A Negative Mindset About Money Can Trap You In Poverty

Be careful with the thoughts and beliefs you entertain because they can shape your physical reality. Many people, however, are unaware of this. What you think, the words you speak and what you believe about life and yourself can influence the outcomes of your life.

When you say them over and over with emotion, they take form in your subconscious mind. Imagine that form being a plant. The more you hold onto these beliefs and thought patterns, the more they will nourish and water this plant and that plant will grow into a tree. The more you repeat these beliefs about your life, the stronger this ‘tree’ in the subconscious mind will be. This tree will, in turn, influence your conscious mind. The conscious mind will then influence your behaviours, actions and decisions to make what you believe about your life a reality; a self-fulfilling prophecy.

How Does This Work With Poverty

David grew up in a poor home. During his childhood, he witnessed his parents carry so much financial burden and argue about money. His siblings and family friends would make jokes about the poverty his family experienced from time to time.

David and his family consumed entertainment content, music, news and media that glorified the idea of getting money by committing crime. Such content shaped their minds to believe that money is evil and that rich people are evil. His family and family friends reinforced this belief on multiple occasions. They would discourage him from pursuing a life beyond their own. They remind him that the love of money is the root of all evil, so he shouldn’t bother pursuing it. No one ever thought that maybe a lack of financial literacy and poor money management could be the problem. They tell him to live as they live. Nothing more.

From time to time, his family and friends continue to make jokes about the poverty. Sometimes, David participated in these jokes as well, about how they are always in survival mode. That they are always lacking. Soon, they start saying and thinking things such as, “Being rich and wealthy just wasn’t meant for people like us,” or “Money doesn’t grow on trees boy.”

Financial stress would come and go. To numb their pain, they ate ultra-processed and junk food and drank sodas and alcohol for comfort. These caused a number of health issues over the years, requiring visits to the hospital, which added more financial burden. These misfortunes further reinforced the belief that they were meant to suffer and experience lack. A Scarcity Mindset had been developing in their minds over the years.

They saw more crazy stories about the wealthy and all the things they can afford to do. They watch more shows and movies portraying rich people as only being cruel. They became jealous and further held onto the belief that money is evil and will corrupt a man. They continued to tell David to forget about building wealth. But David wasn’t jealous of the rich. He believed in the things his family told him about money, but he was never jealous of the wealthy or anybody doing well. He desired to build wealth like them and to learn the principles of money, but his Scarcity Mindset and negative beliefs about money contributed to his self-sabotage.

All of this negative thinking and negative self-talk grew a negative plant in his subconscious mind. As the negativity was done over and over for decades, feeding and watering that plant with a more negative outlook on life and about his own life, imagine the plant growing into a ‘Negative Tree of Influence’. This tree influenced his conscious mind and which in-turn influenced his behaviours, decisions and actions. As he continued to think that his life was meant for scarcity and always being in survival mode, imagine his subconscious mind saying, “Oh, you keep thinking about these negative things so much. Let me bring more of these to you. In addition to that, let me create more opportunities for you to experience these negative things.”. He paid so much attention to these negative outcomes and his past. Therefore, more of these negative outcomes occurred, and his conscious mind worked against his efforts to escape scarcity and poverty by subtly discouraging him from performing well in doing anything that would help him escape poverty. The subconscious mind accepts anything, positive or negative. And the subconscious mind is simply returning to him, specifically his conscious mind, what he gave it; negativity about money and his life.

But behind all that negativity, he is holding onto the hope that there is a way out of this life, despite all that his family taught him about money. At the back of his mind, there was a small light in the darkness he did not let go which encouraged him to keep looking and keep searching for a way out. That light caused him to wonder, “Why do I have to live like this? My mother and father sacrificed so much. Why do I have to let them suffer? I have to do something. There has to be a way out of this. I will get them out of this.”.

David decided to change. He took an interest in Software Engineering and desired to build a successful career in the Tech Industry. His journey in learning about software began. But his conscious mind resurfaced old beliefs from his family; “Do not be ambitious. Money is evil, and the love of it is the root of all evil.”. David began to doubt himself and thought, “What if I don’t make it? What if my family is right?”. The doubts about whether he could make this work creeped into his subconscious mind, strengthening that ‘Negative Tree of Influence’. David would eventually sabotage himself. The constant fear of failure subtly nudged him to put in poor effort in his learning. He was not consistent in his work. Instead of practising each day, he would practice on one day and abandon the mission for many days to come. His self-sabotage reinforced the beliefs that his family told him. He says to himself, “Maybe they are right. People like us aren’t meant for wealth and should just do what everyone else is doing.”. But he didn’t give up. He continued to learn with an unfocused and undisciplined mind.

