The underlying belief system

Copyright (c) 2005 Oyvind Hennum

Many of us do not consider the underlying belief system about money to be of any importance. You think it does not matter, because what matters is what you do now. Right, at one level, but not complete. All ideas that we have learned about money in the past are colouring our actions today.
These are ideas that you are unconsciously following, because you are not aware of them. It might be: “money is bad”, “there is never enough money”, “money does not grow on trees”, etc. The list is long and painful to read, when you realize that this is actually a part of you. I was thinking: how come these beliefs are so strong? Why am I blocking myself from financial freedom? I have been working on myself for 6 years now, and the beliefs are still there! So I went looking for answers in self help books, personal development books, New Age books and financial freedom articles etc. I have also done Psychokineseology, past life sessions and been talking to a lot of people.
The answer that I come up with so far is: the underlying beliefs are coming in as all other conditioning, from our early years. Some people suggest that also past life experiences can have an influence. Our childhood conditioning comes mainly from our parents and then the rest of our family, and also from the environment around us. If the idea in the place you grew up is that money is scarce, you can be sure that this idea sneaked into your mind somewhere along the line and it is probably stuck there without you knowing it. You are just wondering why there never seems to be enough money around.
So if you now can grasp the idea of negative thinking patterns about money, I will tell you to move on. If it is difficult for you to accept this idea and you are now thinking that this does not count for you, because you have learned positive thinking, then stop. Look at the reality and do a little check up: is my positive thinking really working?
I am asking you to do this because my experience is that positive thinking and a YES! Mentality not always is enough. The negative thought patterns I am talking about are deep, you can call them “root thought” or “sponsoring thought”, it is thoughts that are lying underneath and behind your conscious thoughts that you are thinking on an everyday basis.
They are very strong and strong enough to sabotage your new way of thinking that might be very positive and good. I point this out very strongly, because it is important that you are willing to look at your own thoughts and to work on them to change them into healthy sponsoring thoughts that are healthy for you and will bring you abundance and wealth instead of struggle and suffering.
To change these thoughts you have to be persistent, you will need a burning desire to train your mind into thinking differently. You will have to do a little brainwash and afterwards a lot of re-learning with your new and healthy thoughts. To train your mind
I will explain to you the concept “Act as if”. “Act as if” works the other way round of the normal creation process, which goes like this: thought, word ,deed (action). An idea comes into your mind as a thought and takes shape and gets clear, that is the first step in creating.
Then comes the next step, which is the word. In the gospel of St.John in the Bible: “In the beginning was only the word”, there is a great truth, only that in the very, very beginning there was also a thought – an idea. The word gets spoken out or written and makes the idea more strong, more solid. This is already a big accomplishment in the creation process, but the idea is still not physical reality.
This comes in the third step “Deed”, or the action that you do, to give your idea physical form. Take a look at this practical example: I had an idea long time ago that it would be great to have a practical “how to do guide” on how to create financial freedom; initially I had the idea because many of my friends and people I met where complaining over the lack of money to do what they want.
As I talked with them it seemed that the reasons for these problems often were similar and I had a feeling that there had to be a solution for this. I wanted to find the solutions (ideas, thoughts, step one), write them down, make them clear and easy to understand, when spoken in a seminar or written down (word – step two) and then in the end to make this article and make it available for everyone who would be interested (deed, action, step 3).
As you are now reading this article, you can see the practical result of the thought – word – deed -process unfolded straight in front of you! Going back to where we started, with the concept of “Act as if”, we have to look at why and how to do it. Why? It is because the process of creation does not only work with the conscious thoughts you have, but also with your sub-conscious beliefs. So if your underlying belief system always tells you that there is not enough money that is the reality you create.
To train your sub-conscious to think differently, you first of all have to become aware of when these beliefs kick in. For me it works like this: There is a Salvation Army officer standing in the street, giving out their magazine and collecting money. When I see him I immediately shrink and think: I hope he does not see me.
Now, of course, he sees me and gives me a smile, and I think, okay, I’ll give him some money. After all I know that this makes me feel good. Then, for the same reason that I tried to avoid him, I also start having second thoughts about giving him the small donation.
The thought goes like this: I don’t want to give away the money, because if I do, then I will have less and I do not have much at all. How can I just give away the little that I have (root thought = it’s never enough money). In short term thinking it is right, I will have less money if I give some of it away. In longer term thinking, not.
What I do when I walk pass the Salvation Army officer without giving any money is to re-affirm to myself the idea that I can not afford to give him money, because there is never enough. So what I can do to change this root thought is to first give him the money I thought of, I know it is going to make me feel good, and then think to myself: WOW! I can afford to give him money, I know that there is more where it is coming from and I trust that this will end up in my pocket and on my bank account, so I can happily share it with more people.
This action will then affirm your new thought which is: There is always enough money! Now you might think, this is a lie, but then take the new thought you have learned by “acting as if” and look again on the thought, word , deed process. You might think this is extremely difficult and everything inside of you says NO! But still, try it out.
You do not have to give away all your money, that is not the point. The point is that you give yourself the feeling of abundance and that you can share. If you have very little money, you can give according to that. It is important that you get the feeling, so you can start believing in your new thought.
When you say to yourself that you always have enough money for everything you want and need, you will protest and say: “This is not true, fact is this, and that and blah, blah.” You are right! Fact may be this or that, but if you want to change you better start here, right at the root cause of your money problems.
This is a little bit of “Fake it till you make it”. You can make it easier for yourself by thinking thoughts that you can accept, like:” I know there is more money out there and right now I am figuring out how to get it to flow into my bank account”.
Then you give yourself a feeling of security and that it is actually true: there is enough money! When you get your head around this one, you are a giant leap further ahead on the road to financial freedom.

Copyright (c) 2005 Oyvind Hennum

About the Author

Oyvind Hennum runs the web site http://www.financial-freedom-made-simple.com