Who doesn't worry about cash? I know I have. We may claim that money does not buy happiness, but as one of my besties loved to say, it certainly keeps you miserable in comfort.
Jokes aside, money does help with survival. A smile cannot pay for food, shelter and clothing. There was a longish phase in my life when "broke" was the status during the last ten days of the month as my Mom and I didn't earn enough and barely made it to the day when the next month's pay came in. Yet, we were cheerful.
My Mom taught me to focus on possibilities, what we had rather than what we didn't. She also preached the abundance mindset. I know she was a closet Law of Attraction fan, believing that if the mind attracts it, abundance follows. Which is probably why we never "feared" being broke.
So when I received Julie Ann Cairns' book, The Abundance Code: How to Bust The 7 Money Myths For A Rich Life Now I was excited to see the concept of " Parashifting " to a mindset of financial abundance. Yes, my Mother would have loved this. Eager to share this with you, I invited the author to guest post and she graciously agreed. Here she is!
Welcome, Julie! "Parashifting" To A Mindset of Financial Abundance Julie Ann CairnsAre you one of the many people who struggle with worries about money? About earning it, keeping it, having enough? And about the sense that no matter how hard you work, plan or save you are never secure?
If so, the result is probably a drain on your happiness: rather than feeling peaceful because you've budgeted and saved, your efforts to stay caught up or get ahead financially on this never-ending hamster wheel are more likely to leave you feeling tired, constrained and somewhat hopeless.
Yet you persist. After all, what else can you do?
Well, as I see it, a lot. That's because your behavior is undoubtedly driven by deeply-rooted beliefs about money attached to that are holding you back financially. Yet deeply-rooted beliefs about money tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies. If you truly believe notions such as, " there's never enough," " money can easily slip away," or, " you have to work hard for your money," you will behave accordingly in ways that make them your reality.
It's a vicious cycle that drives many people to sabotage their best efforts financially and limit their prospects for financial success. Perhaps you're one of them.
What you can do, then, is to shift your worldview away from fears about money and the beliefs that drive them and instead, embrace the paradigm of abundance. Having done so myself after losing millions and experiencing near-bankruptcy as somebody who once believed that "money is easy come, easy go," I've created a word for the process:
Parashifting.
Parashifting is about changing your beliefs and training yourself to see that despite your fears, we live in a world overflowing with possibilities. Money fears stems from an age-old mindset telling us that the earth's resources are limited and that we'd better grab and hold onto what we can lest someone else take it. This view may have served humankind in eras like the Great Depression, but simply does not reflect reality today.
Rather, we live in a world overflowing with possibilities. Focusing on possibilities rather than on anguish will allow you to recognize opportunities, and seize them.
Here are 4 steps to accomplishing this:
- Turn your attention away from the concepts of scarcity and lack.
Don't let these concepts dominate your thought processes around money and finances.
Instead, overwrite the concepts of scarcity and lack and the beliefs they create with stories of progress, hope and opportunity.
Innovations abound in today's creative, constantly evolving world. Become familiar with what's happening in technology and medicine, for example, and how these amazing innovations can help increase abundance and well-being everywhere. Magazines like Discover and Scientific American are rich with examples. Focus on these rather than on the glut of news stories about devastation and ruin.
Brainstorm about creative ways to make financial dreams possible rather than saying, "No, that could never happen to me."
Ultimately, you'll discover a new mindset that encourages you to connect, to inspire, to collaborate and create. It will remind you to not become overly obsessed by the fear of adverse events, but rather, to remain hopeful and optimistic so that you can see possibilities rather than dangers; so you can recognize opportunities - and seize them. Fear can have its place, but it becomes debilitating when it blinds us to positive possibilities.
What have you got to lose except fear itself? Just by taking steps to reduce your anxiety and fear around money, you can improve your positive outlook on life and your sense of well-being.**
Julie Ann Cairns is the author of The Abundance Code: How to Bust The 7 Money Myths For A Rich Life Now (Hay House, September 2015) and has spearheaded The Abundance Code Documentary (March 2016) to help people everywhere make a shift to the abundance mindset and seek joint solutions to our planet's most pressing challenges. She is co-founder and managing director of Trading Pursuits Group in Sydney.
Thank you ♥
