We may unconsciously project our internal qualities (security, love, worth) onto money.

A three-step reclamation process is: projection, reclamation, integration.

Reclaiming projections changes not just income but identity and life.

The most popular course I’ve taught in 20 years of coaching is about money. Except it’s not about money at all. It's about understanding ourselves. When we examine our relationship with money, we discover we’ve unconsciously given away parts of ourselves to it.

The Projection We Don’t See

When someone tells me “money equals security,” they’re revealing something deeper: I am insecure without money. This is projection. We take something internal—our sense of security, worthiness, or love—and outsource it to money.

The work I do, influenced by Peter Koenig’s projection-reclamation approach, helps people take back what they’ve given away through three stages:

Projection — noticing what money means to you

Reclamation — owning that projection fully

Integration — holding the opposite truth simultaneously

This isn’t positive thinking. It’s reclaiming the part of yourself you didn’t realize you had outsourced.

What Happens When We Reclaim

One client said, “Money for me is love.”

As we explored this, she realized that growing up, financial stability meant her family was okay—that she was cared for. When money was tight, love felt absent. Her unconscious equation: No money = no love. This shaped everything. She chronically underpriced........

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