Money Monday: How to Overcome Poverty Consciousness

today is a great day | Okay, so I’ve decided Mondays will now be my “Money Monday” posts where I drop some knowledge, lessons, personal anti-climactic experiences and successes with the almighty dollar.  I’m currently doing research on the history of money and how it relates to blacks, esoterically.  I’ll try to post that next Monday.  But today, I wanted to shed some light on why the hell most people stay broke.

Have you wondered why people who win the lottery or make large sums of money go broke in record breaking times?  Well, generally, it’s because they have a poverty consciousness.  I personally know folks that will swear up and down, they do not have a poverty consciousness.  Of course, they know what it is, but are completely oblivious to the fact that they have it.

First off, poverty consciousness is the set of attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and values associated with material lack or fear of material lack, that has been ingrained in your subconscious mind over a period of time.  When this poverty is firmly planted into your subconscious, it becomes your reality… what you visually see around you, in the form of circumstances, events, etc.  If you follow me on twitter, I’m sure you’ve noticed I tweet a lot on the power of your subconscious mind.

“Prosperity is not just having things.
It is the consciousness that attracts the things.
Prosperity is a way of living and thinking,
and not just having money or things.
Poverty is a way of living and thinking,
and not just a lack of money or things. “
—Eric Butterworth

It’s relatively easy to see if you have a poverty consciousness.  I’ve listed a few attitudes and beliefs below.  By no means is it an exhaustive list.  If you’ve ever said, believe, or remember your mama saying it day in, day out, then you have a poverty consciousness:

• Money doesn’t grow on trees.

• I’m poor, but at least I’m happy.

• I can’t afford that.

• You can’t have it all.

• Be realistic.

• Save, save, save!

• You never know what will happen down the road.

• Get a job. **looks for entry level position**

• A penny saved is a penny earned.

• Clean your plate. Don’t waste that food. Don’t you know there are starving people in the world!

• A fool and his money…

• Dag, some people have all the luck.

• It’s always somebody in Utah, or some midwest state, winning the lottery.

• Money can’t buy happiness.

• Money can’t buy love.

• Not everyone is meant to be rich.

• You gotta have money to make money./It takes money to make money.

• Rich people are unhappy.

• Everybody in the world can’t be millionaires.

• I don’t have to be a billionaire like Gates, I’ll be happy with a couple of thousand.

• People with money are evil and wicked.

• Now that he got money, he think he all that! SMH – Some people don’t need money.

• You have to be smart to be rich.

• I didn’t finish high school./I didn’t graduate from college.

• I don’t have any rich friends.  Who’s gonna put me on?

• Everyone can’t be a millionaire.

• Money is the root of all evil.

• Rich people are crooks.

• Money corrupts the soul.

Hear ye, hear ye:  If you have parted your lips and said any of this, you have a poverty consciousness.  And, more often than not, your a$$ stay broke or you get money and it seems to evaporate… as soon as you get it.  I’m not pointing the finger, because I’ve been in the same boat.  Hell, even today, I have to consciously reiterate wealth and abundance affirmations to myself. [mental note to self: Don’t say “hell”, say “heaven”]

“Don’t wait for a new world order.  Instead, envision your world now with new eyes.”
-yours truly 🙂

I’ve noticed many people, including myself at times, lack the mental ability or wherewithal to hang in there during tough times. When you’re overwhelmed with credit card debt or the lights get cut off, Comcast turns the cable off, AT&T or Verizon cuts the cell phone off, internet gets cut off, no gas money for the car, or the rent is 5 days past due cuz you short $300, you forget you can control your thoughts.  I’ve read countless mind empowering books and they all make it seem so easy.  Not really.  It’s only easy when you are in a calm state of mind.  But right in the midst of adversity, that sh*t goes right out the window!  Sitting there worrying and panicking… except for those that say f*ck it and roll a blunt. LOL

“The mind in itself, in its own place, can make a hell out of heaven and heaven out of hell.”
-John Milton (whoever he is)

Because I have been in dire straits before, I was determined to figure out a way to turn my poverty consciousness into a prosperity consciousness.  It’s still a work in progress.  After all, I had it for the first 25 years of my life and like all habits, it takes time to reverse.  I made a simple 3-step process that worked and continues to work for me.  And yes, I’m gonna toot my own horn, “toot, toot”  🙂 #donthate

The first step in changing your poverty consciousness into an abundant consciousness is to first admit you have a poverty consciousness.  You won’t be able to change it, if you stay in denial.  Trust me, I know.  It just prolongs the process.