David told his family of his intention to become a software engineer and build wealth. He further encountered more failures in his endeavours, and his family and family friends saw them. They saw him achieve nothing. Some laughed at him, and others made jokes about his efforts. But no one was encouraging him. Instead, they reminded him, “That life is not for people like us.”. They reminded him that rich people are bad. Money is bad and should not be pursued. They instead attempted to teach him how to live with poverty. They tell him, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.”. None of them thought of learning how to live with wealth without allowing it to destroy their morality. None of them, including David, knew anything about financial literacy. But he continued still. And some became envious of his ambitions and they, with more jokes, tried to discourage him. They tell him that there is not enough for everyone in the world and therefore he should just stop. From that moment, he stopped telling them of the things he was doing and kept his agendas to himself. He persisted in holding onto that light in the dark.

Eventually, David sabotaged his efforts constantly and asked himself, “Why does this always happen to me?” not knowing that he is doing this to himself. As long as he is not aware of the Scarcity Mindset, that Negative Tree of Influence playing in his sub-conscious mind, he would remain ignorant of the fact that his own thinking and the words he spoke were destroying him and his self-esteem. They told him everything bad about money. No one told him that just as you can learn to live with poverty, one can learn to live with wealth without allowing oneself to be corrupted by it. No one told him that money is a tool. A tool that amplifies an individual’s good/evil nature. No one told him that although money doesn’t buy happiness, it doesn’t mean one has to be poor just to protect themselves from the alleged corrupting force that money has on the heart. No one told him that instead of chasing money, to build wealth with purpose and with the aim of helping people, so that one does not become obsessed with money. No one told him that crime is not the only way to make it in life, as it is portrayed in films and TV shows.

David doesn’t understand that the more he sees lack and feels lack, the more he attracts it. If he doesn’t get rid of that Negative Tree of Influence in his subconscious mind, his mind will work against him. To escape poverty, David must neglect that tree and build a new one; a Positive Tree of Influence and feed and water it with thoughts and words of abundance. Instead of asking himself

“Why do these things always happen to me?”

He must ask himself

“Why do I always find solutions to problems?” or “Why does good fortune find me and follow me?”

Instead of saying

“I am poor and stupid.”

He must say

“My mind is strong. I am consistent with my work, and I am persistent like water. There is always a solution, and I always find it.”

He must switch from a Scarcity Mindset to an Abundance Mindset. Neglect a fruit tree, and it dies out. Nurture another fruit tree, and it grows strong. The subconscious mind accepts anything, positive or negative, and he must feed it content, entertainment, thoughts, words and actions centred around abundance. He must join circles of people who made it in life so he may learn wisdom from them about the principles of wealth one out to apply in life. To learn financial literacy and how one is to conduct him/herself in life around money and wealth so they don’t lose themselves to it. He must learn how to make money serve him and not him serving it. In turn, his mind will return to him opportunities of abundance and success. Imagine his mind saying, “Aah. You are paying more attention to abundance, success and good fortune. I will present more of these to you (the conscious mind) and more opportunities related to abundance.”. His mind will influence his behaviours, decisions and actions so that the path he takes is aligned with his abundance thinking. He will find himself making decisions that, although they may seem small, help him escape poverty. Abundant thought patterns and consistent work will compound over time, and slowly but surely, David will make it.

What you pay more attention to, especially when combined with positive/negative emotions, is what you attract. Pay more attention to the negativity in your physical reality, and there is a strong possibility you will attract it. To counter this, you must be in control of your inner state of being. Do not allow your physical reality to dictate your inner state of being, else you will attract more of that. This is not to pretend that there aren’t problems. You must acknowledge them, but do not entertain them any more in your mind. You must immediately shut down negative emotions and remain calm. Being negative and complaining about the problems isn’t going to solve them. Immediately switch to being a problem solver and look for answers to the problems. Gradually, your efforts to solve the problem will compound, and you will escape poverty. But if you remain there with negative beliefs about money and repeat them with your mouth and your mind, there is a strong possibility you will remain in poverty.

DO NOT LET YOUR PHYSICAL REALITY DICTATE YOUR INNER STATE OF BEING BECAUSE WHAT YOU PAY MORE ATTENTION TO INWARDLY YOU WILL ATTRACT..