S1 E2: How can I rewire my brain to see money as abundant?
How can I see money as abundant [when money is actually scarce]?
In this episode, Financial Therapist, Rachel Duncan addresses a listener's question about changing their mindset to perceive money as abundant and limitless. Rachel explores the historical and familial contexts that shape our beliefs about money, emphasizing the evolutionary purpose of these beliefs in ensuring safety. She offers practical scripts and advice for rewiring these ingrained thought patterns while ensuring financial security. Rachel encourages specificity in defining what financial abundance means on a personal level. Tune in for a profound conversation about inherited money scripts and steps to foster a balanced approach to financial growth.
Thy these new scripts:
"I am developing sources of income at the same time I'm keeping myself safe."
"I take careful risks."
"I have more options available to me to make money than my ancestors had."
"It's ok for me to earn more than my parents."
"I know exactly how I'd use X-amount of income>"
00:00 Introduction and Listener's Question
00:26 Understanding Money Scripts
01:35 Generational Beliefs About Money
04:28 Rewriting Your Money Script
05:11 Practical Steps for Financial Abundance
05:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Speaker 1
Welcome to the Money Healing Club podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Duncan. I'm a financial therapist and art therapist, and you've come to the softest place to land in personal finance. This podcast is for education and entertainment purposes only. For help with your particular situation, please seek help from a licensed professional in mental health, taxes, and finance.
Here, we talk about all the things we don't usually say when we talk about money. Let's begin.
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Speaker 2
Hey Rachel, my question is how do I rewire my brain to see money as abundant and limitless? And I hope you can hear my child squeaking the toy in the background. Thank you. ───
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Speaker 1
There's a lot of talk out there about money and abundance and how money is unlimited, limitless, as you say. I think there's a part of your question actually that's not here. Is your question really, how do I rewire my brain to see money as abundant and limitless when money really feels scarce and unreliable to me?
I think you're implying that your go to is to consider it to be scarce and limited, or maybe unstable. here's the thing, your brain is wired to survive, and if it has a go to script That is limiting, there's a darn good reason for it. There's probably a learned reason for it. This is where I start with all of my clients and all of my work. We have to see where you are right now. So your instinctive money script that probably came from multi generational experiences led you to the obvious conclusion that money is in fact limited and is in fact unreliable.
And that is probably true. ──
Hey, it's not all doom and gloom, but I just want to be real about where you're at.
I like to dig into the past, even if we want to look to the future.
─ So could it be somewhere in either your past, or your family's past, or your people's past that There was the lesson learned that money is scarce. It's sort of a cautionary tale, right? It's protective. For many people, that has been the reality and continues to be. Money is scarce. ─ So if that was taught to your ancestors, to your grandparents and parents, and it came down to you, even if it's not relevant for your particular life right now, it probably has historical context.
I would encourage you to think about why did my ancestors learn that? Is there something, even in your grandparents' generation, your parents' generation, where maybe they went through hard times or they went through some injustice or economic disadvantages, no fault of their own, and they wanted to let their children know, Hey, protect yourself.
Money is scarce. That hard wiring is going to be much more powerful than this sort of new wave of talk of money being abundant. It's not that it's not true, but it's not going to go anywhere when we still are carrying a traumatic reaction, protecting ourselves from money because it's been dangerous before.
So what's really inside the script? So if I'm right in guessing that your subconscious, very strong script is money is scarce. ── What is the underlying message of safety there for you? Is it protect yourself? ─ Is it be protective of your money? Be protective of your safety.
Is it, things can turn on a dime. ── Everything I just said is completely true. ─ Things can turn on a dime.
It's a good practice to be protective of your money. There's a lot of unknowns out there in the world. And I'm wondering if those are actually the messages of safety that you're carrying with you that kind of through the game of telephone have been mistranslated to protecting you from earning more money or maybe developing a business or whatever it is, whatever financial abundance means to you, if you're feeling some block there, there could be some overprotective measure.
A part of you is keeping you from pursuing more money because there's risk that you need to protect yourself from. And again, reflect what you might know about your family, your people. When was it risky to go out on a limb? It can be risky to go out there to try something new, to invent something, to, Charge money for something that you're doing. That has historically been a risky thing to do. ─
So maybe it makes all the sense in the world that your people have implanted in you some resistance to it. So we sit with our ancestors. ─── We thank them for protecting us with these, these messages of safety. That's all they want is safety. ─ And let's rewrite that script. ─ Here's the rewiring part that you've asked for. ───━ I am developing sources of income at the same time I'm keeping myself and my family safe. ─── I take careful risks.
── I keep my money safe.
─ There are more options available to me for making money than my ancestors had.
Making more money than my parents made is a safe thing.
And maybe a bigger one is, ─ y'all can trust me to handle more money. ─ And that's a question, can you trust yourself to handle more money? ─
I bet deep down you do know. But I wonder if you need to communicate that to your ancestors. Hey, I know exactly what I would do with more income. ─ Let them know.
── And I got to tell you that last line, just saying that ─ healed something in me as an entrepreneur and as a cycle breaker and with all the opportunities available to me there, there are more ways for me to make money than my parents could ever fathom. So I too have a bit of a script of limiting my income to replicate what my parents experienced.
But really they would have loved to make more money. They weren't able to make online communities that could scale.
That wasn't the time they lived in. ─ And that just was not even an option. And I do have more opportunities to make money than they did. And maybe that's what's really going on. ──── I am at the outer edge of what my family knows is possible. And don't we hope that for each generation to push the edge of what's possible?
And I wonder if you are there at the edge of what was possible for your family financially. ───
Play with some scripts along these lines. You see how they're still very true. Do you see how if you were to say these things to your ancestors, they'd be like, yeah, that's what we meant. ── We just want you to be safe. Things can turn on a dime. So try to rewrite a script that acknowledges the message of safety ─ and goes towards the thing you really want, which sounds like, in practical terms, more income.
─── I will keep myself safe while also pursuing more income. For me, that feels a lot more grounded than the term abundance. For me, the word abundance doesn't mean a whole lot. ─ And that could be because I'm a human design generator. I'm have a lot of Capricorn in my chart. Like abundance doesn't mean a lot to me.
What are we really talking about? Are we talking about more income? ─ Are we talking about buying assets that will grow? I would encourage you to get really more specific about what abundance means for you.
So if this contributor is listening, please let me know if any of this guidance is helpful for you. Thank you so much.
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thanks for listening to the Money Healing Club podcast. You can find resources and links from this episode in the show notes at moneyhealingclub. com slash podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, you'd probably really love my free email course on curbing impulse spending with compassion and mindfulness.
Check it out at moneyhealingclub. com slash challenge. Do you have a question about how financial therapy might help you? Leave me a voicemail at moneyhealingclub. com. And I might answer your question in a future episode of the pod. We are in this together and I really appreciate it.
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