Through the ages thousands of objects have been used as a form of exchange. Things like chocolate, rocks, blankets, rice, copper, beads, salt, belts, and even bat guano. Take chocolate for instance, the Mayans used chocolate because of its super health powers and thus it became the food of the Gods and used as money. How did it become a medium of exchange or money?

Let’s fast forward to today’s economy. If you ask an economist they will tell you what money does, not what it is. British economist Sir Ralph Hawtery says: “Money is one of those concepts which, like a teaspoon or an umbrella, but unlike an earthquake or a butter cup, are definable primarily by the use or purpose which they serve.”

The misconception is that money is wealth. In our modern day it has become a device for measuring wealth. Money is an unstable structure in our world being printed on paper which can be increased by our banking system. It actually decreases its value by a process called inflation. So technically having more paper dollars would decrease wealth.

This thing that has an official imprint of the United States or Mexico or Canada or Europe is a piece of paper. Without the imprint, how many would stoop down into a gutter to retrieve it as a dirty piece of paper if someone had simply sharpied the number 100 on its corners. Think of the absurdity of squealing with delight, leaping down and snatching up a dirty piece of paper as a prized possession because it had a magical number on its corners.

So why do we become attached to it? Because it is an enabling symbol. It is a tangible representation of an intangible energy, which allows you to have food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, iPods, computers, TV’s, cars, fast food, Starbucks, cell phones, microwaves, leisure and a sense of security against the desire turned need for these things.

How does money do all this? Certainly you do not build a house out of the paper. You do not plug your TV into the coins that drop into your sofa cushions. You do not eat the checks that you write to pay for the computer or flick the credit card switch to turn your lights on. Money is simply a medium or symbol of energy exchanged that each of us has learned to trust, in very different ways, to give us the credit to have these things.

You take $50 and give it to the gas station, which in turn gives some of it to the grocery store, his children’s school fund raiser, which in turn goes to a farmer somewhere to create food for you and the truck driver who drives it to you who pays taxes to the government which supplies the roads which you drive on. It circulates over and over and goes into this process called the economy. This is huge, global, and controlled by individuals like you over and over and over.

So this thing called money is basically good. Circulating around, creating all the things we say we want to use it for. And yet so many people continue to feel trapped by it, resentful of it in themselves or others, guilty about having it or not having it. Money or what money has created passes in and through your life hundreds of times a day. Just look around. Do you see a computer anywhere near you? Is there furniture, do you have electricity, running water, food in your fridge, a car, an IPad, clothes? Because of the circulation of money, all of this surrounds you. You are constantly, buying, selling, earning or spending. Much more than you ever realize.

So what makes one person angry about money and another squeal with delight? Your thoughts around money. One simple question, do you see money as abundance or lack? What is your language around money? Do you say things like this?

I don’t get paid enough.
How can I live on this measly amount?
I “only have” $50 until the end of the month.
OMG the electric bill is soooo high!

Or is your conversation this?

I always get paid what I’m worth.
I have plenty of money for everything I need.
I have what I need for everything I want.
I love paying my bills and appreciate everything it provides me.

Today just begin to notice your language around money. Money is good. Money is everywhere. Money is an extension of you and whether you have a limited belief mind set or a limitless belief. When you spend money, realize that the more you circulate the more will be circulated back to you.

Try this activity today: Take out one of those pieces of paper imprinted with the country’s insignia. Look at it with the side that has the number identification on it. One, five, 10 it does not matter. Notice how you feel about the limitation of the number. The lack of freedom that is associated with it. Know what you can and cannot do with just that amount one dollar, peso, yen, or euro. It should be very restrictive. Now turn the bill over and focus your attention on the expansiveness of the photo whatever it is. A building, a door, a gateway, In God We Trust. Feel the freedom of the limitlessness. Let your mind open to the possibilities of where that bill has been, where it is going and how it will open up your world. Then put this bill somewhere you can see it everyday as your symbol of the limitless supply that surrounds you.