Befriending the Parts of You Who Worry About Money
When we talk about "money work," most people expect spreadsheets, budgets, and strategies.
But in the course Money as a Spirit Ally, we don't start with numbers at all.
We start with your body. We start with your precious, exhausted heart. We start with the parts of you who have been standing guard around money since before you knew they existed.
Before you read any further, pause. Right now. Notice: What happens in your body when you see the word money?
Does your stomach clench like a fist? Does heat bloom across your chest? Does your breath go shallow, as if even oxygen might cost too much?
These responses aren't failures. They're not evidence that you're "bad with money" or "not spiritual enough." They're tiny messengers, running through the hallways of your inner world with urgent notes: Someone in here needs to be heard.
In Money as a Spirit Ally, you can learn to stop running past them.
You Are a Village Inside
One of the most profound frameworks I use in my practice is Internal Family Systems (IFS). You don't need the whole theory -just this truth that changes everything:
You are not one solid self with one opinion about money. You are a whole village inside.
Picture it: There's a part of you still counting coins like your grandmother did at the kitchen table, making sure there's enough for milk until payday. There's another part eyeing that beautiful thing in your Amazon wishlist, whispering life is too short for all this denial. There's the teenager who remembers the fight about money that changed everything. The achiever who believes worth equals earnings. The rebel who wants to throw the bills in the trash and run.
I met all of mine during a particularly challenging month last year. Sitting at my desk, staring at an invoice I needed to send but couldn't bring myself to email, I felt them all activate at once -a cacophony of internal voices, each absolutely certain they knew the right way to handle this.
That's when I remembered: alongside all these precious parts, there's also a Self -capital S -the wise, grounded presence that can hold all of them with infinite tenderness. The part of you that's like the kindest grandmother and the steadiest oak tree combined. The one who says, Come here, sweetheart. Tell me everything.
Meeting the One Who Carries the Weight
Here's the practice we explore in class, simplified for you to try right now or bookmark for a quiet moment:
1. Drop into your body Feel your feet on the actual earth. Place one hand on your heart -not symbolically, but really feel the warmth of your palm against your chest. Let your breath be ordinary, human, imperfect.
2. Invite the worried one forward Think about money just long enough to feel that familiar tightening. Then, with the gentleness you'd use with a frightened child, ask: "The part of me who feels this -would you be willing to sit with me?"
Sometimes I picture meeting this part at my actual kitchen table, where the cats are weaving between chair legs and there's always tea. Sometimes it's a park bench. Let the image form naturally.
3. Ask with genuine curiosity From your calmest, most curious Self:
What's your job around money?
How long have you been doing this job?
What are you afraid will happen if you stop?
What do you most want me to know?
Then - this is crucial -actually listen. Don't coach, fix, or argue. Just receive.
Last week, a client discovered her money-anxious part was seven years old, still standing in the grocery store checkout line, watching her mother's face change when the card was declined. That part had been trying to prevent that moment from happening again for thirty-five years.
4. Thank them like you mean it Before anything else, thank this part for every single thing they've done to try to keep you safe. Even if their methods have been exhausting. Even if they've been getting in your way. They've been working so hard, for so long, with the only tools they had.
The Three N's for Real Life
Beautiful inner work doesn't only happen on meditation cushions. These parts show up at Target, during dinner conversations, while you're trying to sleep at 3 AM.
So we practice something simple enough to use anywhere: Notice, Name, Nurture.
Standing in line at the coffee shop, realizing you're calculating whether you "deserve" a $7 latte:
Notice: "Oh, something in me just did math about worthiness."
Name: "Hello, Keeper of Deserving. I see you."
Nurture: "Thank you for trying to make sure I'm good enough. I'm the grown-up here now. You can rest."
This isn't about making feelings disappear. It's about shifting from: "I'm a disaster with money" to: "A part of me is scared, and I'm here with her."
That shift? That's where everything changes.
What Shows Up to Stop You (And Why They're Welcome Too)
When I guide people through this process, the same protectors often appear:
"I don't have time for inner work." That's your Productivity Manager, who learned that staying busy keeps you safe from feeling. You might say: "Five minutes with this scared part might actually free up hours of anxiety later. Want to try?"
"This is too woo-woo. Just give me practical steps." Your Strategic Mind! She's brilliant and we need her. But she can't logic away what lives in the body. Maybe she'd like to observe while we tend to the parts logic can't reach?
"If I look at this, I'll fall apart." The Guardian of the Gates. This one deserves extra tenderness. They've been holding so much back for so long. Remind them: We're not opening floodgates. We're just peeking through the keyhole. You can close it anytime.
Why This Changes Everything
You might wonder what inner parts work has to do with money actually flowing.
Here's what I know: If the parts of you who learned that money means danger, scarcity, shame, or proof of worth are never acknowledged, they'll keep sabotaging every practical step you take. They'll whisper you out of raising your prices. They'll tighten your throat when opportunity calls. They'll make you somehow "forget" to send the invoice.
But when you befriend them -consistently, gently, with curiosity instead of contempt -your whole system begins to relax. Money as a Spirit Ally can finally approach without setting off every alarm in your beautiful, protective inner village.
This Week's Gentle Revolution
If you do nothing else this week, try this:
The next time money makes your chest tight or your stomach flip, pause for one breath and whisper inward:
"I see you. Thank you for protecting me all this time. I'm here now. We're safe."
That's not just inner work. That's how we change our relationship with everything. Including money. Including ourselves.
If this teaching on receiving touched something inside you, consider joining my Money as a Spirit Ally class.
We’ll explore money as a living ally, learn to listen for guidance, and open the pathways that have been closed for far too long.
You’re welcome in this circle.
https://www.drthaedafranz.com/classes1