WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS
ABOUT MONEY?

Personally, I needed to get past a few negative feelings I had about money before I felt worthy enough as a person to pursue any form of wealth creation.

Perhaps you may also have deep-rooted feelings that go way back to your childhood. We all need to face whatever it is that may be standing in our way that prevents us from being successful, whether it be in our personal life or financial endeavours.

We are a product of how we were raised. I'm sure you've heard this statement a thousand times before, but have you ever taken the time to really think about what this means..... to you personally?

We didn't pop out of our mother's womb, ready to face the world with our opinions, attitudes and fears. All these things developed while we were growing up. We were influenced by our surroundings and the people that were around us, whether we happened to like them or not. Our environment helped us develop our feelings on things, positively or negatively.

What ENVIRONMENT did you grow up in?

-Did you live in an apartment, a mansion, a house, the projects?

-Were you a foster child, a step-child or were you adopted?

-Were you poor, rich, middle-class or in poverty?

-Did you go to public school, private school, boarding school or were you home-schooled?

-When you looked out the window, did you see grass, trees and birds or a concrete jungle?

-Did you live with one or two parents, with siblings or as a single child?

-Did you have many people in your life; relatives, friends etc., or were you alone much of the time?

-Were your feelings treated with love and respect or ignored?

-Did your parents argue or worry about money or was money never an issue?

-Were you a victim of verbal, physical or mental abuse?

-Were you brought up Christian, Buddist, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist etc.,

-Were you free to express ideas and be yourself or were you to be seen and not heard?

Do any of the following THOUGHTS AND TEACHINGS sound familiar to you?

Was it reinforced that "money doesn't grow on trees" or that your parent/s weren't "made of money"?

Were you taught empathy for others or were you allowed to be selfish, without feelings for others?

Were you taught to set goals and work to achieve them?

Were you shown hatred and intolerance for certain things or people, or were you taught equality?

Were you pushed to do really well in school, so you would be successful in life?

Were you told that you wouldn't amount to much?

Were you taught that "money is the root of all evil"?

Were you taught that you will have "made it" in life if you have a lot of money? or were you taught that "there is much more to life than just money"?

Was there an excessive amount of discipline in the home or were there no rules to follow?

Were you taught that family togetherness was important?

Were you taught that giving is just as important as getting?

Were you taught that if you have a lot of money it only makes you superior and insensitive to others?

Were you taught to "do as I say, not as I do"?

I'm sure you're getting the picture!

We were formed into the person we are today from our environment and from listening to, watching and imitating the people closest to us.

If you grew up in a balanced, healthy environment and have developed strong family relationships and great self-esteem,you are truly blessed! Wealth creation without fear and guilt will be much easier for you.

For those of us who have had some negative experiences, it does us no good to sweep our feelings under the carpet or to use those experiences as excuses as to why we can't get ahead in life.

We can't ignore where we came from and how that shaped us into who we are today. Neither can we go back in time and change our parents or the environment we grew up in.

It's important that we acknowledge that it was their way and their opinion only, and let it go. Learn from it, but don't allow yourself to wallow in it because that will just put your life on hold.

What they did or didn't do has nothing to do with what you are doing right now. We are blessed that we can have choices; to be different, to think differently and to act differently.

We need to be in control of our present and our future, so please don't hand over that power to someone else.

Once we start feeling that we can be in charge of our own destiny, and that we can make the conscious decision to not repeat any negative habits from our past, we'll be able to take control of our financial destiny as well. Then we can teach our children a healthy and positive way to create wealth.