The second step is to challenge or zap those poverty beliefs you’ve had since you were a child.  I’m going to take the poverty beliefs I listed above and show you exactly how to zap them.  Remember, challenge these beliefs EVERY day.

• Money doesn’t grow on trees. <—[Yes it does, sort of. The bark goes through a process to make paper. Money is paper. So money comes from trees. Say to yourself, “There’s always plenty of money. It grows on trees! Go]

• I’m poor, but at least I’m happy. <—[Are you really happy? No you’re not! You’re just trying to psych yourself out.  And you know it’s not working.  Say to yourself, “I’m rich, happy and lovin’ it baby!”]

• I can’t afford that. <—[No you can’t because you said it.  You don’t know you’re powerful, huh?  You can simply “speak” anything into existence.  Life and death can be in the tongue. You obviously can’t fathom this much power, which is probably why you say dumb stuff???  Say to yourself, “I CAN afford it. I’ll just be back later for it.”]

• You can’t have it all. <—[Who said that? You believed them? You’re a silly rabbit.  Whoever told you that tricked you, so they can sit back and laugh at you make do with so little.  It’s just a game to them and you are the pawn. Wake up.  Say to yourself, “I can have whatever I want. There’s plenty to go around.”]

• Be realistic. <—[Realistic?  You mean aware or acceptance of reality? Remember, everyone has their own reality which you have nothing to do with.  When someone says that to you, they want you to function in their perceived reality. Be “realistic” for yourself, not someone else.  Say to yourself, “I can really make this happen in my reality, realistically.”]

• Save, save, save! <—[No. No. No. This is not the way to put money up for a rainy day.  This mentality of “save, save, save” comes from a scarcity mindset… needing to save for fear something will run out.  “Oh noooooo, hoard everything. We won’t have anything for the future if we don’t save!”  #Stopit. #SillyRabbit.  Say to yourself, constantly, “I have so much there’s always so much left over for days ahead!”  This is how you want to approach having money always, from an abundance mindset, not a scarcity one. Big difference.]

• You never know what will happen down the road. <—[No one does.  Grow up.  Say to yourself, “Today is such a great present.  Everyday is a great present.”  No one, rich or poor, knows what will happen down the road.  If each day is great, and you plant that into your subconscious, you won’t even worry about “down the road”. #realtalk]

• Get a job. **looks for entry level position** <—[Oh gosh, I think everyone knows how I feel about a job… indentured servitude.  By looking for a job to pay your bills, you are telling your subconscious, “don’t use your infinite power to create abundance for me, I want to be limited with just a little bit, please.”  And your subconscious will much oblige you.  Say to yourself, “My subconscious is a storehouse of wealth. I use my innate talents to create unlimited cash flow.”]

• A penny saved is a penny earned. <—[You will be much obliged. Your subconscious will create circumstances where you’ll only be able to save pennies after working so hard for them, you silly rabbit!  Say to yourself, “A million saved is a million earned.”  Wouldn’t you rather work for millions than for pennies?]

• Clean your plate. Don’t waste that food. Don’t you know there are starving people in the world!  <—[Here we go again with the scarcity mindset.  You don’t have to clean your plate.  Eat until your satisfied, if it’s some left, put it in the fridge or throw it away.  You cleaning your plate is not going to make anyone any difference.  You’re not helping someone who’s starving by cleaning your plate, you’re only telling your subconscious mind, “There’s no abundance because others are starving.”  If you’re that concerned with starving folks, go volunteer to feed the hungry and say to yourself, “There is always so much food for everybody.”]

• A fool and his money…  <—[Me thinks you’re a fool if you don’t want money.  After all, it’s used as the medium of exchange in our society.]

• Dag, some people have all the luck. <—[Instead of sending your energy over to those people, try redirecting it back to you.  Say to yourself, “Ha! I have all the luck. How you like me now biatch?!”]

• It’s always somebody in Utah, or some midwest state, winning the lottery. <—[Did your a$$ buy a ticket? No? Well shut up! Buy a ticket and you might win.]

• Money can’t buy happiness. <—[Let the bank mysteriously deposit $4,874,472 into your bank account.  Let me guess, you’re going to be miserable right?  Don’t be a schmuck!  You’ll be happy you can do whatever you always wanted to do.]

