Money Trauma: The Invisible Force Behind Financial Stress
Lisa-Maree Botticelli
Mindset & Wealth Coach
Did you know that deepening your capacity to receive more money is one of the most effective ways to increase your income?
One of the most common patterns I see consistently, both in my clients and in my own lived experience is the impact of intergenerational trauma on our ability to receive money. For many entrepreneurs and investors, unresolved money trauma quietly shapes what feels safe, possible, or permissible when it comes to earning and holding wealth. This is often why clients come to me wanting to increase their income, yet finding themselves stuck in familiar financial patterns, such as:
- Not earning enough money.
- Wanting to increase their income, but feeling capped at a certain amount.
- Undercharging for their services.
- Overspending, or underspending,
- Struggling to keep money, and finding it hard to build savings.
These patterns aren’t a lack of strategy or discipline, they’re often signals of a nervous system that doesn’t yet feel safe with receiving more.
Money trauma is the emotional and nervous-system imprint of past experiences with money, often inherited from our family of origin that unconsciously shapes what feels safe, possible, or allowed when it comes to earning, receiving, and holding wealth.
Often, this shows up in subtle, but powerful ways. In couples, one partner may be a spender while the other is a saver or investor, creating ongoing tension, financial gridlock leading to money blocks. Some clients feel afraid of becoming visible in their business or relationships. Others unconsciously limit how much money they allow themselves to receive, preventing them from creating a lifestyle where they truly thrive and flourish. For some, income plateaus persist because their energy is consumed by worry. Others feel held back by a vague sense of fear or internal resistance they can’t quite name. Many don’t realise they are carrying limiting beliefs inherited from their family of origin, and so they remain stuck for years in a cycle of frustration and scarcity-based thinking.
I also work with many people who are already earning well and know they are capable of more, not just for personal comfort, but to create greater impact in the world, yet find themselves unable to cross an invisible financial threshold.
While many entrepreneurs and investors focus on strategies to increase income, the real obstacle often lies beneath the surface. Money is rarely the core issue; it is a symptom of deeper personal and relational patterns. If you want to cultivate a healthier relationship with money and expand what’s possible in your life, the work begins within. When you nurture a more secure relationship with yourself, that shift naturally ripples out into your financial world.
Join me in a powerful interview below with my incredible mentor, Tash Corbin, where we explore the nuanced impact of intergenerational trauma. Then, keep the momentum going, as I share my three key creative strategies to help you begin releasing money trauma and opening to greater financial flow.
Let’s start by exploring how money beliefs are formed, and why they’re so difficult to shift without exploring your money story to increase awareness on what is holding you back.
‘This belief ran in my family, until it ran into me. Let it stop with me’.
How Do Money Beliefs Start?
Have you ever wondered where your money beliefs originate? They are formed through a complex web of family history, cultural context, and childhood messages that quietly lay the foundation for our relationship with money later in life. In my case, having Indigenous heritage while also being white-presenting has often led to assumptions of confidence and an “easy” life, free from struggle. The reality has been very different. I have navigated intergenerational trauma firsthand, and this became the catalyst for my own journey of personal development, a path I chose in order to meet, understand, and transform the challenges it brought into my life.
Intergenerational trauma can be likened to a baton passed from one generation to the next, a cycle that continues until someone consciously chooses to interrupt it and stand up and say, ‘This stops with me’. In many families, there is one person who steps forward and initiates the healing journey. It is a courageous act, and one that creates the possibility of breaking long-standing money patterns, including inherited money beliefs.
Signs of Limiting Money Beliefs from Your family?
Let’s be honest, intergenerational trauma is something most of us have encountered in our lives. The beliefs it weaves can be deeply limiting, and at times, overwhelmingly debilitating. But how do you know if intergenerational trauma may be influencing your life?
Look out for these telling signs:
- Low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, insomnia.
- Anger, and self-destructive or sabotaging behaviours.
- Irritability, nightmares, fearfulness.
- Difficulty trusting others.
- Carrying guilt or shame that doesn’t belong to them.
- Unresolved or unprocessed grief.
WATCH my interview with my mentor, Tash Corbin where we delve into the intricate world of intergenerational trauma. On the right, press PLAY to listen to our FB Live conversation.
Next, I share my three key strategies to help you begin breaking free from the grip of money trauma below.
Unlock Abundance: Three Transformative Strategies to Rewrite Your Money Story with Lasting Impact.
Have you ever stopped to think about the beliefs we inherit from our families, how they shape our journey, and influence our adulthood? This is the origin of your money narrative and its evolution. A first step on the path to rewriting your money story is to heal your relationship with money. Here, I unveil three pivotal strategies that will not only help you unveil and transform your money story but also empower you to create a life and business filled with abundance today and in the future.
