We hear a lot about money blocks these days but what are money blocks they really? Money blocks are not physical impediments but rather mental, emotional or spiritual ideas and beliefs that block money on an energetic level.
Ken Honda, the author of Happy Money and more than 30 books about the subject of money is one of the great teachers on ‘money EQ’ and is known as the Zen Millionaire.
Ken’s teachings around money and the mental and emotional side of money is groundbreaking in the sense that it teaches us to love money, be at peace with it and treat money as a friend.
This love of money is not the kind of love we tend to associate with greed. It’s about a healthy respect for money and understanding that your mental and emotional relationship with money is ultimately what transpired in your physical relationship with money and material things.
Ken Hinda was mentored by Wahei Takeda, who is often referred to as the “Warren Buffett of Japan”. Although he was a great investor, he did not teach Ken the strategies of investing, picking stocks or assessing companies.
Hos Zen approach was entirely focused on the relationship with money. Being at peace with money, being grateful and treating money with love and respect.
Ultimately money is not the pieces of paper you place in your wallet. It’s not even your bank balance or your possessions.
Money is an idea. It is an energy and your relationship to money is solely responsible for the lack or the abundance of money in your life.
What Are Money Blocks And Where Do They Come From
Money blocks are mental and emotional blocks that prevent the flow of money in your life.
These mental and emotional blocks are often beliefs that not only controls the way you think about money but also the way you behave with money.
There are a lot of practical ideas that can help you save more money or make more money. These ideas are largely useless unless your own money beliefs and mental blocks are taken care of.
For centuries people believed the earth was flat and explorers had an intense fear of sailing over the edge and finding some sort of abyss.
This belief that the earth was flat held people captive in many ways. It not only created fear but the belief itself dictated people’s view of the world.
Your beliefs about money not only creates certain fears but it also dictates your entire financial world.
When it comes to making money, investing, saving and even planning it is never WHAT you do but rather the energy behind what you do.
It explains why 100 people can use the exact same trading method and only 10 out of the 100 people become super successful at it. The other 90 fail miserably.
These money blocks are really sneaky and what is most intriguing about them is that most people are not even aware of their own money blocks.
Money blocks usually come from the beliefs and ideas about money that you observe and model from your parents, guardians and other important figures in your life when you are a child.
Experts now claim that 90% of your beliefs are established by the age of 6. You ten spend the rest of your life “seeing evidence” of these beliefs which in turn reinforces the beliefs and makes them stronger.
Ken Honda talks a lot about money blocks and he calls it “money wounds”. The idea is that we got “wounded” at some stage in our lives that causes us to have the wrong associations to money.
Money IQ versus Money EQ
To fully understand the significance of money blocks and money wounds we need to understand the concepts of money IQ and money EQ.
Ken Honda teaches the concept of money EQ. We are all familiar with the concept of the IQ which is an intelligence quotient. IQ measures a person’s ability to reason, use information and logic and recall facts.
So-called smart people have a high IQ because it measures how well they can remember and recall information and facts.
EQ on the other hand stands for emotional quotient and is often referred to as emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to manage their emotions and use it to understand facts, communicate effectively, empathize with others and manage their own self effectively.
People who are successful financially almost never have a high IQ but almost always have a high EQ.
You can know all the facts about the stock market. You can study all the books and ace every exam, but when you sit down and actually start trading, it is your emotions that really matter.
This is also true for everything financial. As human beings we are very emotional when it comes to money and simply having intellectual understanding about money is not enough to master your finances.
It is your money EQ that controls and directs all your money decisions and ultimately how you think and feel about money.
Until and unless you fix your money EQ you can not fix your money blocks.
Ken Honda: The 3 Biggest Money Blocks
The basic premise of Ken Honda’s teachings around money is that we change our money EQ. Most people still live with industrial age ideas and beliefs about money.
The ideas behind Happy Money is a more zen approach to money and seeing money as your personal friend rather than someone who you constantly have to fight with.
