Are you still clinging to old ideas about money?

Money’s a very useful thing to have. In fact, if you’ve got quite a lot of it, there’s lots of things you can do with it. And having it could definitely result in you being a lot happier … or at least a lot more comfortable. There … that’s about as self-evident as could possibly be, right? And yet, even though everybody would agree with that sentiment, many people still think of money in very negative terms, even if only subconsciously.

It’s not surprising really; it all dates back to the way we were brought up. We (many of us) heard things said about money that were very uncomplimentary, and we heard them repeated, again and again and again. Things that were not only negative but burrowed their way insidiously into our minds and stayed there for decades.

Things like …

• Money doesn’t grow on trees
• Money is the root of all evil
• There isn’t enough money to go round
• Money doesn’t make you happy
• Better to be happy than rich
• We can’t afford it
• Hold tight to what you’ve got, you never know what’s around the corner
• Rich people are mean/grasping
• The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
• Our kind of people never get rich
• You’ve got to be clever to make money

People like to moan about things, it’s just a sort of habit that people get into. Like it’s going to do any good … or change anything. It never does, of course. Can you think of a time when you moaned about something and everything just changed and turned out for the best? Me neither!

Moaning is never the answer

Moaning and complaining are just a waste of time. Actually, far worse than that. You do tend to attract what you focus on, that’s just a fact of life, and when you’re constantly moaning about something, you shouldn’t really be surprised if more of it turns up in your life. So if you’re moaning all the time about not having enough money, well that’s what you’re attracting more of … not having enough money.

Strange how people who focus on having money, people like successful entrepreneurs, for example, seem to have more of it than most … or maybe not so strange at all really. Their focus is on ideas of plenty, not lack. They’re feeling prosperous, not poverty stricken. Their overriding mindset is firmly angled towards attracting more wealth into their lives … and that’s exactly what happens.

But anyway, I just want to talk about these ideas we were brought up with and the long lasting effect they had. Many, many people were brought up hearing talk of there not being enough, and that’s completely understandable. When I was a kid, my dad had a steady job and there was always food on the table, but it was a big family. There was never any money to spare.

Britain just after the War

We made do with what we had; that’s the way it was in those days. The War hadn’t long ended, and the country was still recovering. In fact, for the first couple of years of my life, rationing was still in force, although I was far too young to know anything about it. And it was common in those days for people to have to scrimp and save for even the basics, let alone a few luxuries.

If somebody needed a new piece of furniture, or a new rug, then they’d start saving for them. People saved, and they were very frugal. They had to be. The problem is that those ways, and those attitudes, tend to stay with you if you’re not careful. They become fixed in your mind, and they don’t easily shift. You can carry on for decades with the same old ideas firmly rooted in your mind, and they have an effect on you, years later, even when times have changed for the better. You can find yourself being very careful with money, maybe too careful , when there really isn’t any need to be.

And the real problem is the thinking … and the feeling … behind those ideas. If you’re still being ultra-careful about spending money, or even giving some of it away, then you’re wallowing in a sea of negative money ideas. You’re still hooked on those old ideas of decades ago, when money really was very hard to come by. And if you’re thinking that way all the time … and feeling that way … then you’re probably pushing money away rather than attracting it.

You could try changing the way you think of money

If you want to change things and start attracting money into your life instead of repelling it, here’s a few ideas you might like to play with:

• There’s plenty of money to go round, and plenty of opportunities to make money
• By getting rich I can help other people in all kinds of ways, even help them to  become rich
• It’s easy to make money (once you dump all the negative thinking)
• Rich people are just … well, people … with money!
• I am smart enough, and I have everything I need to become rich
• Rich people aren’t necessarily highly intelligent … or unusually wise … they’re just like everyone else
• Anyone can get rich, even in hard times
• Money is a form of energy, and having it, and using it, is a good thing

Ideas like these tend to make you see money a bit differently. The more you hold these views in your mind, the more you start to be comfortable with money. And that’s important, because once that feeling of alienation from money subsides, it’s naturally drawn to you.

