Some of my most favorite chapters in my latest book Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round are about our families. As I work with clients from all over the world, a recurring theme is good ´ole Mom and Dad.

I know that I just about fell off the couch this spring when I got an email letting me know that my 86-year-old Dad had subscribed to the appetizer of my first book Devil with A Briefcase. I think I stopped breathing for several seconds!

Dad, who hasn´t been in my life for about 18 months now, would have received copies of a few chapters from a book all about a religion he still believes is The Truth, “the only right religion” and the religion that his youngest daughter has completely disowned! Yikes. It took me a bit to recuperate from that bit of information. And then I realized that he choose to ask for it, I wrote my perspective of what I gleaned from 38 years in that religion and his reaction was “none of my business”.

So Mom and Dad play interesting roles in our lives – even 20, 30, 40 or more years down the road.

How can we maximize the good and minimize the negative?

In Getting Off the Merry-Go-Round, I mention that Mom and Dad did their best. I know that for some of you, that may be hard to accept. I deal with clients on a weekly basis that were tortured, sexually abused or treated worse than a dog by their parents. However, in working with these clients, I always note that Mom and Dad didn´t have an easy time either as they were growing up. It´s not an excuse for absolutely inappropriate behavior but it is an explanation for why they reacted the way they did as they raised you.

Accepting that they did their best, no matter how awful their best was, helps you to let go and release some of that anger that can percolate better than a pot of coffee. It´s really not worth the anger, to ruin your life, because of what happened decades ago.

Secondly, acknowledge that it wasn´t right and nobody is saying it was. But it did happen and Mom and Dad probably made tons of mistakes raising you. Get over it because your life is worth so much more today, and right now you can only change the present and the future. You can´t do anything about the past – except forgive it.

Thirdly, know that it was perfect. I am truly grateful for how I was raised because it has helped to make me the woman I am today. Good times and bad times have an influence on us and help to mold us into who we become. So even those awful times were a blessing in how you see life, treat others or raised your own children.

I´ve worked with plenty of clients whose parents have long passed over. However, they can still wreak havoc in your lives if you let them. Seriously, whether they are still with us or gone, let them go, forgive them, do whatever is necessary to release the anger and resentment towards them. You will be really glad you did.

“Dirty money”. “Rich bitch”. “Filthy lucre”. These are all negative expressions that we associate with money. I just received an email from someone who remembered her mother telling her to wash her hands after touching money because it was full of germs. She later hated working in a grocery store because she had to touch all that dirty money.

Did you hear negative sayings about money as you were growing up? Do you find yourself still saying some of them today? Perhaps you feel some very negative emotions around money such as fear, panic, terror, anger, resentment, judgment, criticism, hatred, or bitterness.

What if money was considered “a gift from God”, something sacred or spiritual? How would you feel about money then?

Money is an energy just like every other material thing on this planet. Scientists will tell you that everything, including the chair you are sitting on, the desk you work at, the food you eat and the money you touch, is simply energy in form. However, mankind has attached various programs or beliefs to money which affects our view of it.

It´s like me thinking about a zucchini and tomato dish I have prepared for years. When I was 18 years old in the south of France, I got food poisoning on this dish I had prepared for friends. Deathly ill in a foreign country, the memories are still very poignant, although it was three decades ago. So what is my program around zucchini and tomatoes? I know it can´t be left out in the heat for any length of time or I could become deathly ill. That reminder comes up every single time I make that dish.

What does cooking have to do with money? Lots. Exactly the same way that I have the files around that particular vegetable dish, we all have files around money. You actually have files around every single thought, smell, person, idea, etc. but the file on money is particularly large and especially emotional.

How can you know what is in your file on money? Begin to notice things in your life relative to money. Are you scrimping constantly? Do you hate opening the bills when they arrive? Is there an emotion of fear or panic every time you open your bank account? Is your money thrown into a drawer, bottom of your purse or scrunched up in your pocket? Do you say things like, “there´s never enough money”? How many times a day do you say, “we can´t afford that”?

Money is not dirty or something to be despised. It´s not unspiritual or greedy to have lots of money. And it certainly isn´t a tool of the Devil as many people have been led to believe by some religious leaders. Yes, the Bible has lots to say about money and the wise use of it. Having been raised on the scripture that “having sustenance and covering, you should be content with these things”, I can now see that this means that I should be full of gratitude for everything in my life, including the basics of food, clothing and shelter. That does not mean that´s all I should settle for or be happy with, as I was once taught.

Not at all! Everything in the Universe is overflowing and in abundance. God does not scrimp or hold back. That is a man-made program of fear, scarcity and poverty.

Are you open to seeing money as something useful, important, sacred, spiritual and actually mandatory in your lifetime? Yes, mandatory. If you are going to do the work you are here to do to make a difference in the world and contribute to a better home for everyone, then having money will allow you to do so much more.

Would you agree that as a human being living in a situation where you have the capacity and capability to read this newsletter; that privilege comes with the responsibility to use your God-given talents, resources, gifts and energy in service and to be contributing?

Then money is mandatory and is part of the provisions the Universe has made to help humans create a better Earth. Right now 1% of the population earns 96% of the money in the world. That´s not right. But what are the other 99% of the population doing about that? If you´re in the 99% that I´m talking about, then ask yourself that question. Are you complaining? Have you resigned yourself to the fact that you aren´t rich? Or are you ignoring it and become complacent about your situation as if it was out of your hands?

Let me assure you. There is NO Divine Power that is keeping you poor, tying your hands behind your back so you can´t change your financial situation or endorsing your financial plight. God, the Devil, the government, your employer, your clients, your business partner or marriage mate are NOT creating your financial situation. You are.

Bob Proctor, who supports a strong spiritual viewpoint on life in a most practical way, talks about creating a new economy. That´s a personal economy. This is between you and the Universe. No matter how bad things become over the next few years, and they very well will get worse before they get better, you have the opportunity to create financial success in your life.

Money is sacred. It is a valuable tool from the Universe that today, more than ever, is being given to every single human being on the planet. Never before in the history of the world has anyone, in any part of the globe, had the chance to make money and lots of it like we have today. This is not about social status, what part of the world you live in or what race, gender or age you are. Today, anyone and everyone can create financial freedom for themselves and you have a responsibility to do just that.

There is work to be done. Today, millions of children are dying a slow painful death of malnutrition because of a misappropriation of food and funds. Millions of children are going to bed cold, alone and frightened. Preventable diseases are not being cured because of the greed of the pharmaceutical companies. Women are being violently raped in unnecessary wars. This is the reality of today´s world.

It´s easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. It´s a typical response to shut our eyes and turn our heads. Of course no one wants to see or know about these horrors. But we can do something. Right now, today, we can determine that we will change our own financial situation, become financially free so that we can make a bigger difference. Time is of the essence. There aren´t years or decades to do the work we have come to do.

Make your commitment to wealth and abundance. Take a vow of prosperity, rather than poverty. Decide today that you will be part of the solution, not a victim of the economy. Let go of the beliefs that are holding you back.

Money is sacred, a vital tool the Universe has provided us. Let´s go use it to change the world. Now that excites me! What about you?

(This was published as my Jan Janzen Ministries monthly newsletter for April 2009. If you wish to receive my newsletter by email, please visit www.janjanzenministries.com to subscribe. I also offer you a free report on Does God Want You to Be Wealthy?)