When you become at peace with money, you start loving your money and having a healthy respect for money your entire world changes.
Ken Honda lays out what he believes the 3 biggest money blocks are.
1.Guilt:
In his book Power Vs. Force, Dr. Richard Hawkins lists guilt as one of the motions that are the most destructive in the entire spectrum of human consciousness.
If you feel guilt around money, it acts as a huge wall that prevents money from flowing into your life. Guilt around money acts as a repellent force.
This guilt can take on a lot of shapes and sizes.
- Some people feel guilty for having “too much” money.
- Some people feel guilty for having too little and not being able to provide for their loved ones.
- Some people feel guilty for the way they earn their money.
- Some people feel guilty for a business failure.
- Some people feel guilty for receiving alimony.
- Some feel guilty for wanting more money.
- Some feel guilty for having more than others
- Some feel guilty for because of their religious beliefs around money
We all have some level of guilt around money. Identifying your own feelings of guilt can be very powerful because now you can see that these feelings of guilt are nothing more than your own beliefs.
Money is NOT good or bad. The only good or bad is what you assign to it.
2. Shyness:
Are you someone who is afraid to look at their bank balance? Are you afraid to open bills? Do you get struck with fear and anxiety around money?
What Ken Honda means with money shyness refers more to people’s uneasy feelings around money. In many ways money seems to be a more taboo subject than sex.
People don’t like talking about money – especially not their own money issues. This shyness causes people to remain guarded and closed off around the subject of money.
The shyness around money also refers to the fact that most people don’t like asking for money. You might be afraid to ask for money you own. You may be afraid to ask for a raise and some people are even afraid to bill their clients.
3. Need To Be Seen as a Good Person:
Deep down we all want to be a good person. What we believe “good people” are, varies a lot from one culture to the next but there are universal ideas that define a good person.
In our culture, people who have too much are generally seen as “bad people”.
The belief that rich people are evil, that too much money corrupts and that having too much distorts your beliefs are rive in our society.
As long as you believe that money will somehow make you “bad” then it acts as a massive block that prevents money from flowing into your life.
This is particularly evident with religious people and people who grew up with strict religious beliefs.
Religions have done a great job teaching us to remain poor as a means of being “good”.
How To Clear Money Blocks
One great lesson from the Zen Millionaire is to make money with your friend. If money was a person, what is your relationship to this person?
Are you best friends?
Are you enemies?
Do you argue a lot?
A lot of your money blocks can be resolved by using this friendship analogy. If you were to become best friends with money, what would that relationship look like?
Here are 7 steps to help you clear your money blocks.
1. Heal Your Money Wounds
Identify your limiting beliefs that you were “taught” by your parents. Realize that these beliefs are nothing more than ideas that you adopted without knowing.
If you heal the pain you have about money, your financial situations will absolutely change, dramatically.
– Ken Honda
Think of healing a relationship with an old friend. Lay the issue out on the table.
Talk about it and resolve it. You can not restore the relationship until you resolve these old issues.
This is not about blaming anyone. It’s all about awareness and seeing these beliefs for what they really are.
2. Make Money Your Friend
For most people money is a stranger. They know nothing about it and do not really want to know this stranger.
The fact is that money can be a great friend that can help and support you in so many ways. Why would you choose to go at it alone if you have the option to have this great friend?
Start making friends with money. Money is not “someone” to be afraid of. Reach out to money and make friends with it.
Start learning about money, what it is and how it works. Think of how you would get to know a new friend and treat your money that way.
3. Release Your Money Addiction
When you think of a money addiction you tend to think of someone who is greedy and who just wants to make a lot of money.
Money addiction goes much deeper though. Most people who are broke are actually addicted to money. Money worries are actually an addiction.
It acts like a drug in the sense that you have a dependence on money and believe that you have to have it to feel good or be happy.
Worrying about money is an addiction that keeps you from focusing on what else is going on in your life.
– Ken Honda
If you are always worried about money and always thinking about money then you are addicted at some level.
