Beliefs About MoneyBeliefs about money are really very interesting. Money is the one thing that touches everyone's lives no matter what age or race or situation. We project all of our fears and beliefs about our own self worth onto money. We make money this ominous all powerful thing behind the curtain. Our perceived inadequacies and self confidence show up in how we handle and make money. For the massage profession in particular, it seems that most believe that somehow giving of ourselves is more important than money. The phrase that I hear most often - "It isn't about the money" used to be my mantra but now makes me cringe. But if you start saying "It is about the money" people also get the idea that you are greedy. The thing is that money is neither good nor bad. It just is. My biggest revelations about money came after working with a financial counselor who had me track my every expense and income for a few months in both my business and personal life. I also created a spending plan at the beginning of each month outlining my expenses and also things I wanted. When I could finally see money on an excel spread sheet with money coming in and going out, I finally realized that it is just a math problem! I had that ah ha! moment when I realized just how much emotions and unconscious beliefs we put onto money. In working with massage therapists, I now also help them to see this for themselves. When you can take the projections off of money and start focusing on what you desire, the money has a way of coming altogether on it's own. It comes as a result of taking actions towards the things (material and non-material) that I desire. Having desires for things is not good or bad. It is just human and is what actually keeps us alive and living a full life. The beliefs we have about money are created early in life by your parents, teachers, families and friends. How often did you hear things like:
The thing is that even with these conscious statements, there are many unconscious beliefs and thoughts driving them. Since they are unconscious it is very difficult to become aware of them all. When I first started out with this process the most mind boggling thing I read once was that everything that you have or don't have in your life is a result of your beliefs. Since your beliefs are unconscious you can just start taking a look at your life and start asking 'what must someone believe to have that (or not have that) in their lives'? You can also begin to uncover your unconscious beliefs by really starting to pay attention to how you feel. When you begin the process of feeling many will say that they don't have a feeling either way about something. Start with things like looking a a brand new shiny Mercedes or Bentley. What thoughts or feelings come up for you? What feeling or thought comes up for you when someone says "You can make $100,000 a year as a massage therapist?" Your feelings will help you to find what you are believing. If you are feeling anything but love or joy, you can know you are buying into an old unconscious belief that just isn't true. Yes it will seem true and you will want to hang onto it and will defend it to the very end. The feelings of frustration, anger, of feeling like you are not good enough are all parts of an intricate web we have developed to keep proving over and over that we are not good enough (or whatever your core belief is or combination of beliefs are.) One of the first things I did was create a journal and keep tracking and writing down my reactions to things. The process will help you find out what your judgments are which will also help you to take a deeper look at your beliefs. Changing beliefs doesn't usually happen over night. It is a process of years of digging and learning about yourself to uncover the true self - that precious part of you that got covered up by all of the things that happened to you to keep you from the pain of not getting your needs met.
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