Money Is a Symbol: What It Reveals About What We Believe

Where My Questioning Began

I can only speak about myself, so let me start there.

I grew up hearing that hard work is what makes you rich. One day I simply looked around. If hard work made anyone rich, it would have been my entire family, and my husband Uwe's family too. They worked hard their whole lives. Rich was never the result.

So I started questioning the theory of "hard" work. That led me to a bigger question. Why did I believe life itself was hard? The honest answer: because my mom said it was.

When I looked closer, I saw that life was hard for her because she did not want to grow. She did not want to learn, or follow anything that inspired her to move forward. Her life was hard, and she called it the truth about life.

Once I saw that, I asked myself a new question: What if life was easy, if I allowed it to be easy?

That question changed everything. It was 2004. I left church, and I found the teachings of Abraham-Hicks.

Money Is a Symbol

Abraham teaches that a belief is just a thought you keep thinking. That simple idea opened the door for me. "Life is hard" was never a fact. It was my mom's thought, practiced so long it felt like truth, and then handed down to me.

Money works the same way. Money is a symbol. It represents what we believe about ourselves, within ourselves.

When someone believes money must be earned through struggle, the money is not the problem. The belief underneath is. It might sound like "I have to sacrifice to deserve it," or "there is never enough," or "people with money are not good people." Money simply reflects that thought back.

How a Money Belief Builds Itself

Here is what I have come to see. A money belief does not just sit there. It builds itself in a loop:

1. The belief. A thought about money we keep thinking.

2. A distorted mood. Because of that belief, our mood around money bends. It becomes a constant feeling of not enough.

3. The search for evidence. That feeling drives us to look for proof that we are right.

4. Conviction. We find the proof, and now we feel convinced.

5. Confidence, or faith. Conviction grows into confidence. Many people call this faith.

6. The results. Life delivers results that match, and they reinforce the conviction.

7. The mood is set. And we are back at the belief, stronger than before.

Conviction is the big piece. It is not weak or wrong. It is powerful. Most of us simply have a strong faith in "not enough." And here is the good news. Conviction works the same way in both directions. The very loop that built faith in lack can build faith in ease, in flow, and in freedom.

The Belief That Matters Is the One You Hold Now

So which money beliefs need to be confronted first? Many people want to go back over their entire life to find the answer. But the truth is in this moment.

If a belief is just a thought you keep thinking, then the belief to look at is the one you are thinking right now. Your past may explain where it came from. Only the present can change it.

I did not relive my whole childhood to let go of "life is hard." I noticed the thought, questioned it, and asked a better question.

You can do the same. The next time money comes up, whether it is a bill, a price, or someone else's success, pause and notice:

• What feeling shows up?

• What thought is riding along with it?

That thought is your present-moment belief. And the moment you notice it, you are already free to ask a new question: What if money was easy, if I allowed it to be?

Marilyn Holzmann