What’s your attitude towards money? Julia Suciu-Drotleff is a coach and the founder of High Valyou. In her work, she helps clients identify toxic relationships with their finances and develop a healthy relationship with money and investments. We talked to her about her work and her mission.
Dear Julia, you are a self-employed coach and in your “Money Mindset” workshops you help other people change their limiting beliefs about money. How did you come to do this?
First of all, thank you for inviting me to do this interview. The idea for the “Money Mindset” workshops came as a surprise to me as well, because money has never been a priority for me before. As a coach, I mainly deal with the topics of mindset, emotional intelligence and the subconscious. I help people to dissolve deep-seated blockages and fears so that they feel freer and more alive again. Before my coaching training, I studied economics and was rather critical about the topic of money.
During my studies I associated money with greed and superficiality. Consequently, for me – as for many others – it had a rather negative connotation. But what I really realized this year is that money also triggers an emotional reaction in us based on our beliefs. And these subconscious beliefs determine our actions and ultimately our income – what we think we deserve. I then had a kind of little epiphany moment where I was able to break free from a lot of old beliefs. Giving a workshop on the topic was the logical conclusion for me and at the same time a very intuitive decision.
What does money mean to you?
Money means potential to me. It is a medium of exchange that opens up many possibilities. I can use it to achieve my heart’s goals and bring about positive change. While I used to reject money, I now see its immense, creative potential.
It is very important to me that we as a society expand our awareness in the coming decades to better understand and heal mental illness. I have had some very profound experiences in this area, so I know that anything is possible. If we focus money as a society on the areas we want to develop further, then both individually and globally we will soon experience a miracle or two.
But to come back to my personal level for a moment: Money, on an individual level, means freedom to me – the freedom to live the way it feels wonderful to me and to work on the things I consider significant.
Money means potential to me. It is a medium of exchange that opens up many possibilities. I can use it to achieve my heart’s goals and bring about positive change. While I used to reject money, I now see its immense, creative potential.
What themes and patterns come up again and again with participants of your Money Mindset workshops?
Fascinating question. The story about money is actually different for each person. Some earn a lot of money, but have difficulty managing it consciously and investing it properly. Others have trouble making money in the first place. Still others have a rock-solid belief that they can only make money through hard work and don’t allow themselves to follow their passion. What all money problems have in common is a focus on “lack.”
The key word is “not enough.” Either there is “not enough” money or “I am not good/ smart/ hardworking enough” or my work is “not good/ professional enough”. As you can easily see, this is nothing more than a lack-oriented way of thinking. In the end, it doesn’t have so much to do with the topic of money itself, but more with one’s own self-image and worldview.
What I have to say, however, is that the participants in my workshops are already very aware of this and have already questioned a lot. I then give them the necessary kick to really believe in themselves and to take the next steps.
In order to get money, to accumulate it, we often act opportunistically and selfishly and overuse the resources of the earth and ourselves. The result: A screwed up climate, dwindling resources and an increasing number of burnouts, depression and chronic diseases. How do you see it, does money make us worse people?
To put it in a nutshell, “Money vibrates at the same frequency as you do.” We must not forget that our current money and economic system is created by us. Of course, there are connections between climate, money, economics and health. But money is by no means the root. We ourselves are the decision-makers: inside and if we set up a capitalistic, consumption-oriented system, then this system reflects our current, social state of consciousness. Money is merely a mirror of our beliefs. When we feel fear due to negative beliefs, we become stingy and competitive because we project our lack-oriented state onto everything and everyone.
Of course, such thinking produces suboptimal results because it is anything but constructive. However, we are not the victims of the system, but the creators. And if we choose love, cooperation and integrity, which many people already do, then that is exactly how we use our money.
Money then becomes a wonderful instrument that does an incredible amount of good. There are so many wonderful ideas emerging right now: Sustainability, fair trade, vegetarianism, female empowerment, consciousness-raising. These issues are becoming more and more relevant. I see a very positive development in the last few years. We are starting to bring empathy and strategy together – the result can only be brilliant.
The system does not exist without us. We are only as a whole society not yet aware of all the connections and therefore could not yet realize an optimal system. However, many people are beginning to understand that we are all equally responsible for the experiences we create every day.
Is it perhaps less an individual problem that many of us have with money, and more the result of the capitalist system making us sick in the long run?
The capitalist system can only affect us if we allow it to. If we live from the outside in, then capitalism can make us sick. But why should we do that? We can question old, materialistic beliefs and break away from them. We can keep the positive aspects of capitalism, such as efficiency and wealth, and understand negative aspects, such as exploitation and inequality, from the root and gradually dissolve them.
The system does not exist without us. We are only as a whole society not yet aware of all the connections and therefore could not yet realize an optimal system. However, many people are beginning to understand that we are all equally responsible for the experiences we create every day.
It is important that we do not think too categorically, but remain curious and look for real solutions without getting lost in blame. We have enormous potential as a human race and it is far from exhausted. I am sure that we will realize more revolutionary ideas.
How can we find a healthy way of dealing with money?
There are very practical exercises we can use to reprogram our subconscious mindless fear, more love. It’s almost ridiculously simple if you do it consistently. I experience regular miracles through Affirmations, Visualization & Meditation etc. I never would have thought this myself before, how important self-love and emotional intelligence really are in the context of money. But the better our self-worth and the sharper our awareness, the better our financial situation.
When we believe in ourselves, we allow ourselves to unleash our genius and live abundantly. Compensatory actions fall away and we can think consciously and constructively. Consequently, we also recognize potential, financial bottlenecks and can find solutions early on. Many people avoid the topic of money because it triggers deep fears of failure in them. They make their self-worth dependent on their current financial situation. Of course, it is then difficult to proceed in a solution-oriented and systematic way. A person who really has a healthy relationship with himself and is emotionally balanced does not make himself so dependent on money and can thus manage it rationally. Also, a healthy self-worth leads us to be able to stand up for our needs in a peaceful way and set clear boundaries.
In summary, I would say:
Look at your triggers and fears and challenge them. You are infinitely valuable and deserve to live in abundance, allow yourself to envision a positive future where money is a given and then treat yourself accordingly!
Thank you for the exciting conversation, dear Julia!
