If you focus your attention on the lack of money, that’s what will get reinforced.
Where you put your mental attention is what gets nourished.
Poverty comes to the person who is emotionally and intellectually prepared for it.
Prosperity is attracted to the person who is emotionally and intellectually ready to accept it,
expect it, and enjoy it.
—JERRY GILLES, as quoted by David Gershon and Gail Straub,
Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life as You Want It
Your beliefs about scarcity and abundance directly influence the financial choices you make: You may decide not to take a job because the pay is lower or the hours are longer; you may be accustomed to being taken care of; or you might sincerely believe you’re not good enough for the kind of job you dream of. Can you change your mind-set? I believe you can.
Wealth is the product of a man’s capacity to think.
—AYN RAND, American writer
1. Do you live your life from scarcity or abundance?
Scarcity is fear-based. It’s thinking there is not enough to go around. Scarcity can stem from believing money is wrong, or that you’re not good enough to have it. Scarcity is denying one-third of the very foundation upon which Quantum Leap Thinking is built: your creative potential.
Belief in abundance is a leap of faith. It is the belief that you can always create what money you need and you possess all the resources you need. That belief will give you energy.
2. Do you believe money is good or bad, spiritual or unspiritual?
Some of us look at money as if it were some living, breathing entity capable of good and bad acts, but money is what we project on it. True wealth is a state of mind.
3. How much is enough?
Get past what other people think and decide for yourself. You may choose to live a simple life that demands little in the way of money. How much is enough for you and the life you’ve chosen? Create the amount of money you need to support the life you want.
Affirmations can be a powerful tool. I suspect they are a mild form of self-hypnosis and make us aware of opportunities to which we might otherwise be blind. Affirmations, like the ones below, are positive statements of possibility. Choose one and repeat it during the day, while you’re commuting, bathing the baby, dialing the phone. Affirmations are a great adjunct to visualization.
• I am creating financial independence in my life.
• I deserve prosperity.
• Money allows me to manifest my vision.
• Money allows me to manifest my spiritual ideas.
• I allow money to flow to me effortlessly.
My personal favorite is ‘‘Great prosperity is flowing in my direction.’’ It’s a trigger to reaffirm my positive beliefs about wealth.
However, the greatest secret to financial wealth is the obvious: Create something of value. Look for a need and fill it, but begin with yourself. Consider how you can make yourself more valuable.
Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.
—JOHN WESLEY, English theologian, evangelist, and founder of Methodism
James Mapes is a speaker, excellence coach, clinical hypnosis, award-winning performer and a bestselling author of Quantum Leap Thinking: An Owner’s Guide to the Mind. His new web-enhanced book is IMAGINE THAT! Igniting Your Brain for Creativity and Peak Performance. He is a blogger for Huffington Post & The Good Men Project.