I don’t blame you.

You had jargon grenades lobbed at you.

Your fears and anxieties were teased out of you and handed to you like a cloud of toxic cotton candy.

Then, after you signed on the dotted line, you discovered that the thing you bought was not what you were sold.

You thought you were buying safety.

Meditation can be torture.

There you are, sitting cross-legged on the black zafu (hard round pillow) piled on top of the black zabuton (big square flat pillow) at the Zendo with a bunch of other silent people trying not to move, and your nose starts to itch.

You try hard not to scratch.

I drive an hour and a half round trip to get art framed.

My framer is not the cheapest nor the fastest. But she has a good eye, I trust her judgment, and she’s patient, as invested as I am in making sure the art is displayed to its best advantage. She takes pride in her work, not trying to nickel and dime me but problem-solving the most cost-effective way to get the desired effect.

She gives a shit, and her workmanship shows it.

It’s all made up.

That research report your broker just emailed you about the next Amazon?

Pure fiction.

Those elaborate financial models forecasting earnings out 5 to 10 years?

Balderdash.

The case for the next ten-bagger being cheap?

Malarkey.

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Walt Kelly’s famous Pogo cartoon from 1970 came to mind as I was teaching a class for the YWCA of O’ahu’s Enterprising Women of Color program. We were discussing money beliefs and how they can undermine our success.

Here are 3 commonly held and sabotaging beliefs that surfaced, plus my color commentary and tips for shifting them into a more productive mindset.

“How does your husband feel about you making more money than he does?”

I was genuinely puzzled by this question.

The person asking was my male business partner. We’d finally gotten our firm off the ground and were now starting to earn. “He doesn’t mind,” I said. The truth was I didn’t know. We never talked about it.