How To Eliminate Credit Card Debt - In Your Mind
Also: Debt Elimination Plan, Self Control and Debt, Eliminate Student Credit Card Debt
Credit card debt is a problem that can permeate all of your life and that of your family. Due to the pressures credit card debt can cause when it gets out of control, it can also dig deep roots into your mind.
If you do not have a credit card debt problem, then you can eliminate the risk of problems occurring later by training your mind to prevent it happening. Your mind can be trained to be on guard against the most likely forces that could drag you into credit card debt.
If you do have a problem already, then you need to apply your mind even more to eliminate credit card debt over a period of time. It can be a tough journey, but ultimately it will become a smooth one if you apply yourself consistently in the future.
What Are The Advantages Of Using Your Mind To Eliminate Credit Card Debt?
Credit card debt, of course, is not just a problem of the mind. If you have a such problem, then there are many practical issues outside of your mind. The credit card balances exist in the real world beyond your mind; the overdue balances exist also outside of your mind; as do the letters you may have received from companies chasing your debt repayments; and the rejected loan applications you may have made.
However, some of the problems associated with credit card debt do occur in the mind. The causes of the problem in the first place probably included social pressures, and the way in which your mind responded to those pressures is key to your existing problem. Furthermore, the worries of falling into debt, especially if it gets out of control, are in the mind, and can reach a level where they overwhelm your thoughts for much of the day.
There are several advantages to using your mind to help you in eliminating credit card debt:
1. It is free.
2. It belongs to you and you have total control over your mind. The first thing for you to do is to recognize that you are the one who has control, and not forget it.
3. Once you appreciate the control you have over your mind, then you can use it to address existing problems sensibly, and prevent other problems emerging in the future. With credit card debt, you can use your mind to overcome social influences that may encourage debt in the first place. This ability will help you prevent credit card debt or to eliminate it and rebuild your credit report. So, your mind can be used in both prevention and cure.
How Do You Use Your Mind To Eliminate Credit Card Debt?
When it comes to getting out of bad habits, you have probably heard the term "will power" used many times. You know people who want to give up smoking, and you hear them say "I don't have the will power....but I'll try". Of course, they fail; they fail because they want to fail and it is easier to fail. You may deride them, ridicule them, or even comfort them knowing they are the same as you.
Will power, though, is spoken of as if it is one thing, one characteristic, that you either have or you don't have. Everybody has will power, though; it is just that not everybody knows how to use it, or is too lazy to use it; or who prefers to live life like flotsam and jetsam, being tossed around on the waves and finally being dumped on some shore at the behest of the tides.
Will power should not be thought of in isolation, but as an ingredient in the recipe for mental self control that can help you eliminate your debt problems. It is not something you have or don't have; it is something you do have and need to learn to tap into, at will, whenever you want.
What, then, do you need to tap into your mind's resources to gain better self control, and an ability to take positive steps in overcoming a credit card debt (or any other) problem? Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
1. Make a choice.
Imagine flotsam and jetsam being tossed around in the ocean, drifting aimlessly, destined to land on some unknown sea shore, anywhere, any time. Now imagine a sleek, brand new, high powered, ocean going motor yacht, cutting its way smoothly through the flotsam and jetsam; on board it has all the latest navigational aids, and the owner knows exactly where it is heading and when it is likely to get there.
Which do you choose? Which would you truly prefer? If you chose flotsam and jetsam, then read no more. Make the most of your journey, and you never know, you may end up on a beautiful tropical island somewhere, sometime. But don't count on it; the tides will "decide". If you chose the sleek yacht, then read on.
2. Learn to Relax and Meditate
To be able to establish clear contact with your own mind, you really do need to be able to relax, control your breathing and meditate. These are vital. Do not think of them as some New Age fads. These aids have been around for thousands of years, and have just been suppressed by modern society. Master them, and you have taken a big step towards creating not only a better life, but a life of your choosing. Master them, and not only will you eliminate your credit card debt problems, but go on to apply the same techniques to develop a career or business that you once thought was way beyond you. Who needs to borrow money then?
There are lots of good websites around about self improvement which include these techniques. Here are a couple:
http://www.routes-to-self-improvement.com
3. Examine What Caused Your Credit Card Debt Problems
In periods of silent relaxation, focus on what you see as the reasons you have got into debt problems. Be open and receptive, and totally honest. You are accepting reality, what actually happened, not looking for excuses. Do this regularly for a few days, until you feel relaxed about the causes of the debt problem. Remember, you are communicating with your own mind, something which is as natural as can be. This is private, you, your world; nobody else is there. You are establishing control.
Once you have done that, focus on each reason in more depth and for longer. If you think it was because there were so many credit card ads on tv; just think about them, let them roll through your mind. Accept them for what they are; do not cast judgement, feel resentment or anything. This stage is about facts. You need the facts, so you will know what you have to deal with if you are going to eliminate your credit card debt problem. If you thought the cause may have been because your best friend was always buying things you couldn't afford, then focus in just the same way. Again, no judgement, and, importantly, no resentment and no envy. This is about you, not your friend.
4. Address Each Of The Causes
Now that you know, and accept with ease, what your credit card debt problems were caused by, it is time to use your periods of silence, relaxation and meditation to address each of those causes, and eliminate them. It is like preparing to fend off an attack; you are preparing yourself to reject those same influences in the future. The influences that caused your credit card debt will no longer be able to penetrate you.
How you decide to build your defences is up to you. You are training your mind to resist outside influences, to respond in a different way to how you responded previously. The important thing is you will, in future, resist them. For example, credit card advertisements on tv may have pushed you over the edge into credit card debt. Now, you can visualise those same advertisements, and see yourself reacting differently; you may now respond by laughing dismissively at them and saying "anyone who pays those interest rates is crazy" or "they're just like a drug, you need to keep off them". Any little mental tactic that will help you is legitimate. You know yourself; you decide what will work best.
By doing the above you are conditioning yourself to accepting reasons for your debt problem and preparing yourself never to follow the same route again.
5. Tackling The Debt Problem Head On
You can use the same techniques as above to deal with the resolution of your existing debt problems. You have come to terms with what has caused the problems, and how you can prevent them happening again in the same way. Your mental strength has assisted you so far and will assist you always if you use relaxation and meditation as periods in which you can communicate with your inner self, your subconscious.
During your silent relaxation, you can now come to terms with what is necessary to sort out the existing problems. You can train your mind, by repetitive instruction, to, for example:
1. Write down all the debts.
2. Prepare a budget.
3. Seek credit counselling.
4. Keep up all payments on time.
5. Make a plan and stick to it,
until such time as you have been able to eliminate your credit card debt altogether.
