I ran my first experiment in making money by shifting my emotions 12 years ago. I was on food stamps with twins and barely making it month to month. I listened to the Abraham Hicks money meditation a couple of times a week.  I did my best to breathe through my money fears and not give them too much attention. That was the experiment. After three months, I had the entire next year lined up with coaching clients that more than supported my family. 

This was the first of many experiments. I practiced working with my beliefs, and visualizations, I focused on healing emotional wounds around finances and my value. Some had miraculous results. Like a surprise deposit of $3,000 into my account, raising $40,000 for my first business without a pitch or a deck, doubling my rates multiple times, and still somehow ending up with more clients. Other practices negatively impacted my finances. More on that later. 

I want to share with you what I have learned personally and seen with my clients over the last 12 years of running these experiments. 

The heart of all of these experiments was how does my emotional relationship to money impact money coming in and staying in my life? And then, what can I do about it?

The Impact

Emotions impact what opportunities you see. 

If you are joyful, you are more likely to see evidence that backs up that state. If you are in an anxious state, you are more likely to gather evidence for that. The brain perceives what the brain knows to look for. You may be in a great mood but still have an anxious relationship with money. This means, where money is concerned, you are not likely to see financial opportunities right in front of you.

Emotions impact behavior. 

Wake up feeling good? You go for a run, you tidy your space, you eat your greens, and you call your mom. Wake up feeling bad? Donuts for breakfast! When we feel really good, we identify as a person who feels good so we take action that also feels good. The opposite is also true. If we don’t feel good about money, we are more likely to have addictive behavior in our spending, to focus on grind work instead of the work that could really make a difference. 

When we experience stress related to money we may be more conservative where we should take risks but take risks in ways that really hurt our finances. This is because the survival emotions impair our judgment. We act in ways to feel relief from the pressure of the stress, which makes us seek pleasure or find quick fixes. At the same time, those survival emotions have us avoid changes. 

Emotions impact creativity. 

The creative centers of the brain completely shut down when we are in fight or flight. The survival mechanisms in the brain have us hyperfocus on problems. This makes sense if you are in a battle but not so great for innovation. We get tunnel vision and it can seem like the whole world is the problem. The solution is right outside that stress tunnel if you could only get there. 

Emotions impact our connections. 

Hopefully, we grownups have learned to not dump our feelings on other people but they are still felt. You can feel someone’s desperation or confidence on a sales call or in an interview. As the interviewer or the potential customer, it’s wonderful to be with someone who is relaxed and confident. It’s stressful to be with someone who feels desperate. Stress hormones shut down our empathy, this means we are less able to read people and respond appropriately to their ques. It also means that we are less compassionate and capable of listening. Whether it’s networking, client acquisition, or applying for promotions, how you feel to be around impacts your performance in loud ways. 

The x-factor.

Call it quantum physics, law of attraction, or the answer to prayer. There is little room for doubt that our emotional or energetic offering is reflected back to us. This is the single most important impact because it places personal responsibility at the forefront. It has us stop focusing on the things we can’t change and look internally towards the things we can change. We are so deeply and profoundly connected to the world around us; from the air we breathe to the electrical fields surrounding everything.

What you can do about it.

Here are seven practices that get your emotions on your team to bring in wealth and keep it. 

1. Get into agreement with yourself.
   If you want something but think you shouldn’t want it. If you say you are going for a promotion but don’t believe you can get it. If you want more money but also believe that money is the root of all evil. You are in disagreement with yourself. You are like a train trying to go in two directions and you will feel stress or emotional discomfort when you move toward what you want.
   
   Take time to organize yourself around your values and your deeper understanding. Maybe there are things that you want that really aren’t in alignment with your values and you let those things go. Maybe there are things that you are believing about what is moral or what you deserve that is out of date. Declare what is really true for you regarding money.
   
   Note: It’s very possible that the root of your internal conflicts around money or self-worth is based on traumatic events. If that is true for you, it might be good to get some help in untangling yourself from all that. A Mindlight practitioner can give you that support in a one on one session.
   
   
2. Consider that you don’t know what is possible. 

One typical area of internal conflict around money is when we want something that we either don’t believe we can have or that we have to accept something we don’t want to. For example, I want a raise but I need a college degree. Or I want a raise but then I’ll have to work more hours.

Watch yourself for these kinds of rules and soften them by saying “I don’t actually know what is possible”. If you have existential beliefs about God or the Universe or the wonders of the natural world, let that remind you that miracles abound. Whatever rule you have placed around your money wishes, someone somewhere has proven you wrong. Even if they haven’t, new rules are proven wrong all day long. You can prove this wrong, You have no idea what is possible!!!

3. Look for your payoffs. 

There is a saying that I love and hate. “You are always winning the game you are playing”. Notice what you get out of being in your current economic situation. It may be something you get or something you get to avoid. Look for emotional payoffs. This can be hard to acknowledge but we are all addicted to our own brain chemistry. If you have been stressed about money for as long as you can remember the adrenal, cortisol, blood sugar, and blood pressure spikes are all going to be like heroin for you.

It may be that you get to avoid responsibility or being seen in a certain way, or maybe you get sympathy or support. Whatever it is that you get out of it, even if you hate to love it and love to hate it. Enjoy that for a moment, a few days, or a few weeks. Watch yourself with that payoff and fully receive it. If you can bring that pleasure to consciousness you can consciously make the choice. Is it worth it?

Who knows? Maybe it is.

4. Receive the wealth you have. 

If you look around your space and consider the immense wealth around you now. Where the materials have come from, how many hours of labor, and the kinds of equipment that is involved in just the items on your nightstand. At any other time in history that wealth would be unheard of. Ask yourself, do you feel the same about your finances now as you did when you had much much less? Maybe your feelings don’t have anything to do with what you have. 

Consider all the things you are able to do now, all of the desires that have been fulfilled. Receive it like it has value for you. Notice how it feels in your body that you have this. You need it or want it and you have it. 

This practice is a preparation for gratitude and a cure for greed and addictive spending. 

5. Be grateful and be generous.

This is a little-known secret. The vibrations of generosity and appreciation are right there with each other. If you ever feel like you are financially strained, give some of your money away and you will feel financial freedom again. Buy someone flowers, give a stranger a shocking amount of money, hide a hundo in your friend’s suitcase before their trip. It is the single easiest and fastest way to shift your feeling about money. And trust me however little you have, you have enough to give some away.

Giving financial gifts and support spontaneously puts you in deep communion with what you have and also why you love having it. Just like that, you have strong positive emotional associations with money.

6. Go easy on the vision boards.

Amplifying your desires when you don’t believe you can have them amplifies internal conflict. It will only stress you out to want it more. You will feel poorer and more helpless. It’s like increasing the velocity of the train in both directions, and it will make you feel torn apart.

That being said, if you are in agreement with yourself, vision it up. Relish in what you want. Let yourself feel how delicious it would be to have this. Like wanting the meal on your plate to savor the hunger. Like wanting the lover in your bed, savor the desire. Let it build and highlight all the details. Make vision boards, daydream, and spend the money in your mind. See the bank account numbers, and let yourself be thrilled.

7. Get into action.

Action will flush out the fears and burn them up at the same time. Take actions that are new and inspired. See if you can let go of anything that you have held as a rule “I have to do this if I want that”. Those actions are not worthy of your life. Act in ways that enliven you with what it is that you are wanting. 

We’d love to hear from you.  Let us know if you make a money miracle for yourself. If you are ready to take charge of your life experiences, reach out to us and book a session!