This post is a series of posts that begins with an introduction titled “Develop a New Relationship with Money”.  This is step 4 of a 5 part process to stimulate wealth and eliminate financial stress:

Step 4:  Beware of “Lack-Triggers”: You won’t be able to enhance your financial picture if you over expose yourself to lack-triggers.  “Lack-triggers” is my term for any person, place or thing that takes your focus off prosperity and places it on lack.  Lack-triggers produce small doses of fear that chip away at your joy and cause you to start doubting your prosperity birthright!  Believe me; you know when you are exposed to lack-triggers, because there is no mistaking the feeling.  You’ll notice a dip in your mood.  You’ll sense the tension in your body.  You’ll feel the rain on your parade!  I’ll paint a picture for you of some of the lack-triggers you probably expose yourself to daily.  The following is an excerpt of a book I’m in the midst of writing:

“Each morning you start the day with a cup of coffee and a batch of local TV news reporters who anxiously fill you in on “the failing economy, latest unemployment statistics, housing market decline, plummeting stock market”, and other calamities involving the dollar.  You reach outside to grab your morning paper.  Front page headline reads, “Buckle up your wallet, gas prices up 82 cents per gallon just in time for the holidays”.  You get in your car and turn on your radio on the way to the office.  What a surprise - more “good” news!  (Okay, I’m being sarcastic).  How do you think these lack-triggers affect your peace of mind?  How do they alter your belief system?  If you think it has no affect, as your co-workers!  You’ll probably find them in the coffee room or around the water-cooler complaining about what they just paid at the pump; or trying to top each other by comparing their electric bills.  Still think it doesn’t affect you?  Don’t worry, you’ll get more opportunities to find out when you go to the gym, the golf course, the hair salon, the waiting room at the doctor’s office, and even your cousin’s baby shower!

The fact is lack-triggers are everywhere and while I’m not suggesting that you should barricade yourself in your home with no TV, radio or people contact, I am recommending you become aware of all the lack-triggers in your life and monitor the affect it has on you.  Do you get physical sensations like a pit in the stomach, lump in the throat, bouncing knee, grinding teeth, and crimp in your neck?  Do you sense emotional changes?  Do you get irritable or depressed?  Feel less like going out to that new Sushi restaurant for dinner?  Feel less motivated to shop for that new plasma TV?  Do you start counting your pennies and reevaluate your spending decisions by discontinuing certain services you’ve been use to?  Do you ditch the cleaning woman and start coloring your own hair?

Understanding the incredibly ill affect that lack-triggers can have on you and your prosperity is the biggest step!  So congratulate yourself for becoming aware of them.  The rest is easy!  Decide which triggers you can minimize or eliminate completely.  I rarely watch the news.  My friends know that the only thing I like about the local 6:00 AM news is “Baby’s First Birthday!”  The rest of the TV news goes unheard in my house.  I select the news I want through scanning the newspaper and internet.  That way I don’t have to “hear” sensationalistic facts that go against my healthy belief system.  If I’m in places that insist on blasting their TV’s (like doctors offices, hair salons, pizza parlors), I either take a “feel good” book to read or an IPod of my favorite music or an inspirational audio book.  These are simple steps that make a big overall difference in protecting a prosperity mind-set.

When lack-triggers are in the form of people, like co-workers, neighbors or even family members, determine how much contact is healthy for you and make adjustments!  Certain people will always be part of your life but if you find their conversations begin to conjure up images of “lack”, don’t allow yourself to get involved!  Listen, smile and nod if you must, but don’t engage in the conversation!  The worst think you can do to your prosperity-conscious mind is to contribute to the quagmire of despair by adding your own complaints or topping someone else’s experience! This behavior promotes a prosperity blockage!  Protect yourself!  Your wallet is counting on you!

You will find in time, while the majority is complaining about the economy, you will remain completely unaffected, letting the whole conversation (or the latest news) just roll off your back without a care in the world.  That is when you know you have overcome a lack-consciousness.  I have trained my belief system to tune out news commentaries involving a harsh economy as well as any negative remarks or complaint-sessions with friends, family or business associates.  I may subtly offer my philosophy about prosperity, but I never engage in the drama or get pulled into an argument involving “bad economy” or lack.  I shield myself from the low energy of the conversation so it doesn’t linger with me. And that way it doesn’t hamper my outlook or make me want to change any of my plans or goals”.

