A post shared by Waylon Lewis & Friends (@walkthetalkshow) on May 19, 2017 at 1:45pm PDT

Four and a half years ago my greatest fear came to fruition.

I was was struggling to find a way to support my health-challenged rescue dog and myself without my ex-husband and partner of seven years by my side.

Our marriage was crumbling, my online business was still in training wheels, and my college degree felt entirely useless after spending most of my 20s flitting about from one career to the next.

Soon Waylon and I would be on our own. And with rent, vet bills, and $10,000 in credit card debt, I needed a consistently healthy inflow of income. My relationship with money had been strained and was rich with drama.

Typically, when I had money, I spent it—and when I didn’t have it, I spent even more. I wore the albatross of money’s lack around my neck as though it were an appendage, as though there were not actually some other option.

Getting back on my feet all those years ago was not easy, but I worked hard and the income came. It took patience and a few month’s time to get the job offer I was holding out for. And for almost four years, I would give that job everything I had. I sacrificed hobbies, my social life, and any reasonable sense of balance.

It would still take a while though, to learn not only to make money, but also to save—and even to love it. By some strange irony, in my desperate state of financial worry, I landed myself in the midst of a successful financial company. My relationship to money was still struggling, but all around me were people who knew how to earn and how to save.

Money is Energy.

Money is an energetic exchange. There is a guideline in Kundalini yoga teacher training that recommends there be some financial exchange for a teacher’s services. “Empty handed you come, empty handed you go.” Money is seen as a way of a student energetically compensating a teacher for the gifts shared through their trainings and teachings.

If you have something to give to this world, it is okay to expect something in return. Just as a warm thank you can mean a lot to hear, and spending money on meaningful products and services is a way of expressing thanks for them.

Like Attracts Like.

Some of the wealthiest people I have ever met are also some of the most humble and conservative of spenders. I used to always dream of owning some beautiful beach mansion for relaxing away the summer months.

But even people who can most easily afford any vacation home they could possibly imagine settle instead for older, smaller, more reasonable accommodations. They drive the most practical of cars, have reasonably sized homes, and having the latest and greatest is just not anywhere on their priority list. They truly take in and enjoy life’s treats without tossing money away on unnecessary pomp and circumstance.

Money is energy, and energy is power. If you love your money, don’t toss it away. Love it enough to hold onto it and spend it only in the ways that have deep and practical meaning. Those who always want the newest and best will have a lot more ever-expiring gadgets, but a lot less heft in the bank.

Prosperity is Admirable.

Some of the greatest marks of people who have a lot of money include their generosity, humility, and life balance. People who are very successful in one area tend to be more creatively free to explore other areas. Sometimes it’s a side hobby like an organic garden, painting, or writing. And sometimes it even means expansion into other revenue-generating fields.

And in their own success, they always help to build others up as well. People with great wealth had help getting there, and they compensate those who contributed accordingly. The man who brought Kundalini yoga to the West, Yogi Bhajan, was known to remark: “Those who want to be prosperous have to learn to make others prosperous. If you cannot make others prosperous, you cannot be prosperous…it doesn’t matter what you try.”

In the years after my divorce, I paid off $10,000 in credit card debt, $15,000 in vet bills, and learned finally to save. What made all the difference in the world for me was knowing that I loved my money—and that was okay. My money is a mark of the countless hours I have put into my career. It is my badge of honor, and it enables me to be a generous friend, loving dog owner, and make my own dreams happen.

I love my money, and so I don’t give it away with anything less than love.
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Author: Kristen Campbell 
Image: @WalktheTalkShow
Editor: Travis May