• Money can’t buy love. <—[But you can sure have fun trying! Eventually, the right one will come along.  Love has nothing to do with money.  Say to yourself, “I love myself.” Love attracts love.]

• Not everyone is meant to be rich. <—[That’s what some want you to think.  Remember, ‘they’ think of you as pawns.  It wouldn’t be any fun for them if you were happy and living your life in abundance.  Who would entertain them and make them laugh? OF COURSE YOU WERE MEANT TO BE RICH.  The universe IS endlessly abundant.  If it’s endlessly abundant, you can be rich.  Your choice.]

• You gotta have money to make money./It takes money to make money. <—[No, no you don’t.  I had no money before and walked a dog and got paid.  Even grew it in to a credible, professional luxury concierge service for dogs.  Don’t laugh.  There are some ‘folks’ who treat their dogs better than their kids or equally and pay hefty sums to professionals.  (I’m totally gonna write some “business-in-a-box” type e-books and sell them.  I’m the queen of making a business out of something!)   Anyway, the people who tell you it takes money to make money usually want you to buy something from them.  But who am I to knock the marketing hustle?]

• Rich people are unhappy. <—[They’re not unhappy because they’re rich.  If they are unhappy it’s because karma is kicking their a$$.  Or, maybe they haven’t learned to love themselves.  Say to yourself, “I’m rich and happy. I so lovie meeeeeee!”]

• Everybody in the world can’t be millionaires. <—[Why not? There’s an endless supply of money to go around.  It’s just paper… worthless at that.  It has perceived value, not real value. But hey, who am I to argue.  I’ll take it… in large quantities too, I might add.  It’s the medium of exchange… for now.  Say to yourself, “Wow, everybody can be millionaires. Even me!”]

• I don’t have to be a billionaire like Gates, I’ll be happy with a couple of thousand. <—[And a couple of thousand you shall have.  Have you stopped to think, you said you’ll be happy with a couple of thousand and then you somehow get a couple of thousand.  Well, just say to yourself, “I’ll be happy with a billion or two.”  Maybe you’ll get millions LOL.]

• People with money are evil and wicked. <—[Yeah, some are.  But, I know some broke minions that are evil and wicked too. Go figure.]

• Now that he got money, he think he all that! SMH – Some people don’t need money. <—[No, you just jealous you didn’t get all that money.  #StopHating.  It may come to you too.]

• You have to be smart to be rich. <—[It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look around see what they can do to fill a void.  Hence, opportunities are abound.  Say to yourself, “Anybody can be rich, including me.”]

• I didn’t finish high school./I didn’t graduate from college. <—[Do you not know there are a whole lot of people with doctorate degrees working a mediocre government job… some working fast food.  It. Does. Not. Matter.  Being educated in a school is not a prerequisite for being rich or having abundance.  Of course, some would like you to think that.  If they didn’t, who would give them money in the form of tuition payment???  I’m not knocking college… I graduated from college.  I’m just saying it’s not a prerequisite.  If that were the case, there would be no dropouts living life in the fab lane.  Wake up.]

• I don’t have any rich friends.  Who’s gonna put me on? <—[Uhmmm… you!]

• Money is the root of all evil. <—[No. Wicked people are the root of all evil.  How many times do I have to say, money is paper.  It has no power.  You have the power.]

• Rich people are crooks. <—[Oh really?  I see more poor people robbing banks and stealing money than I see rich people doing it.  A crook is a crook.  It has nothing to do with money.  What you “think” about the money is the reason why you are stealing it. SMH.]

• Money corrupts the soul. <—[No. #Stopit.  Your a$$ was already corrupted before you got money.  Money doesn’t have power.  It’s paper.  You have the power.]

The third step is to practice perspective in every situation.  In other words, change the way you interpret your circumstance, situations, and environments.  Always look for the positive and ignore the negative.  When in the midst of adversity, immediately focus your energy on the positive.  If you can’t do that immediately, be still and lay like broccoli. (“Lay like broccoli”  Remember that line from the movie Pretty Woman w/ Julia Roberts?)  Anyway, one of the universal laws is the law of polarity, which means everything has an opposite.  If something is bad, there is also good in it.  The next storm of life you encounter, remember however you respond to it will dictate the results that will come about.

So those are my 3 easy steps to leap from poverty to prosperity, subconsciously and consciously.  Share this with everyone who know.  When you share wealth, it comes back ten-fold. 😀

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