There was a period of time in my life that I rejected money. I felt bitter about graduating college with a massive student loan (all of which would have been easily avoided if I had listened to my parents) during the time of a deep recession. My school did little, I thought, to help it’s students and my first job out of college paid me just enough to get by, and a little more. I learned to be humble with my spending. And I decided that money sucks.

At the time I also got deeper into yogic philosophy and with a work study program at the studio I was able to get free classes in exchange for work. That alone is the predominant reason yoga became such an integrated part of my life. Anyway, yoga reaffirmed in my mind the distaste for money. Who needs money? Money corrupts. Money creates the 1% who abuse the 99%. Money is the source of privileges and superiority complexes. Ya, I definitely do NOT need money.

As you can imagine, that sort of thinking did not attract money. There was almost a sense of pleasure in not having it. It felt good to get the poor me, pity me, sympathy looks from others. It’s more spiritual to be poor anyway, or so I thought.

I rejected the notion of money and the Universe gave me just that. I did not see money coming in. It was always a struggle.

Then one day, with the help of Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love, I learned a new way to view money.

There’s nothing pure or spiritual about poverty. We often see impoverished people who are very holy, but it isn’t the poverty that creates the holiness… the attachment to money is a huge temptation to deviate from love. But the moral imperative is not to block the reception of money into our lives. The challenge is to spiritualize our relationship to it, by seeing that its only purpose is to heal the world… We are not poor because the rich are rich. We are poor because we do not work with love. A Return to Love

When I read that, there was definitely an “ah-ha” moment in my head. I decided I do not want to reject money anymore. In fact, I WANT money. I want a LOT of money to flow to me because it is only with money that I can continue to pursue the epiphany I had of yoga service. I want money so I can give it away to those who need it. I realize now it’s not money I want to reject, rather how I spend my money. Money enables one to mobilize. How am I to give myself to others if I cannot even give myself what I need?

This radical shift in my perspective has already made me feel richer and more empowered. I deserve to have money. There is nothing spiritual about being poor. The spirituality does not come with how much money you have, but how you choose to spend it. I see that now.

What is your relationship with money? Is this mentality going to help you achieve what you need in order to create the most amount of happiness to yourself and those around you?

Namaste.