Can we really manifest health and wealth? Or is it all woo-woo nonsense? Dietitian Lucy Carey puts the million-dollar mindset to the test.
It happened while I was brushing my teeth.
Toothpaste globbed out all over the bathroom counter because apparently my 2-year-old had bitten a small hole in the toothpaste tube instead of biting his teething toys. As I leant over to clean up the mess, the stench of a dirty nappy wafted into the room. My oh my, that nappy had to take priority over the toothpaste because that smell felt like it would permeate the very walls of the house. What had the kid been eating? I tried to catch him as he raced past the bathroom and missed. I was about to give chase to the giggling stinker, but the wail of another child having hurt themselves stopped me in my tracks.
The toothpaste. The nappy. The boo-boo. On top of a long day when I was really just looking forward to snuggling up in a warm bed. This scenario could easily have thrown me for a loop, inciting thoughts like, “Why me? Why everything at once? Why now?”
But today, I smiled instead.
Because I had a million-dollar mindset.
The million-dollar mindset is a term I made up, but I got the idea from none other than, drum roll please, a random person on the internet.
I was scrolling one night, okay? I don’t allow myself to doom scroll much, because it is in no way conducive to sleep (or productivity) but sometimes the algorithm just gets me and I find some really great content.
This particular video was a man walking on a windy road, talking about manifestation. He said, “Imagine if today somebody gave you a cheque for a million dollars and you went to deposit it at your bank and the bank said, ‘Okay, great, this will clear in the next 10 business days.’ Because it’s a big cheque and the bank has to work it out. So now for those following business days you’d be walking around with this high energy outputting into the universe of you feeling wealthy and abundant and happy and excited and satisfied. And as a result, living from that level of energy would produce all these other experiences that are on that level of excitement and abundance and prosperity, right?”
He went on to talk more about manifestation, which is the idea that our thoughts create our experiences. If we have negative self-talk and view things with a negative lens, e.g. “I’ll never be able to afford that house”, we attract more negativity into our lives. But if we can change our mindset to a positive one, we will go on to change our behaviour to match, and eventually change our life.
It all sounds a bit woo-woo, I know.
But this is essentially the principle behind cognitive behavioural therapy, which is often used by therapists.
The idea is that you want to reframe your negative thoughts into positive ones, because how you view your world influences how you feel. And how you feel influences your behaviour.
Cognitive behaviour therapy, or CBT as it is known, is an evidence-based practice that can help with many conditions, like depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug-use disorders, and eating disorders.
I often do thought re-framing exercises with my clients as they heal their relationship with food and their body. For example, if my client is consistently thinking that their thighs are fat and ugly, we will work to re-frame that negative thought to, “My legs carry me every day and allow me to play with my children.” We may spend time imagining how it will feel to be completely recovered as well, visualizing tricky scenarios becoming easy.
I’ve always seen this practice as not just a nice thing, but an essential step on the journey to better health. Too many of my clients try to hate themselves healthy, when their negative self-talk is the very opposite of good health.
In fact, negative self-talk is perceived as a threat by the brain, sending you into a fight or flight response.
Think about it. Bullying yourself, doubting yourself, creating fear – the amygdala views these things as a threat, and fires in response, sending cortisol and adrenaline through your body. Not only can this deteriorate your mental health, it has physical affects, too. This is why I believe it is absolutely vital for your health that you re-frame negative self-talk.
But I had never heard it put quite this way before. Simply imagining that you’re going to have a million-dollar cheque cleared in 10 business days. Having been down to my last dime on more than one occasion in my life, this image really struck a chord with me.
So I tried it.
For a week, I kept reminding myself that I was about to become a millionaire. Because the thought didn’t need to be backed up by any actual money, it was a fairly easy delusion to master!
I had initially been a little bit nervous that if I went around trying to convince myself that I would have buckets of money in my bank account soon, I would become frivolous with my spending habits. But that didn’t actually happen. Instead, I’d think things to myself like, “Maybe when the cheque clears I’ll treat myself to a cleaner… But then again, I don’t want to let the money change me too much.” Low key hilarious when you remember that I was just imagining the whole scenario!
But what really changed was the energy I took into the room with me everywhere I went.
At work, I was there because of the passion I have for my field and my clients, not because it’s a way to pay the bills. At home, I frolicked with my children outside, enjoying every moment of their deliciously delightful childhoods instead of letting endless questions and little tantrums get to me. I danced around the kitchen when cooking dinner. For the first time in months I wanted to go back to editing my novel just for fun, and I found joy in working on my online business at night, instead of feeling like I was slogging through because I had to.
Who knew a simple thought exercise could make such an impact?
I’m still waiting to see if my million-dollar mindset will actually conjure me up a million real dollars in my bank account, but I know it’s not some magical thing where you think it and it immediately appears. Just like when I have my clients imagine what it feels like to have a healthy relationship with food, it doesn’t mean you get to skip putting the work in to create that reality!
It’s all about attitude. A positive mindset calms your physical body, and it really does change your behaviour. And your behaviours create your life.
I love my new million-dollar mindset and I’m going to try to keep it up. What scenario would you imagine to change the way you interact with the world? Receiving your dream job offer? Purchasing the perfect house? Being booked as a motivational speaker, talking about how you built your successful business? Let me know in the comments!