Money Story

Now that we have thoroughly established the importance of recognizing abundance in its many forms, we can move onto changing our money mindset. 

This is typically where most people start their manifesting journey: attempting to manifest a ton of money for themselves. No shame in that! We need money to survive in our world. 

Transforming our relationship with money can open so many doors we didn’t even realize were closed. Exploring our core beliefs about money, scarcity/abundance, and security can be extremely healing on a spiritual level. When we feel secure in our financial situation, it’s so much easier to feel secure everywhere else in our lives. 

Change Mindset About Money

There is nothing selfish or evil about needing, wanting, or working for money. Money and spirituality are not mutually exclusive.

The first step to changing our relationship with money is understanding what our personal “money story” currently is. The story we tell ourselves continuously and reinforce with our actions. Earlier in this book we talked about abundance mindsets versus scarcity mindsets. Did one of these resonate more with you than the other? That’s an excellent place to start. From there, consider:

• How do I talk about money to myself, my family, and other people (if at all)? 
• Does money seem to disappear quickly? 
• Where does my money go every month?
• How often does money come into my life, and in what quantity?
• Do topics in the realm of personal finance bore me? Why?
• Do topics in the realm of personal finance give me anxiety? Why?
• How do I feel when I get paid? Blessed, stressed, relieved, or anything else?
• How do I feel when I spend money? Excited, guilty, ashamed or anything else?
• How do I feel when I save money? Bored, impatient, accomplished, or anything else?
• When I think about money, what is the first and strongest emotion I feel?
• How often do I look at my bank account or my wallet and why?
• Am I more excited to spend money, or save money? Why?
• What is the ratio of money leaving my bank account to the money coming into it each month and why? 
• If I were to lose my stream(s) of income, how long would I be able to survive on what I have now?
• How much debt do I have, and how do I feel about it? 
• How do my parents, grandparents, and siblings feel about money?
• How does my spouse or partner feel about money?

Change Your Mindset About Money

Our answers to these questions will help paint a picture of our current attitude towards money. Personal finance may not be the most glamorous or interesting thing in the world, but it’s imperative to understand in order to become a functional adult who lives in abundance. 

How we verbally speak about money is the primary indicator of our money attitude. If we catch ourselves always bringing money up, even in conversations that have nothing to do with money, we are likely living in a scarcity mindset. We cannot direct so much attention to cash because it is not worth more than a fraction of our attention. Remember, money is a form of energy. 

When we are in this head space, always thinking about money, we are taking focus away from other things that are much more important. Over thinking about our cash situation will not make the situation change-only our actions can. If the Universe sees us constantly thinking about our lack of money, or constantly worrying about how we are going to make ends meet, It will only send us more of that same energy. 

Avidly avoiding money is another indicator of a scarcity mindset. Refusing to acknowledge the important role money plays in our lives will probably cause more financial strain. Maybe you feel extremely anxious when you think about money—therefore you do everything in your power to ignore it. But does that help ease the anxiety you feel, or does it only exasperate it? The best way to ease the tension is to work through it slowly and deliberately. That’s part of being an adult and taking charge of your own life, even if it’s painful in the moment. 

No matter what our money story is, we cannot blame ourselves for it. It’s a natural reaction we have developed over the course of our lives based on our experiences. You have the power to change your money mindset at any point in time, regardless of your age or your current financial situation, or even your past financial situations. If we shame ourselves for our current money mindset, we are not setting ourselves up for success. 

Rather than being angry with where we let ourselves end up, we can forgive ourselves and vow to make changes as best we can. The alternative is staying stuck wherever you are now, which is probably not where you want to be if you’re learning about manifesting abundance. Recognize where you stand, accept it lovingly, extend yourself forgiveness, and prepare to do the work it will take to transform your life.

Mindset and Money

The time has come to change your money story! This part is super exciting and filled with nothing but potential. We don’t have to hate money, and we don’t have to love it either. All we have to do to manifest abundance is understand that money is one of the many tools we can use to create our reality-but it’s not the only thing that will make us abundant. Not even close. 

Now that we understand what our current money story looks like, it’s time to write ourselves a new money story. It would be very helpful to write it out in a notebook, letting it sink into the subconscious mind. Use the scripting journaling technique to further instill it, and manifest other things for yourself. To write yourself a new money story, consider these questions:

• How do I want to feel about money?
• Without being overly greedy, what would my ideal income be each month? 
• What sort of lifestyle choices are most important to me?
• What does financial security mean to me as a concept?
• What does financial security mean to me in terms of dollars and assets?
• How do I want to feel when I spend money?
• How do I want to feel when I save money?
• Do I have a plan to pay off my debt? 
• Is there unnecessary spending happening I am already aware of?
• What are my necessary expenses each month? Think rent, groceries, utilities, debt, insurance, childcare, transportation, savings, etc. 
• What are my optional expenses each month? Think any form of entertainment (especially streaming, cable, and phones), eating out, vices, excessive transportation, new household items, memberships, subscriptions, children’s activities, services, etc. 
• What are my long term financial dreams? Think retirement, college funds, home ownership, home upgrades, traveling, debt free living, stock investment, etc. 
• What am I willing to trade away for living my financial dreams?
• How can I diversify the streams of income in my household so we aren’t so reliant on one source of money? 
• What makes me feel most secure and safe regarding my finances?
• How do I want my children and/or partner to feel about money?

