For many of us, money is one of the biggest struggles in our lives. After all, it’s that energy that we use to trade for the vast majority of the things that we want and need in our everyday lives. But even though consciously, we all want more money in our lives, it’s a loaded word for most people. It’s important to know how to start fixing your relationship with money.
Subconsciously, we might believe that:
- Money is evil
- Or we’re not really worthy of financial abundance
- Or that people who make more money are manipulative
- And so many other beliefs that we might have no idea are in our heads
We have to dig into how we subconsciously feel about money. Because the veiled beliefs we have about it could be causing us to sabotage ourselves from allowing more into our lives. If you’re interested in some essential tips on how you can start fixing your relationship with money, keep reading:
Get Journaling
Our subconscious limiting beliefs, in general, are pretty hard to access off the top of our heads. And so many of us typically try hard to ignore our emotions and to not really tune in to how we feel about things.
But it’s so important to pay attention to the subtle feelings inside you when you’re confronted with money. Journaling is a great way to get to know yourself and your beliefs a lot better. So you can start writing on how you think you feel about money.
For many of us that don’t journal so much, it can feel pretty hard to start streaming out words that describe what we want to say. Many of us self-edit as we go, or we try to write what we think we should. That is not true. Instead, it should be your raw impulse. If you bother to scribble it down on paper, that means it’s a serious thought that should be considered. You may not know you feel that way until you see it, but you do. It’s why journaling is a great way to get a hold of your fears and desires.
When journaling, let go of misspelt words, the need to edit, or the need to conform to some societal image of how we think we need to be. Just do your best to get your thoughts out as they arise onto the page so you can look at them. Don’t worry about how neat your handwriting is either.
Make sure to push yourself to fill at least two or three pages, because sometimes it takes a bit longer to move past the surface and explore more in-depth issues.
Assess Your Beliefs
Now it’s time to reread your journal entry about how you feel about money. Does anything stick out to you? Are there any beliefs you wrote down that sound pretty negative or that you wish you didn’t have?
For example, if you think money is evil, dig deeper and figure out where it came from. Chances are, this belief isn’t from you, and it’s from somewhere in your conditioning.
You likely strive to be a good person. So if you subconsciously think money is evil, you might be repelling opportunities to make more. Of course, this is just one example, and you could feel completely different about money.
The important thing is to zero in on how you have personally come to see money, check where these negative beliefs came from, and work to change them.
Try Positive Affirmations
Once you’ve gotten really clear on the beliefs you don’t want to keep anymore, it’s time to get clear on what you do want. Maybe instead of maintaining the belief “money is evil”, you could change it to “the money I have allows me to help out my favourite charities”.
Go down the list of your negative beliefs, turning them into present tense affirmations that make you feel good. And then work to repeat them every day until it becomes your new subconscious belief system.
You can even record a voice memo on your phone where you read out your new affirmations and listen to it every day! Before you know it, you’ll start to feel way better about money.
See An Advisor
Despite how important money is in adult life, American education teaches essentially nothing about financial wellness. Ideally there would be days in school that teach about taxes and various savings accounts, but that information is kept out of the masses.
If you want to stop struggling and worrying about your money, you can always call an advisor. All of the most successful people are willing to talk about different strategies, as this isn’t really something you should do yourself. A specialist can review your situation, and offer a path towards long-term stability.
If you’ve been living paycheck to paycheck, that’s surely a huge factor in why you’re anxious about money. Even if you have a decent paying job, that could easily change down the line. Instead, when you’re in a peak, you should invest and save for your valleys. A rainy day is always going to happen at some point, it could be next Tuesday or next decade. And when that happens, you’ll feel much better with a plan.
All in all, there’s no reason why we should feel so uncomfortable with money. If anything, that’s just a scam to keep us away from it. The reality is, money is just a part of life, no different from food or gasoline. If those aren’t taboo, how come money is?
If we change our mindset regarding money, surely its place in society will too. It is not something you deserve to have or not have. Nor is it something you shouldn’t discuss or think about. All in all, you should relax, put your ego in the backseat, and work smarter rather than harder. The rest will come faster than you’d expect.
If you’d love some more money-related information, also check out 4 Money Moves to Make Right Now.
