What if you went into a store to buy groceries and instead of handing over cash, you needed to cough-up cold hard…smiles, or hugs or stones? Would we suddenly find ourselves unable to muster up enough smiles, hugs or stones to pay for what we need? Money is, after all, just another energy. Yet so much emphasis has been placed on it. We are told as children that money doesn’t grow on trees. We are pushed to ‘keep up with the Jones’ and over and over we are told ‘money is what makes the world go ‘round.’ All of this gives money an inordinate amount of power.

For many of us money is surrounded with the energy of lack and limit. We can’t have this or that, because we don’t have enough money and we blame the lack of money for our own unhappiness or inadequacy. People oftentimes misquote the bible by saying ‘money is the root of all evil,’ but the actual passage is ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ Putting money above love, life and family is wrong, not the actual possession of money. Whether we apply this passage directly to money or to the things that we think we want and need, it is want and desire that places many people into financial struggles.

The Western culture, which is rapidly becoming the prevailing world culture, is about consumption and desire. We are bombarded with messages that tell us we are deficient unless we have a certain car, a particular handbag, whiter teeth, paler skin or a youthful look. Our self-worth and our personal value is constantly attached to the availability of money.

We have also become a culture steeped in immediacy. We want it right now; we have to have it and if we don’t get it, it triggers anything from panic to depression. Panic because our need can’t be met, depression because amidst all the messages, we have come to believe we are nothing unless we have whatever ‘thing’ it happens to be at the moment.

Money becomes that which stands in the way of our perceived happiness. If we only had $100 or $1000 then we could be happy. Instead of assessing what we desire, we borrow money to acquire it now.

But if your life lessons are wrapped up in money, your challenge is to learn self-worth and personal value and we don’t do that by having lots of money, we do that by having money challenges. You are challenged to find the true value of yourself and see the meaningfulness of your life with what you have, rather than what you don’t have.

Many people who explored using The Universal Law of Attraction failed to realize that the law only works if you clear the energy and information that keeps you feeling as though you don’t deserve what you have. As soon as they stopped applying the law, their life unraveled. It unraveled because they did not learn the life lessons that were wrapped up in their lack of money, so their lack returned.

If money is an issue for you, consider these four things:

• What is your attitude toward money? Does money hold an inordinate amount of importance? Does the lack of it make you feel less?
• Do you live with a sense of restriction, lack or limit? Being miserly is the opposite energy of spending foolishly and both are connected to the fear of not having enough.
• Do you believe that more money would solve all your worries or let you live the life you want? Unless you learn to love yourself and validate yourself, your problems will follow you.
• Do you look at other people and feel angry, resentful or jealous about what they have? A closed heart cannot embrace more.

Our attitude toward money affects both what we can have and consequently the debt we carry. Much of our debt arises because we feel that we should be able to have what we want and if we can’t actually afford it, we put it on a credit card or take out a loan so that we can have it now. The problem is, if you don’t have the actual self-worth to have what you’ve put on the credit card or taken a loan for, you’ll find yourself struggling to pay that charge off, especially if you continue to use money that you don’t actually have to satisfy an otherwise lack of self-worth.Our parents called this ‘living within your means’ but as we become more and more conscious and the energy on the planet shifts, it’s more than living within our means, it’s understanding our own life lessons that are wrapped up in a lack of money.

Take this next month and employ these six steps:

• Take your focus off of money – release your money worries to your higher-power (Whether that is GOD or your Spirit or some other source). Package up every thought, every worry and hand it over.
• When you feel jealous, envious or angry about someone else having more than you; imagine a clear bubble out in front of you and let that energy go – move it out of your space.
• Anytime you are going to charge or even buy something check-in with yourself and see if you can actually have what you are getting ready to buy. If you can’t have it, don’t buy it.
• Additionally when you are about to purchase something stop and ask yourself if you really need it, or is it just the need to have something. If you don’t really need it, let it go.
• Love the life you have. You can work to create something more, but create more by building on what you have, not by hating what you have and resenting what you don’t have. You did create it after all.
• When you do decide to splurge, do it and own it. If you can’t and you’re going to feel guilty or vbad afterward, don’t splurge.

Money is one of our greatest teachers. Instead of butting heads with it and struggling, try to figure out what your relationship to money is trying to teach you. Because in truth, we all deserve to have the life we desire. If you struggle, start to unravel the messages attached to your experiences with money. The more conscious you become to these messages, you will find yourself creating a different money relationship, one in which money is just another energy that helps you live your life to the fullest.

Christine Agro is the author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously and writes the daily BeliefNet blog, Life As A Conscious Mom. Join Christine for more insight, guidance and support in living life consciously.