Overcoming Money Blocks with Parts Work: A Path to Financial Freedom
If you’ve ever found yourself struggling with money—whether it’s earning it, keeping it, or feeling secure with it—you’re not alone.
Many of us have tried everything to fix our financial struggles: affirmations, money mindset exercises, visualizations, even expensive courses or coaching. And while these tools can help bring awareness to our limiting beliefs, they often leave us wondering why nothing seems to truly shift.
The truth is, our relationship with money is rarely just about money. It’s shaped by a deeper inner landscape—parts of us that carry the stories, fears, and patterns we learned early on. This is where Parts Work, a powerful approach rooted in Internal Family Systems (IFS), offers a transformative path forward. Unlike traditional money mindset work, which focuses on choosing new beliefs, Parts Work goes deeper. It doesn’t just bring awareness to the blocks—it heals them.
How Money Blocks Show Up in Everyday Life
Money blocks can manifest in countless ways, often beyond our conscious awareness. For example:
- You finally start earning more, only to lose it through unexpected expenses or impulsive spending.
- No matter how hard you work, you can’t seem to break through to the next income level.
- You feel paralyzed by guilt or anxiety when spending money, even on things you genuinely need or value.
- You hold a deep-seated belief that financial success requires sacrifice, unfulfilling work, or endless struggle.
These patterns might feel frustrating or confusing, especially if you’ve already done significant work around money mindset. But these blocks aren’t simply bad habits or “limiting beliefs.” They’re signals from parts of you—protective, wounded, or younger parts—that are still holding onto old stories about what money means and how it works.
The Role of "Parts" in Money Beliefs
Our relationship with money isn’t just about the numbers in our bank account—it’s shaped by parts of us that carry deeply ingrained beliefs formed from early experiences. These parts often learned to associate money with safety—or its absence—and developed protective strategies to help us navigate a world that felt uncertain.
For example, someone shared with me recently how her childhood shaped her relationship with money. Her parents struggled financially, and her mom stretched every penny to make ends meet. Even when her mom eventually earned a decent salary, she remained vigilant—always buying the cheapest items, scrutinizing receipts for errors, and returning to customer service for a dime’s difference. The stress and dissatisfaction around money were constant.
As a child, she internalized the message that financial security required vigilance, sacrifice, and unhappiness. Now, as an adult, she notices the same patterns showing up in her life:
- She buys only the cheapest items and feels compelled to double-check receipts.
- She battles an underlying belief that you can’t make good money doing what you enjoy. If you make good money, you have to be unfulfilled and complain.
These patterns aren’t just habits—they’re driven by parts of her that are still holding onto those old stories.
- A frugal part echoes her mom’s fear of waste and hyper-awareness around spending.
- A skeptical part distrusts abundance or fulfillment, believing they come at a cost.
Here’s the key difference between traditional money mindset work and Parts Work: mindset work helps us recognize and challenge these limiting beliefs, but it often stops there. Parts Work takes it deeper by connecting with the parts that hold these beliefs. Instead of pushing them aside, we approach them with curiosity, learning how they’ve been trying to protect us.
For this person, working with her parts allowed her to see how they carried fears and strategies that had been helpful in the past but were no longer serving her. She didn’t need to reject these parts—instead, she could listen to their concerns, offer reassurance, and invite them into a new way of relating to money.
A Gentle Parts Work Exercise to Heal Your Relationship with Money
If you’ve ever felt stuck in the same patterns with money, even after trying affirmations, mindset shifts, or visualizations, it’s likely because parts of you are still carrying unresolved fears and beliefs. These parts often have good intentions—they’re trying to keep you safe based on what they’ve learned—but their methods might be holding you back.
This gentle Parts Work exercise will help you connect with these parts, understand their concerns, and begin the process of healing your relationship with money.
