Financial Success: A Parable

Written by Barbara Huson

Once upon a time, a very wise King decided to put a massive boulder in the middle of the road.

Everyone who walked by simply went around it. No one attempted to move it.

One day a poor peasant, carrying a load of vegetables, was walking down the road when he came upon the boulder. He put down his load, walked over to the giant rock and tried to push it aside.

It wouldn’t budge. He strained and struggled until finally it moved a bit. He kept at it until, slowly, he was able to shove it out of the way.

How Shame Impacts Finances

Written by Barbara Huson

It was a conversation with a friend I’ll never forget. Her family was dirt poor. Mine was quite wealthy. Our childhoods were starkly different, but we shared a startling similarity.

Growing up, we both felt tremendous shame around our family’s finances. I hated being different from my friends. She loathed feeling less than her peers. I never knew if people liked me for me or my rich parents. She always suspected others pitied or looked down on her.

That’s when I realized: Money Shame is ubiquitous regardless of one’s economic status. But it’s not the money (or lack of it) that causes shame. Money simply magnifies the shame we’ve always carried.

Shame is the intense pain of feeling so awful, so flawed, so defective that we’re convinced we’re worthless and unlovable.

I believe unhealed shame is perhaps the major reason smart, capable women struggle financially. Because when shame is triggered, the logical thinking part of our brain virtually shuts down.

The Subtle Art of Self -Sabotage

Written by Barbara Huson

There’s a line in A Course in Miracles that, long ago, had a big impact on me: “What you share you strengthen.”

It was when a coach gave me an intriguing assignment that the line really came to life for me. For 2 weeks, I was to simply observe my conversations, without changing a thing. Just notice what I talked about, the words I used, my typical reactions…you know, the stuff I was sharing with others.

What I saw was not pretty. I was constantly putting myself down, without ever realizing it. I’d dismiss my skills (“Oh, that’s no big deal”). I’d deflect praise (“I thought I was awful”). I’d diminish my successes (“But I could’ve done so much better”).

Avoiding Investing? A Simple Plan to Conquer Your Fears.

Written by Barbara Huson

A brand-new study—about women and investing—triggered a decades old memory

I’d just sold my first book—Prince Charming Isn’t Coming— to a publisher and flew to NY to meet my editor. As we chatted, I casually asked if she invested. An awkward silence ensued.

Clearly embarrassed, she muttered, “Oh no, I have no money for that.” I quickly changed the subject.

Trauma—a Curse or a Catalyst?

Written by Barbara Huson

A recent headline caught my eye. “How Trauma Can Become A Catalyst For Personal Growth.”

The subject of trauma seems to be trending these days. Or maybe I’m noticing it more now because I’ve been cursed by a series of calamities.

Starting in 2020, I’ve watched my mother die, my daughter suffer a painful illness, my best friend’s cancer return, and my 12th surgery in less than 3 years. All during the pandemic! My struggles with anxiety, insomnia, anger, grief, and fear are classic symptoms of PTSD.

10 Signs of Financial Abuse

Written by Barbara Huson

I am a survivor of abuse. But I swear, at first, it felt like love.

He wanted to take care of me, he said. He paid the bills, managed the investments, balanced my checkbook. I was the luckiest girl in the world.

Until the lies started. And the gaslighting. He refused to explain why there was no money in the bank, why creditors kept calling, why he yelled about my overspending when I wasn’t, why he quit his job to focus on investing but kept incurring huge losses.

Finally, it hit me. What I regarded as caring and concern was, in truth, a power play to gain control. It was a classic case of Financial Abuse.

At the time, I’d never heard the term. Nor did I realize it was a serious form of domestic violence, which can start off subtly, as in my case, but often escalates to emotional and physical abuse, as it also did in my case.

Today Financial Abuse is on the rise. And it doesn’t just occur in romantic relationships, but with business partnerships, roommates, even parents and adult children.

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs that Limit Your $uccess

Written by Barbara Huson

Dear Entrepreneur,

If success eludes you and profits are paltry, a new study sheds important light on your situation. Being a business owner myself, I found it quite illuminating.

All 357 female entrepreneurs surveyed knew what they needed to do to grow their business. Yet they “expressed doubt” about taking those steps due to their limiting beliefs.

“Female entrepreneurs limit their business success because they hold beliefs that lead to small actions instead of big ones,” the study reported. Or they may avoid taking any action altogether.

Bottom line: The more limiting your beliefs, the lower your earnings.

The study was brought to my attention by Catherine Bown, a member of my online community, The Wealth Connection, sales trainer and one of the six researchers of the study.

Savings Can Be Fun! (Who Knew????)

Written by Barbara Huson

She had long avoided savings. Until she got an idea. What if the next time she did something scary, she rewarded herself by contributing a small amount to a saving account?

“Today I dealt with a confusing problem at work and got it resolved,” she explained in The Wealth Connection chat group, “So I just added a dollar to my savings! It’s a great feeling. I’m having a lot of fun saving! “

The moral of this story: Savings can actually be fun when you frame it as a reward.

Positive reinforcement—anything from patting yourself on the back to paying yourself a dollar—works for one simple fact. It feels good…which triggers the release of pleasurable chemicals like dopamine, encouraging your brain to keep repeating the behavior.

Power-From-Within

Written by Barbara Huson

If you’re not where you want to be financially, consider this. Your difficulties may have little, if anything, to do with money, but your fear of or ambivalence about power…because you don’t understand true power.

Basically, there are 3 kinds of power:

1. Power Over (Domination)

2. Power With (Collaboration)

3. Power-From-Within (Dominion).

The drawback with the first two is that exercising power depends on others cooperating.

Shifting from Financial Misery to Financial Miracles in 3 Steps

Written by Barbara Huson

I spent much of my adult life in financial turmoil. Even as I learned more about money, I still felt out of control. Then everything changed.

The answer didn’t come from a financial text, but a spiritual one, A Course in Miracles.

From the Course I learned that we have “two thought systems” or two distinct “voices” in our head:

The voice of Fear (the Ego).
And the voice of Love (the Soul).

The Soul and the Ego have conflicting agendas. Thus, they produce dramatically different results–either miracles or misery.

“You cannot follow two masters,” the Course warns. “There is no compromise between the two.”

Women & Power

Financial Success: A Parable

How Shame Impacts Finances

The Subtle Art of Self -Sabotage

Avoiding Investing? A Simple Plan to Conquer Your Fears.

Trauma—a Curse or a Catalyst?

10 Signs of Financial Abuse

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs that Limit Your $uccess

Savings Can Be Fun! (Who Knew????)

Power-From-Within

Shifting from Financial Misery to Financial Miracles in 3 Steps

Meet Barbara Huson

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