Change Money Mindset

After we establish all this, it’s time to embody it. Creating financial plans, developing budgets, and earning more money are brilliant starts to manifest abundance. Following through on these plans is imperative, too. What good does a plan do if you don’t stick to it? However, we must also embrace who we want to become right now in order to become that person. If you want to be abundant, you must embody the energy of being abundant right now, just as you are. This is where the “belief” aspect of the LOA comes in (phase two). This is the part where we are thinking our way to transformation. 

We first took stock of our situation, then we asked the Universe to assist us (by deciding where we want to go), and now it’s time to believe that we are already there. We are worth it, we deserve it, and our family deserves it, too. By believing we are already there, we will be open to receive the gifts that will bring us there. This isn’t a linear concept, it is a continuous circle of asking, believing, taking action, and receiving. 

Your Money Mindset

Money is just another form of energy that flows in and out of our lives. As long as we are working to manifest money from an abundant mindset instead of a scarcity mindset, we will still raise our vibration. 

The Law of Attraction is useless if you don’t do your fair share of work. We co-create our realities with the Universe. We do not sit around waiting for abundance to come knocking. There is an important role for us to play on our manifesting journeys, and only when we fulfill that role will abundance arrive for us to receive. 

We’ve already planted seeds for shifting our money mindset by exploring our current money story. Now we can let go of other money mindsets that don’t serve us and replace them with ones that will. Below I’ve listed common, hurtful money mindsets and how we can transform them into mindsets that align with abundance:

Money Makes Me More or Less Worthy

So many people directly attribute their worth to the amount of money they have. And a capitalist society perpetuates this false belief. Just because we can “afford” certain luxuries (that we don’t even need) doesn’t mean we are better than anyone else. The reverse is also true. Just because we can’t afford certain luxuries doesn’t mean we are any less of a person than anyone else. 

Big companies don’t want us to feel this way. They want us to want everything, so they can continue to make money and sell new products to us. That’s why they have massive marketing divisions with obscene budgets. Their goal is to create advertisements that evoke feelings of “Oh my god I need that right now,” despite whether you actually need it (or can afford it).

Not all companies are evil of course. Not all marketing has slimy intentions. There are plenty of trustworthy businesses who use similar marketing techniques to stand out from all the noise. Just don’t let these advertisements get to you. Don’t let them dictate your level of self worth and confidence. You may experience a brief spurt of dopamine in your brain (the feel-good happy chemical) when you buy something fancy, but in the long run it’s not going to make you happy or abundant. 

To transform this limiting belief of our self worth being tied to money and material items, we have to learn to tune out the excessive advertisements. We know what we need, what we want, and what we can afford. Having “nice things” doesn’t necessarily mean we have a pleasant life, nor should we be ashamed if we save up and manifest a pleasant thing for ourselves. 

Every Penny Counts

This scarcity mindset can be just as toxic as believing you’re not worthy of riches. When we obsess over every single cent we spend (or don’t spend), we are clinging to the belief that once that cent is gone, we can never get it back. That’s the opposite of abundance.

While budgeting is important, at some point we will be financially secure enough to loosen the purse strings a bit. Even if we only have our day jobs as income right now. Doing this tells the Universe we believe we are well off, and always will be. We are financially secure because we take responsibility for our spending habits. While also enjoying our money and view it as a tool to live our best lives. Rather than an end-all evil entity that controls our lives. 

To transform this habit based on scarcity, change the way you view your money. Look at your wallet or bank account and be grateful for what you see, no matter what. Remind yourself your budget is important and you have to stick to it, but you’re also free to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You could do this by budgeting some cash each month to spend on anything you’d like—that way you still can indulge yourself while staying within your means. Then let the Universe do the rest.

Working for Money is Unavoidable

Working is unavoidable to some extent, but it is not the only way we can collect money. This limiting belief can be very demotivating and soul-crushing. 

No one really sits around and gets paid to do nothing. Working is always going to be part of our lives. But it shouldn’t be the only thing we do with our lives. Abundance can flow to us in so many forms, beyond our paychecks. To transform the mindset of your job being your sole source of money, trust there is always going to be a way to make more money. And perhaps more importantly, begin to understand the diverse streams of abundance you can open up to, beyond money. Follow a path that excites you, and the Universe will surely help you every step of the way.