This post is part of a series of posts that begins with an introduction titled “Develop a New Relationship with Money”.  This is step 3 of a 5 part process to stimulate wealth and eliminate financial stress:

Step 3:  Replace negative thoughts attached to money: You won’t be able to enhance your financial picture if most of your thoughts and actions surrounding money are negative.  This concept is similar to understanding your programming (Step 2), but not as deeply ingrained and therefore, easier to “fix”.  I create flash card decks designed to clean up people’s thought processes - “Stop the BS that’s Blocking Your Confidence” has 40 of the most common limiting beliefs and behaviors that weaken us or set us up for failure, as well as suggested replacements for that obstructive belief or behavior.  ( BS stands for Belief System).  I am finishing up a 2nd deck that is specific to the mind-set concerning finances and is called “Stop the BS that’s Blocking Your Prosperity”.  (Check the website if you are interested in more information about either deck - www.landingbychoice.com/products.php).  The point is a belief system can make or break your ability to achieve success in life, so it’s important to determine what’s at the core of your belief system.

If you believe money is scarce, difficult to earn, hard to save or evil, you may find prosperity eludes you.  If you have attached your own negative requirements to money, you may also experience difficulty making money.  For example, somewhere along the line, I adopted a belief that without a college degree a person would struggle to bring in a decent income.  I didn’t have a college degree so my belief became my reality and money and was always difficult for me to make, therefore I greatly hindered my earning capacity with that belief.  Once I replaced that limiting belief with one that didn’t attach a qualifier to money, (”money comes to me just as easily with or without a degree”), I acquired money easily.

I use to think people who made a lot of money were greedy and self-centered and borderline evil.  I didn’t want to be greedy or evil, and since I had attached these attributes to money, I ultimately but unknowingly sabotaged my ability to be prosperous.

Another belief that I see in the majority of my clients is the belief that money is in short supply.  This is the belief that birthed my constant comparison of money to oxygen.  I ask my clients if while they are exhaling, they are internally stressing about whether there will be any oxygen for their next inhale.  “Of course not” they laugh.  Unless you are in the unfortunate position of being locked in an airtight room with a limited supply of oxygen you probably never walk around thinking about it.  Oxygen is just there!  I will tell audiences to shout out every principle they can think of that’s associated with breathing.  They shout, “It’s a no-brain-er! It just comes naturally! There is an endless supply!  I can take it for granted! I don’t have to think about it!  I don’t worry about it!  I expect it to be there!” And then I ask them if they can take every one of those principles and apply them to money.  It’s the same thing!  “Money comes naturally!  There is an endless supply! I don’t worry about it!  I expect it to be there!” Clients who begin to retrain their mind to believe this are the ones that experience prosperity on a whole new level.

If you were to leave this planet today and go live on another planet where the inhabitants believed that money was a limitless, abundant source that was always available, you would never stress about money.  You would just take for granted that it was there for you.  But if these same inhabitants believed that oxygen was in high demand and should be handled cautiously because it was scarce, difficult to obtain and “the source of all evil”, you would attach fear and lack to oxygen or you would constantly be counting your breaths!  Most likely you would land up with asthma, bronchitis or an oxygen tank to survive.  Why?  Like everything else, your focus becomes your reality. Monitor your current thoughts concerning money and see how many of them are attaching a limiting or negative factor to money, wealth and prosperity and then commit to changing your belief system!

Stay tuned for step 4 of 5!