Let go of this need for money. Start living your life and don’t allow money to consume you. No amount of worry will ever make you wealthy.
In fact, the worry and fear only repels money from your life. Start focusing more on life and less on money.
Find things you love and indulge in it. Don’t allow money to consume you.
4. Pay Attention To Your Emotions Around Money
What are your emotions around money? Are you even aware of what they are? Most people have so many unconscious and negative emotions around money and then wonder why money stays away from them.
If money brings up fear and anxiety, ask yourself why? If money brings up anger or resentment, ask yourself why.
Ken Honda’s whole premise is the idea of Happy Money and allowing money to make you happy and to bring joy into your life.
Money will be whatever you decide for it to be. If you decide that money brings anxiety and fear then that is exactly what you will get.
You can choose right now. Choose happy money and decide that you will no longer allow money to make you feel; saud, angry, fearful or depressed.
Ultimately it is not money who gets to decide how you feel about it. It is YOU who gets to decide how you feel about money.
5. Be At Peace With Money
Are you at war with your own finances? Are you always left with more money at the end of your money?
When your financial life is out of control you are constantly worried. This goes for people with not enough money as much as it goes for people with too much money.
Being at peace with your money is all about your relationship with money.
Stop fighting with people about money. Stop arguing about money in every way shape or form.
Even if you are “right”, just let it go. Being at peace with money is far more important than being right, getting your share or getting the best deal.
6. Forgive Yourself and Start Fresh
If you have any guilt around money, forgive yourself and forgive anyone who you may hold responsible for the guilt.
Only through forgiveness can you let go of the guilt. If you blame yourself and feel guilty for you money situation then realize that you did the best you could at the time.
Once you forgive yourself you can start fresh. You can renew the relationship and have a completely fresh start with money.
7. Thank Your Money
Gratitude can be incredibly powerful. The energy of gratitude is an energy of allowing. When you feel grateful you open your heart and mind and allow more to come into your life.
People who are ungrateful never have enough. Do you feel like giving something to someone who is always ungrateful?
Ken Honda learned the idea of “arigato money” from his mentor Wahei Takeda who was one of the wealthiest men in Japan.
Whatever happens you can say thank you. Thank you are two most powerful words that will help you to start to transform your relationship with money.
– Ken Honda
The idea is a practice where you always thank your money for coming into your life and flowing out of your life.
Being grateful for your money is a way of allowing more to come into your life but you do not do it for the sake of wanting more but out of a deep appreciation for everything you already have and everything that money has given you.
How to Clear Money Blocks – Conclusion
When you think of a roadblock, there are essentially two ways to break through that roadblock.
The first is with force. You can bulldoze your way through it but that will most likely leave you with bruises and doing things forceful usually hurts other people who are around this roadblock.
The second way is the peaceful way. It involves a kind and understanding approach and finding out who is in charge of the roadblock.
Learn why it is there and ask for it to be opened so you can move through – or better yet, ask for an alternative route.
When you clear a roadblock peaceful, everyone wins. Nobody gets hurt and you come out on the other side a better person.
This analogy is also very true for how to clear money blocks. Most people try and bash their way through these money blocks with force. Hard work, using and abusing others and sometimes even being dishonest.
The idea of stopping at nothing to be successful is rive in our society. It’s an egoistic drive for the pursuit of money for the sake of money.
This explains why so many super rich and successful people are depressed and miserable.
A ‘Happy Money’ mindset comes from inside before the money even flows your way.
– Ken Honda
Ken Honda’s zen approach to money is the way of the peaceful warrior. It’s not about being a dictator and forcing money into your life.
It’s about being a friend to money and allowing money to come to you naturally. In a strange roundabout way these Zen ideas are in perfect keeping with the law of attraction and the art of allowing.
The idea of Happy Money is both liberating and empowering. You can let go of your imposed need to chase money and success and start living your life.
Life becomes a pursuit of happiness and fulfilment rather than a pursuit of money, accomplishments or accumulations.
