If money makes you feel uncomfortable, blame Mr. Scrooge! He may be making you think "money is bad." And this is not your fault.

That's because you may have unwittingly equated the words "money" and "bad" based on decades of watching Dickens' "wrenching, grasping, covetous old sinner" every Christmas season.

And if you think I'm a big "Scrooge," I'm not. Actually, I'm a big fan.

As I write this, another Christmas has come and gone. And I watched three or four versions of Charles Dickens' 1843 classic "A Christmas Carol."

These included yet another cartoon version. "Bah! Humduck!" features Donald Duck as a Scrooge-like character who owns the Lucky Duck Super Store.

He exclaims "Who needs a white Christmas when you can have a green one instead?" and tosses a pile of money in the air! And somebody or something keeps clobbering him throughout the whole cartoon!

So don't get me wrong about Scrooge. I like him.

However, at the same time, I thought of how many times over the years I'd gotten the unconscious message "money is bad." As I watched this cartoon, I thought, "I wonder what this has done to my unconscious thinking about money?"

Despite watching the transformed and redeemed Scrooge many times, the overall effect has been "money is bad." So I wonder how many times I short-circuited myself with the unconscious thought "money is bad."

If you suspect that Mr. Scrooge (and perhaps many others) may have left a negative impression on you about money and you have unwittingly let this affect you, I've designed a simple technique to challenge these unconscious thoughts.

Take a deep breath. Elevate your gaze as if looking at an imaginary point just above a distant horizon.

Call to mind an image of a dollar bill, the dollar sign, a stack of money, or any other image of physical money that occurs to you.

Ask this image:

"How does _________ (insert your first name) feel about you?"

"What does _________ (insert your first name) think about you?"

"What words and phrases describe how _________ (insert your first name) thinks and feels about you?"

"How would you describe _________'s (insert your first name) comfort level about you?"

"How does _________ (insert your first name) view your place in his/her life?"

Let your creative mind answer. Accept the first response that pops into your mind.

What kind of picture emerges? If you discovered some limiting beliefs, sabotaging thought patterns, and uncomfortable feelings, you are not alone. Lots of us have been watching Scrooge for years!

So here's my strategy to empower the mind to solve these issues. And it uses nothing more than a single question:

Is it possible that these thoughts and feelings about money were formed in error and _________ (insert your first name) didn't know about it?"

Answer this affirmatively and you begin transforming your experience with money. And "Bah! Humbug!" will never have quite the same ring to it!