driver's seat
Once you realise that your results are dependent on your input, you will realise how much power you really have. Pretending that you create your own results can empower you and evoke some really useful questions that would lead to further growth and problem solving type of thinking. The quality of the answers you get, depend on the quality of the questions you ask. Many people, often without even realising it, ask themselves questions like: why can’t I earn more money? Or, why can’t I have a better life? These questions are honest and a true reflection of how many people feel. But asking these questions will only make you feel worse and it won’t solve any of your problems. On the other hand, asking questions such as: how can I earn more money? or how can I have a better life? will open your eyes to the possibilities of how you can improve your situation. Taking responsibility for your results doesn’t mean you are to blame for anything. It means you are the only person who can change it.
What are limiting beliefs?
Limiting beliefs are ideas that we form about the world and about what is true. These ideas are formed when a child is still very young and impressionable. As a young child you didn’t reason about the validity or usefulness of these ideas, you just accepted them. There are many prevailing ideas or beliefs about money. Money is the root of all evil (this passage has been misquoted for centuries all over the world), it’s difficult to make money, rich people are unkind/arrogant/selfish, in order to make money you have to neglect your family, rich people become rich by the luck of the draw, and the list goes on and on. Which of these beliefs are true for you?
Without you realising it, you nervous system is constantly bombarded with massive amounts of information. Because we can only process a fraction of the information, we have filters installed to help us filter out the unnecessary bits and retain only that which we need. This filtering process works 100% all of the time. The filters that are installed, however, aren’t chosen consciously and therefore may work against your goals and desires. The good news is those filters can easily be changed to be aligned with your ultimate goals.
Whatever you believe to be true about money, will be true for you.
In some ways your mind works like a computer. A limiting belief is something you decided to be true, for example that money is the root of all evil. Without questioning it or reasoning the validity of the statement, you accepted it to be true in all situations all of the time. That is a limiting belief and it functions as a filter. (There are different levels of filters, you will be fully aware of some of your beliefs, and there will also be some that you are not at all aware of.) It may cause you to overlook obvious opportunities and possibilities. Realising you have a limiting belief and deciding to change your way of thinking, is the first step in the process. However, the limiting belief will stay active in your subconscious mind, almost like a virus on your computer. Knowing it’s there, didn’t cause it to disappear. It is still there and it will keep on running, until it has been deactivated at the subconscious level.
It's easy to change this around
In some ways your mind works like a computer. A limiting belief is something you decided to be true, for example that money is the root of all evil. Without questioning it or reasoning the validity of the statement, you accepted it to be true in all situations all of the time. That is a limiting belief and it functions as a filter. (There are different levels of filters, you will be fully aware of some of your beliefs, and there will also be some that you are not at all aware of.) It may cause you to overlook obvious opportunities and possibilities. Realising you have a limiting belief and deciding to change your way of thinking, is the first step in the process. However, the limiting belief will stay active in your subconscious mind, almost like a virus on your computer. Knowing it’s there, didn’t cause it to disappear. It is still there and it will keep on running, until it has been deactivated at the subconscious level.
