Part of being an underearner is being hesitant of dealing with money and the finances. Many underearners have a fear of money and everything that comes with it. They conjure up elaborate pictures of everything that can go wrong with money and then wait for it to happen.

One of the amazing things in life is that when we focus on something we end up going there (see my blog “Keep Your Eyes On Where You Want To Go”). What we focus on is what our mind will see. For example if you are thinking of buying a red Ford Taurus then you will start seeing all the red Taurus’ that are out there. We automatically look for all the examples that support our thoughts, be it an opinion or desire.

Now, if we bring that back to money and how this affects us, we see all the stereotypes and stories that support our beliefs about money and people with or without money. This even happens when we have excellent examples of the opposite (see my blog “What Do Our Role Models Tell Us About Money?”).

A friend of mine had this stereotype of women with money being cold, selfish and alone. She would talk about that one minute and then the next minute she would start talking about a friend who has a lot of money, takes care of herself, goes on vacations and donates money to causes that she is passionate about. She described her as friendly and warm, and an overall wonderful person. Still, even with this great example so close to her, she believed that having money would make her a cold, rigid and basically bad person.

She was so terrified of this image that she wouldn’t even dare start focusing on where the money was coming from or where it went because it might affect how she enjoyed life in a negative way. In the mean time she spent her time agonizing over money. “Do I have enough to cover what I spent this morning, will there be …” and so on. Often she didn’t have enough in her accounts and would pay penalty fees. When that happened she would frantically try to come up with some money, which she usually accomplished. It wasn’t unusual for her to find a check in her unopened mail.

One day I asked her to tally up what she had been paying in financial fees in one month. A quick look yielded hundreds of dollars. Just the financial fees from her recklessness would have paid for the cleaning services she had constantly been talking about and complained that she couldn’t afford. What was even more interesting was that she could even afford it by just cutting her visits to the coffee shop by half. Her justification for the coffee expense was that she was so stressed and tiered all the time. What do you think was the reason for her stress and exhaustion? MONEY.

My friend was so stuck on this way of thinking that she believed that she did not have enough money and never would. And we cannot forget that, according to her, anybody with money has to be bad and that the money is what makes them bad. As should be obvious by now, her beliefs about money was holding her back big time. Not only financially, but it was also holding her in a state of fear and uncertainty. She could not allow herself to become what all her friends knew she could be, talented and successful. Instead she had made up this story that she couldn’t succeed and she worked hard on living up to it.

What would happen if she would throw out all the old beliefs about money and become fully what she is, become her authentic self? Well, our talk about the financial fees and coffee gave her an epiphany that caused her to change her beliefs and her life changed forever. With the old negative beliefs gone she filled her mind with positive beliefs and thoughts about money, and she lived up to that new story. Became her true self.

Think about how her life is now that she sees money as something that can make people wonderful and caring human beings. Still this is not easy. It is a major transformation to start seeing money in this positive light, that it can make people loving and caring. But as soon as you start the transformation the stress and worries in your life will start to vanish.

Which life would you like to live: a life of stress and worry or a Life of Abundance?

Love and peace,

ElinAnna

I thoroughly believe that when the sun is shining it is going to be a wonderful day. Of course it is going to be a wonderful day. How can anything else happen? When I go back in my mind all my memories support that belief. This is what I have chosen to believe. What is my belief around money?

When the recession struck us last fall I took both smart and not at all smart decisions regarding money. I could have decided to take on an old belief that I am no good with money or I could have taken on another belief that I am good with money.

The old belief is the one that keeps me small and in fear of the world I don’t know. It is not keeping me in the light, but rather in the dark without any hope to get out. While the other belief tells me that I can take care of my money. It says who I am in essence. I either know or can find out what to do because I am good with money. Which of these two beliefs is going to serve me better in the long run? Which one will make me feel better and stronger?

I made a choice to believe I am good with money. The world is now going through a financial roller coaster. I am not responsible for that, but I am responsible for my own life, to do the best I can and enjoy life. With this choice I stand in the light and stand strong.

As I have talked about in a previous blog (Who Said That You Are No Good With Money?) many of our beliefs were handed down to us from our parents and surroundings. In general everybody wanted the best for us. They handed us their own beliefs. One can hardly expect them to do anything else. How could they hand down beliefs they didn’t have or know about? It is our own responsibility, as we become adults, to decide if these beliefs, that we were given, serve us or not. We can choose something different.

It is from our beliefs that we act and it is our choice. We will make choices based on these beliefs whether we know it or not. Therefore it is important to choose beliefs that serve us, and helps us stand in the light. With these choices we choose to live a life of abundance.

Love and peace,

ElinAnna

For most of us it were our parents, family, friends and society.  When we are young we are trying to find out who we are and what roles we are supposed to play.  What we are told we take as truths.  We do not question it.  As we get older we live according to these beliefs and internalize them.  We see all the signs that prove that they are true and discharge signs that prove otherwise.

What would happen if we would question the belief that we are not good with money and create a new one?  How would a new belief that said we are good with money play out?  How about collecting all the evidence that support that belief and discharge everything else?

This is an important step towards living a life of abundance.

Love and peace,

ElinAnna