Question The Belief: "I Need More Money"

Do money worries keep coming back, even when you try to relax? In this 30-minute guided meditation, you’ll question the stressful belief “I need more money” using The Work of Byron Katie.

As you begin to loosen your belief in this thought, you may discover a different way of experiencing your life as it is right now with more clarity, freedom, trust, and inner peace, even before your financial circumstances change.

Step by step, you’ll move through the four questions and turnarounds and explore how this thought affects your emotions, your relationship with money, and the way you experience your life. This self-inquiry can be especially helpful with money anxiety, financial stress, scarcity thinking, fear about the future, limiting beliefs, and inner pressure.

Transcript

Welcome, I'm glad you are here. Today I would like to guide you through the work of Byron Katie as we question one of the most common and stressful thoughts about money. I need more money. Before we begin, Find a quiet place where you can relax and won't be disturbed for about 30 minutes. Make yourself comfortable. If you'd like, Have a pen and some paper nearby. You may find it helpful to write down your stressful thought. The turnarounds. And any insight that come to you along the way. Whenever you would like a little more time with one of the questions, Simply pause the audio and continue whenever you're ready. Since we can't sit together the way we would in a private session, I will offer a few suggestions that I have found helpful while guiding people through the work over the past 25 years. Please don't worry if one of those suggestions doesn't seem to fit at first. Before you set it aside, Simply notice whether it might apply to your situation in a way you hadn't considered yet. Now let your attention gently drift back. Perhaps just a few days, Maybe a few weeks or even much further. See whether one specific situation comes to mind where you believe the thought, I need more money. When exactly did that thought appear? What happened just before? Allow one situation to come to you. There is no need to search. Simply notice what appears. If several situations come to mind, Choose just one. Otherwise, Your attention may keep moving back and forth between different situations, Making the inquiry less clear. Choose one brief moment, Perhaps 5 to 10 seconds. One particular place you're sitting, Standing, Walking or lying down somewhere. See that moment as clearly as you can. Stay with this one situation as we move through the inquiry together. The work doesn't have to be hard work. You don't need to search for answers. I would like to invite you to lean back. And simply notice what comes to you when you give the questions enough space. Before we begin, See whether you can let go of any goal for this inquiry. If you already know what you hope to achieve, It can become harder to discover something completely new. Can you allow yourself to move through this process with an open mind? Without trying to arrive anywhere in particular, Simply allowing new possibilities to find you. In my experience, That's one of the most powerful ways to question your thoughts. Whenever you would like a little more time, Simply pause the audio. Now bring your one specific situation back to mind. The moment where the thought appeared, I need more money. Stay with that one situation. Can you notice that? I need more money is a thought? And in that situation, Is it true? Wait and see whether a simple yes or no appears. Stay with that same situation. Can you absolutely know that it's true? Can you be 100% certain? That in that moment you need more money, Just wait and see whether a simple yes or no appears. Now look at that situation again. How do you react what happens when you believe the thought I need more money? What emotions arise? Where do you feel them in your body? How do you treat your life in that situation when you believe you need more money? And what is it like to treat your life that way? How do you relate to money when you believe you need more of it? Does this thought bring peace into your life or stress? Just notice. Who would you be in that same situation without the thought, I need more money? Imagine that everything else stays exactly the same. Only the thought isn't there. Who are you? What do you notice in that situation without the thought? And who are you right now? As you hear this question, Without the thought that you need more money, How does that feel? What would your whole life be like without that thought? Imagine it never appeared again. Or imagine it did appear, But you simply no longer believed it. If you would like a little more time here, Simply pause the audio. Let's begin with one turnaround. I don't need more money. Come back to that same situation. Can you find one genuine example of why you don't need more money in that situation? Why don't you need more money for what you want to do, Have or become? If it isn't more money that you need, What else might it be? Can you find another way to receive what you are looking for? I need less money. At first, This turnaround may sound unlikely. Simply let it be with you for a moment. You don't have to agree with it. Just notice what happens when you allow yourself to consider it. Could it be true that you actually need less money? Don't search for an answer. Simply hand the question over to your unconscious, Lean back and wait to see what appears. Have you ever experienced getting something for much less money than you expected? Can you find one specific example? What if, Just for a little while, You allowed yourself to consider the possibility that you actually need less money? What if you become curious? Ask other people how they would do it? Listened to their ideas, And explored possibilities we haven't thought of yet. Even if half of them couldn't see a solution. What if the other half could? How would it feel to live just for a while, From the possibility that you need less money than you think? I only ever need as much money as I have. Take a moment to let this turnaround settle. How would your life be if you could believe this? Can you allow yourself to really feel it? What would you need in order to believe it? I would like to share something from my own life. There have been times when I had plenty of money. And times when I had very little. Sometimes money felt scarce. And yet, It was always my life. For at least the past 25 years, My priority hasn't been to reach a particular financial situation. My priority has been to feel fully alive and to experience life completely with whatever life offers me in each moment. Whatever my financial circumstances happen to be. What about you? How might it be possible to believe that you only ever need as much money as you have? If it feels right for you, Take one slow deep breath in. And gently breathe out. How was this inquiry for you? Do you still believe the thought, I need more money? How do you see your life now? How does it feel? Has this inquiry brought to light something you hadn't seen before? Perhaps you would like to write down anything that stood out for you. Whenever this thought comes back, You are welcome to return to this audio and question it again with a different situation. Thank you for taking the time to question your stressful thoughts. Every time you do, You bring a little more peace into your own life and into the lives of the people around you.