A final thought about lack-triggers:  You may find that even the most positive, abundant, caring people can still set off your internal alarm (”Lack-trigger! Lack-trigger!”), and fill you with fear!  Especially financial or business consultants.  Yes- some of the best, most successful and well known financial advisors can lend information that startles or triggers an emotional response that changes your prosperity-conscious thinking to lack-conscious thinking.  If you sense the internal alarm, shield yourself and remember your birthright!

Stay tuned for Step 5 of 5!

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!

This post is part of a series of posts that begins with an introduction titled “Develop a New Relationship with Money”, followed by “Mastering Money from the Inside Out - Step 1 of 5?

Step 2 - Understand your current money programming: You won’t be able to enhance your financial picture if you don’t exhume some deep-seated subconscious programming or learned behavior that surrounds money.  Just like you were taught you have to “earn money”, you may have been exposed to lots of other negative programming that got lodged in your subconscious without your permission.  If you apply a whole list of positive affirmations concerning money (”money comes to me easily”) and yet nothing ever changes, I encourage you to look deeper and unearth everything you’ve witnessed in your life that left a negative feeling associated with money.  Journaling can expedite this process.

Consider this example:  A small child we will call Gwen, grows up in a house were the subject of money is a constant source of concern and arguing.  Bill paying day was the worst day of the month in Gwen’s house.  Her mohter worried about money obsessively and her father, in an effort to save her mother from unnecessary worry, didn’t talk about his money issues.  At one point, he was so deep in debt that there were bill collectors coming to the door.  Gwen’s mother was mortified and now developed a sense of mistrust.  The arguing got worse.

Having witnessed this type of experience throughout her childhood, Gwen was programmed to believe that money was a source of arguments, money caused mistrust, money caused marital problems, paying bills was stressful, and bill collectors are unreasonable and untrustworthy and downright scary!  When Gwen became an adult, bill paying day was the worst day of the month in her house too!  She hated that scene when she was a child, yet here it was being repeated in her own marriage, as she and her husband fought and stressed over the bills.  Gwen’s marriage eventually ends and she is back on her own.  She lands a fantastic job, making a lot of money so paying bills shouldn’t have fel stressful at all, and yet she always noticed this uncomfortable pit in her stomach on “bill paying day” no matter how large her bank account was.  She became irritable and intimidated when having to call vendors to discuss a bill (like her cable provider or credit card company); always suspecting they would try to scam her or cheat her or just treat her badly.

One day she had an “ah-ha” moment and realized that her relationship with money didn’t have to be stressful or scary.  She decided to reprogram the way she related to money.  The more relaxed, trusting and appreciative she became in regards to taking in and sending out money, the more money she seemed to attract and save.  Now she looks at her bills differently.  She tanks the electric bill when it comes; thrilled that she pays such a small price to have this modern convenience.  Through gratitude, she is rewarded with more income in a variety of ways (some that defy all reasoning).

When she has to call on a vendor, she envisions that the customer service rep on the other side of the call is completely on her side and looking out for her best interest.  And because she has reprogrammed her mind to believe that she will only receive the very best service at the very best price - that has become her reality.  Amazingly, she receives many discounts, credits and free services as a result of this thinking.  And she has even made friends out of some local utility company customer service reps.  Reprogramming…it’s worth your time and can make a huge difference in your capacity to experience prosperity.

Stay tuned for Step 3 in the next post!

My goal is to help you remember the key to financial freedom and release your number one blockage to money - fear of lack.  I say remember, because the fact is, prosperity is actually your birthright! If you were born and you are constantly struggling with financial issues, you have simply forgotten your birthright!  (For that matter, don’t forget that breathing is also a birthright, or you’ll be in sad shape!)

Prosperity is your birthright.  You have an innate knowledge of that, but you’ve forgotten.  If you think I’m off my rocker, give me a chance before you hit delete and let me tell you how my life changed once I remembered that prosperity was my birthright.