1. Declutter Your Mind When You Journal
Journalling is a great way to declutter and debrief on any challenges you may be experiencing. Writing about the emotions that arise around money is a powerful way to process your experience. This process helps move money stress out of the nervous system and into conscious awareness, where it can be worked with, rather than, acted out.
Ready to dive in? Here are some thought-provoking questions you might like to journal on:
- What money stories or themes did you hear about in your family growing up?
- How have these money stories or themes impacted you and your family?
- What ways do your family use to manage challenging situations?
If you want to declutter limiting thoughts and beliefs around money, check out my Manifesting Magic Journal. It includes 30 days of journalling prompts to help you create empowering habits and set yourself free to support your goals and dreams.
2. Upgrade Your Money Mindset with Mandalas
Harnessing the power of creativity to connect with our unconscious mind is one of the fastest ways to uncover outdated money beliefs and patterns in need of an upgrade. Clearing these blocks paves the way for new possibilities. Since ‘nature abhors a vacuum,’ the next step is to envision what you truly desire in your life. Regardless of the past, there’s always room for fresh beliefs and new opportunities.
I use mandala work because it allows money trauma to release without having to relive the story or analyse it, making it a safe, gentle, and profoundly effective practice. Mandalas are a beautiful way to clear and release painful memories without feeling overwhelmed. The simple act of drawing a circle and pouring your emotions into it is like decluttering your inner world. It brings equilibrium to the chaos and serve,s as a potent tool for releasing any experiences or blocks that might be holding you back.
Drawing or making marks on paper is beneficial, as it allows for expression and release of events that may be traumatic. Ready to try this simple, yet profound exercise:
- Grab an A4 or A3 blank paper and some coloured pens.
- Choose an event or experience where you wanted more money but didn’t feel deserving.
- Make it challenging, but not so big that it feels overwhelming.
- Start by writing one word in the top left corner to describe the event.
- Begin making marks or drawing an image inside the circle, allowing yourself to fully express and release the emotions connected to it.
- Allow yourself expression of the event and release those emotions you have around it.
- Once expressed on paper, the energy and connection to the event is often lessened or even dispelled altogether.
- Take a moment to look at your image and notice how it feels.
- Write one word that comes to mind in the top right corner without thinking too much about it, write this in the top right hand corner.
- When finished, you may like to pin your mandala somewhere visible or light a candle to symbolically bless the release and send it on its way.
Release blocks and reconnect with abundance through creative mandala work. This simple, yet powerful practice helps you clear emotional baggage, shift money patterns, and invite new possibilities into your life without feeling overwhelmed.
3. Changing Your Beliefs
Our childhood is where we first absorb the beliefs that shape our adulthood, many of which can limit our choices and narrow our sense of what’s possible. Often, we take on these beliefs to fit into family dynamics, even when they don’t align with our true selves. Inheriting family beliefs across generations can create a fixed mindset, keeping us stuck in patterns that hinder growth and abundance.
These limiting beliefs don’t just affect you, they impact your relationships, finances, and ability to thrive. Many couples struggle to get on the same page around money, leaving conversations tense or unresolved. Learning how to align your mindset with your partner’s, and understanding the patterns you each carry, can help the whole family not just survive, but flourish.
Transform your money mindset and break generational patterns. With the right guidance, you can release limiting family beliefs, gain clarity around your finances, and step into an abundant, thriving life, both personally and professionally.
If you want guided support to release what’s holding you back, I invite you to schedule a Money Matters for Couples session or a Money Mindset Clarity Call, where you’ll be supported to release inherited limiting beliefs and create an abundance mindset.
“Wealth is not about having a lot of money. It’s about having options.”
Chris Rock
Your Next Step: Turn Limiting Beliefs into Empowering Money Stories.
To initiate change is to expand your consciousness and embrace empowering beliefs that support an abundant life. This shift moves you from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, a crucial step in breaking free from unproductive family cycles and creating new possibilities.
Here’s a practical exercise to start transforming your money beliefs:
- Draw two columns on a piece of paper.
- In the left column, write ten limiting beliefs you hold around money, these might be statements you heard growing up from your parents or family.
- In the right column, rewrite each one as a positive belief you want to embody about money.
- Once you have these new beliefs put this new list up somewhere that you will see it each day, perhaps, it’s on your desk, or near your breakfast table, read them out loud to yourself, each day until you feel that you truly believe them and are confident that you can embody them, as part of your new money story.
If this resonates, I’d love to hear from you! Email me at connect@purecreativitycoaching.com with your thoughts or questions, and I’ll share tips to help you create more financial freedom.
Ready to Attract Abundance & Financial Freedom?
Unlock a brighter future when you rewrite your money story. Join me for a free clarity call, where we’ll explore your money challenges, uncover strategies to release trauma, and open the flow to abundance and wealth. Don’t wait! Book your spot now and let’s begin transforming your money journey, together.