Do You Have a Bad Attitude Towards Money?

WEALTH AND PROSPERITY

"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think."
~ Ayn Rand

Six Thoughts that Program Prosperity

In the last two posts, I talked about how old, engrained beliefs can sabotage fulfillment of our dreams. While we consciously take the attitude that we can have the thing we want, if we doubt that on the subconscious level, the deeper level of our mind will subvert those good intentions and bring us more of the same-old. Wealth creation is one area where this is particularly true, probably because most of us have been programmed to have self-defeating beliefs about money.

What is old programming really? It's a conscious attitude we've held long enough, recited to ourselves often enough, or felt deeply enough, that our subconscious mind has accepted it as true. When this happens, attitude becomes belief. It isn't enough that we want and consciously think we can have more money. We have to get past the surface attitude down to that level of engrained belief, and stir things up down there.

How to Do It

That means, really looking at our engrained beliefs about money. We must see what's been unhealthy in our thinking, perceive the illogic in the old belief, and replace it with abundance-embracing convictions. Take some time to do this, to sit by yourself and contemplate your old beliefs about wealth. Write down the negative thoughts you've been taught to believe in one column, leaving lots of space after each. Then think over each old belief, and in the second column, write down all the reasons next to each one why you now know that old thought isn't true.

When you do this, having new ideas about wealth to work from will be helpful, so we dedicate this week's newsletter to giving you some. Use the ideas below - only the ones that make sense to you - to explain things to the Doubting Thomas within. After you've worked through your old wealth-belief list, write down your current wealth beliefs on a new sheet of paper, and tear up the old beliefs. Next, refresh your affirmations.

Refresh Your Affirmations

After your belief housecleaning, write fresh wealth affirmations to replace any tired ones that haven't been working well for you. The new ones will be stronger and weightier with your subconscious, because you'll have written them after giving your programmed beliefs a listen.

Do you like being told what to do when you haven't been listened to? Neither does your subconscious. Make it a friend by explaining to yourself what's really true about money. When you're in one piece on the subject, in conscious and subconscious agreement, prosperity will become a reality (not just a word on your bathroom mirror).

Read your new affirmations to yourself when you wake up in the morning, before you fall asleep at night, and also whenever negative thoughts about prosperity creep in. Always read the list with real attention. Each time you do this you will remind your subconscious of the things you explained to it, and further fine-tune it to match your desires.

Mull Over This

Here are some ideas to contemplate during your mental "spring housecleaning" session. Use those that you resonate with, and add any ideas of your own:

• You may have a resistance to the words like "wealthy" and "rich." Perhaps they suggest to you things like excess and selfishness. There's nothing wrong with feeling you don't want to be one of the spoiled rich, living higher than the rest of mankind while others suffer in poverty. If that's what "wealth" implies to you, toss out that word in favor of a concept of well-being that's more in accord with your personal values. Many people find words like "abundance," "prosperity," "plenty" better describe what they want in their lives. If that's the case with you, your subconscious will better support your dreams if you word your intentions and affirmations with those more acceptable, less splintery, words.
• "Money is the root of all evil." How often have we heard that expression? But is it really true? First of all, the actual quote is, "Love of money is the root of all evil," and the person saying it was talking about an addictive relationship to money, not money itself. Money itself is no more evil than any other material thing. Money can do great good or great evil. It's all in how it is used. How would you use more money if you had it? Ask yourself if that would be evil or good. Would you be less dependent on others? Would the people in your life benefit? Would strangers benefit? If your answer to those is yes, how exactly would your having more money be evil, or contribute to evil?
• If the economy's got you down, and you're worried if it might "get worse," consider that even in the Great Depression, there was only a 25% unemployment rate. That means 3 out of 4 people were still working in the worst of economic times! We hear all the negative stuff about that era but rarely hear that part of it. Nor do we often hear the stories of many now-departed old-timers about how those years were the best of their lives. People were brought together during the Depression. They learned to be more neighborly and supportive. They grew more self-reliant and resourceful. They discovered that real abundance is not the number of dollars you have, because dollars can become worthless. They came to value more substantial concepts of wealth, like gardens and the ability to grow them, owning your home outright, and living without debt. In an economic downturn, people are prompted to think about what economic security really means, and this can prompt restructuring of spending, earning, and living habits to one's advantage.
• In any economy - booming, recessed, or depressed - people must produce and trade to live. As long as people are producing and trading, there is work, even if you have to create it. Identify the trades, services and industries that people will patronize in a slower economy, knowing that there will always be work in those sectors, and that you can find a place within them if you need to. Your current job is not a permanent fixture that you are glued to for life, and you don't die if your job does. Jobs are coats we put on and take off. Ask yourself if the coat you're wearing right now is right for the weather.
• Maybe you find it hard to really deeply believe you could ever have the dollar amount you list as a goal. But dollars aren't true wealth. Wealth is the things dollars buy. In themselves, dollars are pretty substantial. In Germany's Great Depression, dollars had so little value people papered their living rooms with them. Dollars are unstable, with values that fluctuate with the stock market. So if it's dollars you want, stop feeling they are priceless and mysteriously unattainable. Consider how banks make money. They literally create it, by typing numbers on a sheet of paper when people come in for a loan. For banks, making money is as simple as typing. If that's the only difference between poverty and wealth - a few typed numbers on a piece of paper - how impossible is it really for anyone to shift from one state to the other? Imagine your bank account statement with the numbers you want to see there. How hard is it for the universe to take 1,000 and add two or three zeros?
• Feeling undeserving is another old programmed belief that keeps many of us from enjoying the abundance we desire. Really look at this one. Why are you undeserving? Okay, so you've done some bad things you regret. Everyone has. Does that mean everyone should live in poverty? Would the world be better if everyone was poor? The fact is, we all are better citizens, better neighbors and more agreeable family members when we aren't struggling over our ability to make a living. Being poor benefits nobody. To the extent you are poor, you are dependent. Better to be strong in ourselves financially, if only for the good of the people we then don't have to lean on. Money isn't something we should have only because we deserve it. It's something we should have so we can hold up our own end of things and do good in the world. Don't we all deserve that?

Ask yourself what your old attitudes have been about money. Write them down as you think of them. Then really look at those old beliefs and ask yourself if they are true. As you rewrite your list and revise your inmost feelings about plenty, your openness to abundance will grow. When emotionally it feels as natural and good to you as the other good things in your life, abundance will be part of your everyday experience.

Next Week

Next week: visualization images and other strategies for money creation through the mind! Have fun reprogramming your wealth beliefs this week, and in the next newsletter, we'll send you some ripe seeds to drop into the plowed field of your subconscious, seeds that will grow prosperity.

Wishing every one of you unlimited abundance and happiness,

Richie. (Global Secrets)

Top Photo Courtesy of TW Collins.