Now this isn’t going to happen magically; I mean, it’s not drawn to you in the way it would be if you were granted three wishes by a genie and one of them was to become very wealthy. No, when I say it’s drawn to you I mean it will find its way to you more easily, because you’re in harmony with it now. Because your thoughts on money have relaxed you will find that its path to you is smoother. Instead of it trying to head in your direction and finding the way blocked, it will find it is almost ushered along, and the way made easier for it.

Getting in harmony with money

So money, once it’s given the green light, starts to race towards you, and this can happen by circumstances changing so that you more easily make money, almost as though those circumstances are conspiring somehow to benefit you. I know it sounds corny, but money, which is just another form of energy, will be much more ‘on the same wavelength’ as you, and so it can’t not  be drawn to you. It’s almost literally like you’re becoming magnetised to money.

Another way you can speed this process up might seem, at first anyway, counterintuitive; give it away! Now I don’t mean you should gather together every last penny you own and just donate it to the first person you bump into. All I mean is this: when the opportunity arises, be freer with your money, don’t give in to the old ideas and old feelings. If someone asks you for money, don’t immediately start to think what’s in it for me. If you start thinking in terms of making a loan and charging interest, for example, you’re not actually giving anything at all really – you are, in effect, taking. You’re doing all you can to make something out of the deal!

Be more generous!

So be more generous. Just give! If you see someone on the street, obviously in need of a handout, don’t judge him (or her), just give some money freely, without thinking too much about it. Don’t concern yourself with what they might spend it on – that’s not your business. If you’re genuinely giving it, it’s not yours anymore, so it’s none of your concern.

Another thing you could do is look for ways to make an immediate difference in people’s lives by giving something. For example, contribute a bag of food to a local food bank. These setups help people who genuinely have fallen on hard times, and it can give you a really good feeling to physically give something to them, knowing that it will definitely help local people in real need. This, in my opinion, is infinitely better than setting up a direct debit with your bank and giving so much a month to a charity.

For one thing, you don’t know how much of that donation is going to the people who really need it, and how much is disappearing on ‘admin’ and advertising costs. And, more importantly, there’s no feeling involved in it (or very little). Once you’ve set up the direct debit arrangement, it goes ahead automatically, and that’s good of course, it’s definitely providing help to people. But it’s even better if you can physically give that money, or that bag of shopping, or whatever, directly to the people in need … that way, you know that it’s doing some good, and that can generate very powerful feelings associated with the true nature of generosity.

It’s the feeling involved in the way you think about money …

Remember, it’s not just the food, or the money, or whatever, it’s the feeling that goes along with it that carries so much weight. If you go to the supermarket and buy that bag of shopping specifically for the food bank, you’re giving with every tin and packet and jar that you put in that shopping basket. Each and every one is being selected by you, and you know, for a fact, that it will all end up in the hands of a family in real financial need. And that feeling that you’re helping, that you’re giving, that you’re being generous … that feeling alone is worth far more to you than the monetary value of the food.

So keep your eyes open for opportunities to give money away. Or give food away, or whatever. It’s a gift of very real value, but it’s a gift for you as well; you’re giving yourself the chance to feel good about handling money, and being generous with it, and that’s what will bring more of it rushing towards you.

Reverse the old programming

Remember, you’ve been programmed with negative ideas about money. It happened gradually, stealthily, and progressively. Nobody ever meant to indoctrinate you with negative ideas about money, and they certainly didn’t intend that those ideas would affect you long term. But that’s what happens … negative ideas take root and become firmly fixed, and they affect the way you think and feel for the rest of your life. Unless … unless you do something to change them.

Maybe it’s time you drained the power out of those old attitudes to money. Maybe it’s time you defused them. And the way to do that is to instal some more relaxed and generous attitudes in your mind. As you do that, you will be putting yourself, literally, in harmony with money.

And it will soon start showing up in your life, sometimes in the strangest
and most unexpected ways.