***“What if your Money Monster creeps back in?”

Question: Is replacing my money monster with my money honey an ongoing process at first? I do the visualizations as you suggest and get a sense of the (personified) Money "Honey", but over time, the money monster creeps back in.

My response: It is an absolute fact of life that no matter how enlightened, healthy, positive and empowered we are, we’re going to die. Even when you get rid of your Money Monster and replace him with your (personified) “Money Honey,” life still happens. Things will happen in your life and the world around you that will challenge you and trigger your insecurities, your sense of outrage, your worries about the future.

Earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear crises in Japan. War in the Middle East. Illnesses, broken hearts, job losses… these happen, and they’re scary!

Even without a dramatic event, we’re conditioned to worry about the future, obsess over past disappointments, and build a case against ourselves and our worthiness and ability to have what we want. This is the source of our Money Monster.

And it’s not just our own Money Monster we need to worry about. We are constantly being tempted and seduced to buy in to other people’s money monsters–our parents, friends and communities have compelling monsters, too, talking to us and feeding our insecurities 24/7.

We can sense the monster’s presence in our lives in the way we feel about ourselves–our worthiness, loveability and safety in the world, the way we allow others to treat us, in our struggles to make or keep money, or in the conflicts money causes in our relationships.

So yes, it’s an ongoing process, like peeling an onion and finding deeper layers of monster to conjure and reject. And each time you destroy your Money Monster, you gain a more intimate and more powerful relationship with your Money Honey.

This new relationship with your personified Money gets you very different results than you’ll get with your soul crushing monster.

NOW FOR A QUICK, NEW MONEY MONSTER BASHING TRICK…

Because real change is not an intellectual exercise, we want to get the shift INTO YOUR BODY and make it a real experience.

1) Draw a picture of your Money Monster’s face.

2) Write down the terrible things he (it’s usually a “he” but doesn’t have to be) says to you and has done to you and in the world.

3) Put the paper on a pillow, take out a hammer, and smash your monster for 40 minutes. Rip up whatever remains of the paper.*

4) Go outside and meet your Money Honey.

Life and the world will throw us some curves, and it’s DIFFERENT when you have your “Money Honey” by your side guiding you and loving you. You have a different experience, you get different results, and “happy miracles” happen with surprising frequency.