Money is an essential part of life. It has been around for a really long time in many different forms and is not going anywhere anytime soon. As time progresses, we are going to see more and more transactions performed digitally and paper money will eventually be phased out. No matter what its form, money will continue to affect our lives in countless ways.

Your ability to create and retain wealth is determined by your relationship with money. Like everything else, money is a form of energy which is attracted to the energy that is like itself. Your relationship with anything determines how much of that thing you are attracting or repelling. Money does not exist by itself but it is always attached with the energy of the person who relates with it. The same money can be experienced by different people in different ways according to the relationship they each have with it.

The secret of the universe is the power of persuasion. Persuasion is the one key to getting what you want, becoming rich and having success in anything. Without persuasion, nothing gets done. It is about persuading yourself and others. Persuasion is about moving consciousness, and when you can move consciousness, you can move anything. All persuasion is persuading to take action whether mental or physical action. All wealthy and successful people are masters of persuasion.

Loving money with awareness is knowing that money is a form of energy that represents well being and abundance. Well being and abundance is rightfully belonging to all nature and creation, and you can have as much of it as you want. As long as every part of nature works in harmony with each other, everything is sustained and multiplied. Energy is neither created nor destroyed but changes from one form to another. All energy comes from the sun which keeps changing form through nature.

Philanthropy literally means the “love of humanity.” However, we often associate the term with a one-dimensional flow of financial resources rather than the full awakening of our noblest virtues and capacities. Money is, of course, a key part of the philanthropic equation, but a more expanded vision allows us to approach philanthropy as a transformational relationship entered into for the benefit of all beings - including the person who chooses to give.

The most obvious step to manifesting more money is to “make” more money. The first thing that may come into your mind is to either work over-time at your current job or business, or get a second (or third job). Although, these are some very effective ways to increase your cash-flow, they may not lead to an increased money consciousness into your life.

Let me explain. You can get a second job or work more hours in your current job, or business, but then you could turn around and spend more money than you are currently. Many people are caught in this viscous cycle of spending and owing. They can’t seem to make the money that is coming in work for them. They wonder if the law of attraction is really working in their lives.

When I give seminars, this is the moment that I introduce the most memorable visual aids I have ever used. Picture yourself holding an empty drinking glass in one hand and a pitcher containing water in the other. The glass represents your house. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say it is worth $100,000. It’s an asset. Let’s say you have $100,000 of cash in the bank (the pitcher) - that’s liquid wealth. The glass is empty because you have not put a penny into your house, but on paper, on a balance sheet, you would still list it as a $100,000 asset. Meanwhile the pitcher of water represents another asset - $100,000 in cash.

At the beginning of any new relationship, most mature, healthy adults reflect on their past relationships and the lessons they have learned. We seek understanding and desire to apply these lessons to our new relationships. Most of us do not wish to make the same mistakes over and over again. We want to get it right. However, the success of any future relationship greatly depends on our doing our own work, resolving our own issues, and clearing the way for the new relationship to evolve.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says that money is a “medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment.” In short, money is what people use to buy things. Nothing evil, unspiritual, or too materialistic there. Money is simply a part of the physical-living process, and in the past it came in forms as varied as stones, beads, feathers, fishhooks, animal skins, and shells.

To establish a standard value in the system, metal coins were later made, each one stamped with a design to guarantee its value. These first were made around 600 B.C. in the country now called Turkey, and paper money got its start in China during the 1300s. Today we give paper money and coins to people for the things they sell or the work they do.

Sandra Anne Taylor has recently written Quantum Success: The Astounding Science of Wealth and Happiness. It is published by Hay House (July 2006) and will be available at all stores or on-line at Hayhouse. What follows is from the book, Quantum Success.

While the first Law of Success concerns what you create, the second one, the Law of Magnetism, concerns what you attract. These two forces together have the greatest impact on your destiny: The first has to do with the power of your consciousness; the second has to do with the power of your energy.

Let’s walk through each of these five Wealth Factors in turn and see how you can use this understanding to speed you on your way to becoming a Maui Millionaire.

Wealth Factor One: Cash Flow
Cash flow is the money that flows to you. This could be a paycheck, an owner’s draw, a check at the closing when you sell a property, or a quarterly distribution from a passive partnership. The distinguishing feature to this form of wealth is that it is liquid money - cash - that comes to you.

There are three main types of cash flow that we’re interested in at the moment:

Why do some people struggle financially while others seem destined for more prosperous lives? What if you could enjoy a more abundant lifestyle without sacrificing anything you now hold dear—your values, your health, your spirituality, your freedom, your friends and family? Take it from two authors who know firsthand: You can.

Mark Victor Hansen is coauthor of the phenomenally successful Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and Robert G. Allen is the author of the blockbuster paradigm-shifting bestseller Nothing Down. But it wasn’t always that way. Neither author is a stranger to failure. Both have lost everything—more than once! But, independent of each other and over time, these two men came up with principles for helping both themselves and others. They began conducting their business lives along enlightened lines, and since then their joy and their wealth have grown exponentially.