Whenever I work with people who have a tremendous amount of unmanageable debt and/or money issues it seems that their emotional state of being and self esteem are commensurate with their money problems. I anecdotally observe that the more debt a person has, the lower their self esteem seems to be.  The question I pose is “Which came first…the debt or the self esteem problem?” One might at first glance think it is the debt and the money worry that are causing the negative self talk and self esteem descent. But really I believe it is the emotional issues that come first that then create the fertile soil for having an unconscious or dysfunctional relationship with money.  This evolves into having no awareness whatsoever of what they spend, not having any respect or responsibility for money or not getting paid enough for what they do or using spending as a way to feel better about themselves.

Every repetitive thought or belief has a corresponding neural pathway that in turn affects our emotions which then affects our whole being’s energy and vibration. It is evidenced through science that all things have a vibration frequency that is measurable. For example even the chair that you sit on and all things including your thoughts emit a vibration.  Science has brought to light the ability to measure the different frequencies including the frequencies of different thoughts. Interestingly, negative thoughts like anger, worry, fear, scarcity and guilt measure very low on the scale, while positive thoughts like love, forgiveness, abundance thinking yield the highest measurements. Everything we touch or engage in is deeply affected by our vibration.

Our money thoughts/vibrations are influenced by what we have learned about money from parents, relatives, religious institutions, schools etc and will be with us forever if left unchecked.   It is our ‘money blueprint”. This is our very foundation that guides all of our unconscious, subconscious and even conscious decisions. It cannot and will not change on its own.  Every choice we make about money is based on that blueprint.  If one is not aware of their vibration or blueprint on money they cannot change it. We cannot change what we are not aware of.

T. Harv Ecker, a fantastic and inspiring speaker and author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind says : “It all comes down to this: if your subconscious “financial blueprint” is not ‘set’ for success, nothing you learn, nothing you know, and nothing you do will make much of a difference.”  So the only way to change your experience with money is to change your blueprint about money. One needs to combat the poverty thinking/vibration so that the money that does come in stays. That is, if you are someone that has a poverty mindset, even if you win the lottery, that money will not stay or stick with you. It cannot as it does not match your poverty vibration.

The various poverty beliefs, thoughts and actions that determine your vibration including: feeling unworthy, undeserving, blind spending, feeling obligated, irresponsibility etc… will all contribute to the loss of the money and prosperity that comes your way. It is a well documented fact that many who win the lottery end up in a worse state financially after winning than prior to the win. They lose it all. They curse the lottery as the thing that ruined their life.  If they had only done some work on their money blueprint!!

Investigating Your Money Vibration:

Ecker says that the key is to changing your money vibration is to do a deep study into your life.  Investigate profoundly into your beliefs around money and wealth generally.  With this awareness you can then change what is not supporting your wealth vibration. To determine where you are at in the moment, you need to simply see what the state of your finances, your health and your relationships are.  What is happening in one aspect of your life is affecting other places too. If you are stingy with your love, chances are you are stingy with your money and vice versa. Look into the every aspect of your life if you want to see what is really going on in the money vibration realm.

Questions to ask yourself as you investigate: (Write all the answers down on a piece of paper)

• What are my automatic thoughts about rich people, money and wealth?
• My greatest worries and fears regarding having money and wealth are?
• Do I feel guilt when I have more money than my family, friends etc?
• Three things I fear the most about money are?

Rate these statements 1 -10 (10 being 100% in agreement) to go deep inside your beliefs.

• Money is the root of all evil.
• I am not enough. There is not enough to go around.
• I don’t deserve a lot.
• Most rich people are crooked and that is why they are rich.
• If I become wealthy, people will be jealous of me.
• If I become wealthy people will hassle me for money.
• To be rich, you have to use people and take advantage of them.
• Becoming wealthy is about luck.
• I cannot become wealthy doing exactly what I love.
• It is much harder for a woman to become wealthy.
• It is not morally right for me to be wealthy while others have nothing.
• I am a good giver but a bad receiver.

Changing Your Beliefs

“Thinking, learning, and acting can turn our genes on or off, thus shaping our brain anatomy and our behaviour” (Doidge: author of The Brain that Changes Itself’ )

There is great scientific evidence of the neuroplasticity of the mind. That is the mind is physically changeable if you give it what it needs to change.  Imagination, visualization, cognitive repetition, affirmations, meditation, and exposure to different thoughts, beliefs and life experiences in repetitive ways, are all ways to “plastify” your mind that is change your mind into a new way of thinking and looking at something. Your mind will actually change physically in that new neural pathways will be created.

