Here’s a question I received recently: “How do I break through my financial set point? I seem to be stuck at my current earning level and no matter what I do, I can’t sustain a higher level for any length of time.”

Your financial set point is actually an income and/or net-worth limit that you have subconsciously established for yourself. Feeling stuck at this set point is a common dilemma that I’d lke to address here.

As a review: Our finances are a result of our thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviors, with the emotions acting as the creative force behind our life stories. So, when trying to alter a financial condition, it is necessary to examine the emotions behind the condition. (This is fully explained in Build Your Money Muscles.)

If you have trouble breaking through to a new financial level, one of the feelings you may be acting out through your money is constrained, which is related to a sense of being trapped — one of the five main money feelings.

In this same category are cornered, burdened, limited, blocked, unfulfilled.

Try this exercise:

• While looking at your bank balance in your check register, or when viewing a profit and loss or cash-flow report, tune into your feelings. Do you feel a tightness? Do you feel constrained?
• If you do, think back to a time when you were young when you experienced this same feeling. Perhaps it was when you were being teased or belittled by a family member or school buddy. Or perhaps you had an alcoholic parent whose behavior caused you to tighten up because you never knew what to expect. Any time you had trouble expressing yourself honestly would have caused you to feel constrained.
• With your eyes closed, allow yourself to sink into the feeling and feel it completely. After a few minutes, take a deep breath in. As you do this, imagine that you are expanding your entire being, breaking the bonds that keep you constrained. Repeat to yourself, “I am expanded” followed by your power word.
• After you bring yourself back, make a commitment to become aware of all of the times during your normal day when you feel constrained. Each time you notice the feeling, take a deep breath in and say to yourself, “I am expanded.(Power word)”
• Decide how much you would like to earn when you expand to your next level. Make it a realistic number, not more than twenty percent more than you make now. Develop a spending and savings plan for the new amount. Observe your feelings during this exercise.

Changing your set point is a fairly complex issue. I’ll be discussing this topic at length during the next Peace of Mind & Prosperity program call on July 16. Learn more about the program at http://ProsperityPlace.com/pomp