- Settle into Self Energy
Find a quiet, comfortable space where you can take a few moments to ground yourself. Breathe deeply, allowing your body to relax. Invite a sense of curiosity and compassion for whatever might come up. - Notice the Part Holding the Belief
Think of a specific money-related belief you struggle with. For example, “I’ll never have enough,” or “I can’t make good money doing what I love.” As you focus on this belief, notice what emotions, sensations, or memories arise. Where do you feel it in your body? - Get Curious About This Part
Imagine this part of you as distinct—almost like a character or voice within. Ask it some gentle questions: - What are you afraid might happen if I let go of this belief?
- How are you trying to protect me?
- What do you want me to understand about you?
- Stay curious and open. You might discover that this part has been carrying fears or lessons from your past, perhaps rooted in childhood experiences.
- Thank the Part
Let this part know you see it, hear it, and appreciate how it’s been trying to help you. Even if its methods feel limiting now, it’s likely been working hard to keep you safe or avoid pain. - Offer Reassurance from Self
From a grounded, compassionate place, reassure this part that you, as your adult Self, are here now. Let it know that you understand its concerns and that you’re willing to work together to create a new, safer dynamic with money—one that allows for both security and abundance.
This exercise isn’t about fixing or rejecting your parts—it’s about building a relationship with them. Over time, as you listen to their fears and offer them the reassurance they need, you’ll begin to notice shifts in how you approach money and abundance.
Why Parts Work Goes Beyond Traditional Money Mindset Work
Many approaches to money mindset focus on rewriting limiting beliefs through affirmations, visualization, or choosing new thoughts like “Money is energy” or “I live in an abundant universe.” While these practices can increase awareness, they often don’t create lasting change because they only address the surface.
Parts Work is fundamentally different. Instead of trying to override old beliefs with new ones, it helps you heal the parts of yourself that are holding those beliefs. These parts aren’t just obstacles to overcome—they’re protectors, deeply tied to past experiences and fears.
From a neuroscience perspective, these parts are connected to deeply rooted neural pathways that formed in response to early life experiences. For example, if a part of you learned that financial security required vigilance and sacrifice, that belief became embedded in your brain’s wiring. Over time, these pathways became automatic responses—default patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior around money.
Until these parts feel heard, understood, and reassured, they’ll often resist or sabotage your efforts to change. Simply choosing a new belief doesn’t rewire these pathways; the part holding the old belief needs to feel safe enough to let go.
Through Parts Work, you can create the conditions for healing by engaging with these parts compassionately. By listening to their fears and offering reassurance, you begin to form new neural pathways—ones that align with abundance, trust, and a healthier relationship with money. This process leads to deeper, more sustainable transformation, allowing your internal system to support the financial freedom and fulfillment you desire.
A Path to Financial Freedom Through Inner Healing
Healing your relationship with money isn’t just about changing your thoughts or trying harder—it’s about going deeper. It’s about understanding the parts of you that have been working tirelessly to protect you, even if their methods no longer serve you.
Through Parts Work, you can connect with these parts, listen to their fears, and offer them the reassurance they’ve been longing for. As these parts heal, you’ll notice shifts—not just in how you think about money, but in how you feel and act around it. Old patterns begin to release, and you open up to a new way of relating to abundance. Not only that, but you will have access to the creative force of Self Energy, which has creative solutions that you may never have considered before.
This isn’t just a mental exercise—it’s a process of rewiring your internal system. By addressing the deep-rooted neural pathways that have shaped your beliefs about money, you create the conditions for lasting transformation.
So, if you’ve felt stuck despite trying everything else, consider exploring Parts Work. Healing your inner world is the key to creating the financial freedom and flow you’ve been seeking.
Ready to begin? Start with the gentle Parts Work exercise above and see what shifts for you as you begin to deepen your connection with the parts of you that hold your money story.
If you’re ready to take the next step, join my 5-part email series on manifesting. This free series includes daily journal prompts, video lessons, and guided meditations to help you align your inner world with your goals. Whether you’re looking to manifest financial freedom, a fulfilling career, or more abundance in all areas of your life, this series will give you the tools to get started.
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Andrea Tessier is a Master Life Coach and IFS Practitioner specializing in Inner Child and Parts Work. She helps visionary leaders, conscious entrepreneurs, and seekers heal emotional wounds, unlock their potential, and create authentic, joy-filled lives.