How Single Parents Can Erase Poverty Consciousness

We hear a lot about poverty these days.

Turn on your radio or television and very likely you’ll hear terms like financial crisis, economic downturn, bad economy, credit crunch, bank failure. It seems it’s all anyone can talk about these days.

I’ve often thought about the link between our language, even our thoughts, and our circumstances. In my life, there has always been a very obvious link between my thoughts and my life circumstances.

If I think about a shrinking bank balance and ruminate on whether or not I’ll have next month’s rent, my actions and attitude bring about that reality. On the other hand, if I think about positive cash flow and financial gain, I’m surprised by the inflow of the same.

Is that really possible?

In 2007, I was self employed. I had some regular clients and my books were selling so cash flow was OK, but not what I wanted it to be. So I stepped out on faith, the power of positive thinking, whatever you like.  I made a commitment to the Universe that I would realize $20,000 in unexpected revenue. I held on to that thought and believed it would happen.  By year’s end, a single consulting client (who seemed to drop into my lap from nowhere) had paid me $20,000 in fees.  Of course, I worked for it and didn’t just lay on the beach while money washed up on shore, but it happened.

It proved to me that the link between our thoughts and our circumstances is real.

Are we modeling poverty consciousness?

As single parents, whether we realize it or not, we model life for our kids on a 24/7 basis. It’s like we’re strutting our stuff up and down the runway, foot-lit all day long while our kids play the role of glitzy photographers preserving every move for posterity.

Of course, they’re not using cameras, but their eyes and ears.

In this way, we have a direct role in whether or not they adopt our norms, attitudes, language and practices around money, life, love and everything else.

That, like everything else about single parenting (eat my dust, Ann Coulter), is an awesome responsibility. If we model prosperity consciousness, our kids will most likely adopt healthy attitudes and behaviors. Conversely, if we model poverty consciousness, they will likely adopt more negative attitudes and behaviors. According to Mike Dooley, ‘thoughts become things; so why not choose the good ones?”

Erasing poverty consciousness

Since multitasking is largely a myth (I can only do one thing at a time and I assume since you’re human, you’re in the same boat), we can’t simultaneously think about positive and negative.   We can’t think about prosperity and poverty at the same time. It isn’t possible.

Because we’re humans conditioned by society to want, want, want…we tend to think more often about what we lack. It’s been said that the only people who think about the poor are the poor. In a metaphysical sense, I guess this holds some validity.

Parents can erase poverty consciousness from the world.  How?  Not my creating some mass movement with celebrities and politicians making personal appearances…no, simply my making a choice to think more positively.

Positive thinking leads to positive language. Positive language leads to positive behavior. Positive behavior leads to positive outcomes.

Who wouldn’t want to teach their children this way of living?

Kids take into the next adult generation the attitudes, norms, thought-patterns and idea of their parents.  The wrestle with them, reject some, adopt others and eventually make them their own.

If we as parents confront our own thought-patterns about poverty and prosperity; if we made a single shift in our thinking around money, we’d have the power to erase poverty consciousness from the world and our kid’s lives would be healthier, happier and full of positive outcomes.

Want a better world for your kids?

It begins with us.