This is very exciting knowledge because even though changing your old and hardened beliefs around money will take effort and discipline on your part, it certainly can happen. There is no way around the mountain of work. But no matter your background belief system on money, I want to assure you that change will happen if you put energy into it. Remember that what you focus on expands. So if you focus on changing and bettering your money vibration/blue print you will soon reap the rewards. Here are some key steps to changing beliefs.  Be very open as you do these exercises.

1.      Once you have answered and analyzed the above questions and statements, you have something to begin working with. Find out which of the above are the strongest beliefs that you hold about money.

2.      Pick 10 top statements/beliefs that truly represent your attitude toward money that you want to change.  Write them all down on a piece of paper. (Writing is key to this work.)

3.      Create an opposing positive statement for each negative belief. For example: Money is complicated. I am not good with money. The opposing statement would be: Money is easy for me to understand. I am an excellent money manager.

4.      Look deeply at your thoughts about rich people. When you observe wealthy people, watch your mind and try to not engage in criticizing or judging them, because after all, you want to be one of them. So get into an admiration place about them! The only way you’re going to start to embody a wealthy attitude and a wealthy life, where you have more money and command more money, is if you really want to be one of those wealthy people. If you have a belief system that says, “I don’t want to be one of those greedy, rich people,” you’re probably unconsciously blocking your ability to bring and manifest money towards you.

5.      Create a list of all the positive statements around you and money and wealth. The more personal, the better. Write them all down on paper and/or create a sound file of you saying these statements and put them on your Ipod. Read them out loud daily and/or Listen to them daily. Do this while doing another activity in order to engage many parts of the brain at the same time. For example:  while washing the dishes, working out, looking in the mirror. The more you meditate on the new thoughts the better.

Here are some sample positive statements to get you started:

• I am open to financial success.
• My ability to earn, hold and grow money expands everyday.
• I am a money magnet.
• I have a prosperous mind.
• Money comes to me easily and effortlessly.
• I deserve to have and hold wealth.
• When I am wealthy, my true friends will like me just as I am today.
• The more I have, the more the planet and humanity can benefit.
• I deserve to be rich because I add value to other people’s lives.
• I am a generous receiver and an excellent giver.
• I believe money is important, money is freedom, and makes life more enjoyable.
• I admire and model rich and successful people.

6.      Being clear and focused is incredibly important. Spend daily time visualizing yourself in a life where money is your friend as opposed to a source of difficulty. Be specific. The more you visualize yourself having a positive relationship to money with detailed imagery and specific visuals, the more you will begin to develop the neural pathways associated with the new beliefs.  For example: Create imagery in which you are receiving large checks and you are depositing them in to the bank and using the money is healthy and responsible ways.

7.      Manage your money well. Track your spending for at least 60 days so you know exactly what you are doing with money.  Your awareness will be so important. Change your spending habits based on your new awareness.

8.      Create a budget that is disciplined and is documented daily but makes room for you to enjoy yourself as well. Being too rigid will just make you want to fall off the wagon. Build in fun activities into the spending budget.

9.      Slowly make new choices in all aspects of your life that support responsible prosperity thinking. For example if you enjoy daily good quality coffee but Starbucks is off budget, buy a bag of fabulous quality coffee and treat yourself to gourmet, luxury coffee daily from home for mere pennies. The purchase will signal a new era is in place.  Tally the savings each month and put that amount into an account slated for investments. Watch your money grow!

10.  Pay off debt diligently. If you cannot trust yourself with credit cards, make a point of only paying cash for everything! Once your debt is paid, tell the credit card companies that you want a $1000 limit on your card. This is a built in discipline device that you set up for yourself to support your new money you.

11.  Celebrate your wins! Whenever you have reached a goal like paying down debt or accumulating an amount that you have been working toward, make sure you give yourself tons of accolades and applause. Your inner being will thank for regular acts of self acknowledgement and self love. Your self esteem will start to climb and your inner bully will take a back seat.

12.  Seek out support. It is important to know that success in changing anything does not happen alone. We all need support and to be surrounded by like minded people so the journey is not so lonely. Seek out a support group that will assist you in staying on the journey.   Many of my clients go to Debtors Anonymous 12 step groups along side therapy to deepen their changes and to expose themselves to people who are on similar journeys.

13.  Books to read on your journey to prosperity vibration:

• Money Is My Friend by Phil Laut
• You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor
• The Trick To Money is Having Some by Stuart Wilde
• Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker

The path to shifting your vibration around money is a worthy one as we all deserve to have ease in life. I encourage each and every one of you to explore and do the work needed to get yourself to where you want to be regarding your money experience.   You are worth it and you are valuable!