It seems that an awful lot of us struggle in some way with money. Interestingly, I've noticed people's degree of struggle doesn't necessarily correlate with how much money they have. I've seen folks who barely manage to pay the rent be quite peaceful around their financial situation. One such friend of mine frequently shares stories of people she hardly knows showing up at her house with bags of groceries or giving her amazingly large tips for her services. She always seems to have enough in spite of her tenuous income as a newly practicing massage therapist. Then I've known others who have what I think of as a large income who live from paycheck to paycheck, never seeming able to live within their means or to feel grateful for what they have. And some people have so much fear around money that no matter how much they have stored away it's never enough to bring them peace of mind.

Our relationship to money tends to get mixed up with all kinds of other issues: feelings of safety, self-esteem, worthiness and how freely we give and receive love, to name just a few. The spiritual principles of prosperity are, for the most part, diametrically opposed to the mundane rules of finance. Much of the way money circulates in the world today is based in fear. Greed, materialism, miserliness and selfishness are all manifestations of fear. When we fear there's not enough to go around and not enough for us, there is an overemphasis on acquiring, an emphasis on holding on rather than flowing. Imagine what would happen if we went about the process of breathing this way--sucking in breath and holding it as long as possible ... or going to the other extreme and exhaling but not drinking in again ... or taking only tiny breaths ... or worrying about each breath.... I could go on, but you get the idea. We can learn a lot about how to be in the world by using breath as a model. Money is energy and needs to follow the same easy continuous flow as breath if it is to nourish and support us. It's not just the anonymous, evil corporate machines of the world that have a monopoly on greed and the wrong use of resources. It's any of us (all of us) who hoard stuff in our closets that we never use but keep for ourselves on the infinitesimal chance we may want it someday; or who don't share what we have out of fear that we won't have enough; or who withhold love, compassion and forgiveness because even love feels like a scarce commodity.

Did that last example seem like a change of subject? At the spiritual level, the way we allow the energy of love to flow to us and from us has a great deal to do with how the energy of money flows in our lives. An open heart can make the difference between those who have very little materially yet have an abundance of everything they really want, with enough left over to share, and those who are materially wealthy yet drowning in money worries and self-involvement. Living from love instead of fear also differentiates the prosperous person whose money empowers others from the wealthy person whose money is gained at the expense of others.

Prosperity is available to us without limit. We can have all we need to fulfill our highest purpose and live our highest joy. For some this requires a lot of money and for others much less is needed. As we unhook the idea of "highest good" from the prerequisite of "a lot of money," it suddenly becomes easier to attract money, easier to live with less money and easier to experience the joy God would have for us, with or without money.

The following is a simple exercise for clearing away non productive beliefs about money to find the real path to fulfillment. It suggests a reversal of how we have been conditioned to believe in cause and effect. Instead of waiting to be happy until we have achieved certain external goals (as in, "I will be happy when I have more money...") I invite you to experiment with creating happiness now and furthermore, to trust that building into your life, now, the inner experience that you want is actually the quickest route to all the external outcomes that will best support this inner experience.

Exercise:

1) Write down what it is that you want from money (such as, I want a new car, I want more time, I want a vacation, I want to pay all of my bills, I want to start my own business, etc.).

2) Next, identify five "essence experiences" related to having these things that you want. An essence experience is the inner feeling you believe these things will give you. These might include, for example, security, freedom, joy, self-worth, relaxation, love, creativity, fun or power.

3) Now, imagine that creating the money and other external circumstances needed to bring more joy and satisfaction into your life begins with allowing yourself to experience the essence of what you want right now, rather than later. Start by creating within yourself the inner experiences that you seek. To do this, take some quiet time, close your eyes, relax and let yourself imagine the inner feelings of safety, or love, or freedom or whatever you think you need money for in order to feel. Feel these as warmth, tingling, relaxation or energy within your body. Picture yourself having all the things you want as though it is now a part of your present reality.

Tell yourself that you have already succeeded. Open to the emotions of joy and well-being that go along with having your dream.

4) Do this inner work regularly, and also take external action. Come up with some concrete actions that will incorporate into your life now more of the inner experiences that you desire. For example, if you want money so that you can have more time for activities that you enjoy, then build into your life now, even in a small way, more of the activities that you enjoy. If you want money to give you a feeling of security, look to how you can open to all kinds of emotional security -- reach out to a friend for emotional support, join a support group, check the tires on your car, start a savings account if you don't already have one, etc. If you want money to be able to give yourself more luxury items and beautiful things, begin now to give yourself small things of superior quality. You don't need to live beyond your means to give yourself an expensive chocolate or a perfect flower or other item that will allow you to feel prosperous now.

For more exercises to help you work with the spiritual principles of prosperity, see Lynn's free, do-it-yourself prosperity workshop on her website: www.lynnwoodland.com.

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Lynn Woodland is the author of the book Power, Effectiveness and Spirit. With over twenty-five years of clinical experience in transpersonal psychology, spiritual development, mind-body psychology and attitudinal healing, she specializes in bringing spiritual experience down to earth. For more on her work and for free spiritual healing and growth services see her web site: www.lynnwoodland.com or call 651-642-5405.

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