Use Money as a Spiritual Practice

Using money as a spiritual practice may seem odd, especially if you believe it’s not spiritual to be concerned about money.

Money is a powerful force that we often deal with daily. A positive relationship with money can be the cornerstone of a deep spiritual practice.

What Qualifies as a Spiritual Practice

For me, a spiritual practice is an activity or state of being that allows me to travel into deeper dimensions of myself and understand who or what I am.

Spiritual practices help me gain a deeper understanding of the nature of reality and what my place is in the total scheme of things.

Traditional spiritual practice includes meditation, prayer, fasting, quiet retreats, silence, giving service to others, chanting, various forms of yoga, etc. These are internal activities.

Alternately, money and activities surrounding money usually pertain to externals, such as shopping, financial management, banking, etc.

Both the internal and external can be combined for spiritual growth

Money as a Pathway to Self-Knowledge

It’s common to have deep emotional responses when thinking about or dealing with money. People worry, panic, and scheme about money. They long for, pray for, and wish for money.

Money is often seen as the solution to a wide variety of problems and a ticket to freedom.

However, strong money feelings can be used to enhance your self-knowledge and inner development as your relationship with money evolves.

Here are some suggestions for using money as a spiritual practice.

1. When using any form of money, notice your thoughts and feelings. These thoughts and feelings are your internal response to how you interact with the external world. Don’t push the thoughts and feelings away. Stay with them and ask yourself how your thoughts and feelings might be about your relationship with yourself.

2. Tune into a greater reality via market and financial indicators. The indicators are a way of tuning into the emotions of the population of a country and even the world. Doing this, allows you to understand yourself as part of a larger reality while expanding your consciousness and self-concept.

3. Use money consciously and with great awareness. This will enhance your relationship with your inner guidance-- whatever form that takes. Using and doing anything consciously and with awareness is, in itself, part of a spiritual practice.

4. Giving money away provides many opportunities for spiritual growth. Sharing what you have with others allows you to examine your values, your beliefs about what is possible along with your levels of faith.

5. Use money to measure how you value yourself. Are you generous with others but not yourself? Do you criticize yourself when you spend money on yourself? Do you overspend on things you think will show others you are valuable?

My Podcast Interviews about Money & Spirituality

Leisa Peterson: Combining Spirituality and Money

Elizabeth Ralph: The Spiritual Investor