Personal development
Money and deserving: transforming the inner relationship with abundance
Few relationships are as loaded with inherited messages as the one we have with money. Before learning to earn or manage it, we absorb ideas about who deserves to prosper, what it means to be rich, and whether material well-being is compatible with an honest life. This article proposes reviewing those beliefs with clarity, distinguishing abundance from accumulation, and building a freer and more conscious relationship with the resources we have and those we want to generate.
By Pedro J. Pérez ·
Money is not just a number
There is an idea worth dismantling from the start: that the relationship with money is reduced to what appears in a bank account. In reality, money is also an emotional language. What we say about it, what we feel when we spend it, what we avoid looking at in an invoice, or what we imagine when we think about prospering reveals a personal story that we have almost never chosen consciously.
That story is built early. Phrases heard in childhood, gestures of tension at the family table, comments about those who had more or less. No one needs to have given us a formal speech about wealth: it is enough to have breathed the atmosphere of a home where money was a forbidden topic, dangerous, or a source of conflict. Over the years, those impressions become silent beliefs that operate beneath our decisions.
The beliefs that slow us down without making noise
Some of those beliefs are easy to recognize because we repeat them out loud: that money is hard to obtain, that whoever has it must have done something dubious, that worrying about the economy is a sign of little spirituality. Others, however, are more subtle. They manifest in the discomfort of charging what is fair for a job, in the tendency to spend without looking when an unexpected income arrives, or in the feeling that asking for more is a form of selfishness.
It is worth observing them without judgment. It is not about declaring them enemies or erasing them with a motivational phrase repeated in front of the mirror. It is about recognizing that they are there, that they served some function at the time, and that today they may be limiting real possibilities. A belief stops being an unquestionable truth when we look at it head-on and ask ourselves whether it still serves us.
Abundance is not the same as accumulation
The word abundance is often confused with excess. However, abundance has more to do with the feeling that there is enough, that resources circulate, and that one can participate in that movement without constant fear. It is an inner disposition that does not depend exclusively on the available balance, although it is also reflected in how we manage it.
This distinction matters because it liberates. If abundance were only a number, any moment of scarcity would leave us with nothing to do. But if it is also a way of looking, then even in tight stages we can cultivate decisions that expand: learning, organizing, asking for help, recognizing what we already have. Anxious accumulation, on the other hand, usually arises from fear and rarely produces lasting tranquility.
Visualizing with feet on the ground
Visualization is a valuable tool when it is well understood. It does not consist of imagining checks that will appear by magic, but of mentally rehearsing the version of ourselves that we want to build: how we would make decisions, what conversations we would have, what habits we would sustain if our economic situation were more comfortable. That rehearsal prepares the mind to recognize opportunities that previously went unnoticed.
The value of imagining in detail is that it connects desire with behavior. If I see myself managing calmly, perhaps I will start organizing my expenses. If I imagine myself negotiating with confidence, perhaps I will dare to ask for a review of my rate. Visualization does not replace action, but it can orient it and give it direction. The important thing is that it does not become a refuge where fantasy replaces the concrete step.
Gratitude that does not stay in words
Giving thanks for what already exists is a simple and powerful practice, as long as it does not become an empty formula. Genuine gratitude changes the focus: instead of looking only at what is missing, it recognizes what sustains daily life, from a modest income to a work tool that functions. That recognition does not deny difficulties; it places them in a broader panorama.
When gratitude becomes a habit, it also improves decision-making. It is easier to manage with a clear head when we are not in permanent complaint mode. And it is simpler to share or invest when we feel that there is already something to care for. Gratitude does not guarantee results, but it does create a more favorable inner climate for acting with clarity and generosity.
A practice to start today
I propose a brief and concrete exercise. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into two columns. In the first, write the phrases about money that you remember having heard or thought most frequently. In the second, note next to each one what decision it has prevented you from making or what emotion it awakens in you. Do not look for perfect answers: it is enough to name.
Then, choose just one of those beliefs and formulate a realistic alternative, not a grandiose one. If the original said that charging well is taking advantage, the alternative could be that receiving what is fair allows me to do my work better. Repeat that new formulation for a week and observe what changes in your way of talking about money, negotiating, or spending. Transformation is rarely instantaneous, but each conscious step widens the margin of freedom from which you decide.
Reading and references
- Manifesting Money Using the Law of Attraction (It Works!) — Jack Canfield