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Can Money Actually Buy Happiness? · Reading Your Own Life with Swami Larry

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Reading your own life with Swami Larry.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Season one is Money Can Buy Happiness.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And episode one is Can Money Actually Buy Happiness?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Swami Larry.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get started, let me tell you how I got here.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was a watcher as a kid in the backyard, the woods, wherever I ended up.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I did.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I spent a lot of time alone.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: I paid attention to things.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: I observed.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I was doing that long before I had any idea it was a practice.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I did my first formal meditation practice at 15 with a teacher named Francis Lukey in a small town in eastern Illinois.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: All this started something I'm still doing to this day.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: I trained in a number of traditions over the years, and I'm not going to walk you through all of them, and here's why.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: The second you name one, people decide what you are before you've said anything.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll tell you what they had in common instead.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: None of them were religious.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: They were all spiritual.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Different teachers, different rooms, different ideas about what the practice was even for.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I kept what worked, and I let go of a lot.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Kriya Yoga is the one I will name because it's where I still am.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a spiritual science that was brought to the West by a Parmahansa Yogananda in the 1920s.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've been teaching since that fall, and while keeping many of the elements I learned my whole life, I incorporated them all together.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: My ordained name is Swami Ganamudra Ananda.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know that's a mouthful, and almost nobody uses it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: So most people just call me Swami.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: My first name is Larry, so Swami Larry, it is, and that's fine with me.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, to be specific, Korea yoga isn't a religion.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is a science of the mind.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the part that kept me.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: The tradition I trained in carries a lot of knowledge that has remained esoteric for a long time, mostly because of the language surrounding it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my work is to bring it to the table and say it plainly for the life you're actually living today.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the whole job.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this show is called Reading Your Own Life.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the title is the whole thing.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Most of us were taught that our lives have to be explained to us, that the meaning is held by someone or somebody with more training or more letters after their name.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: That the big questions are too complicated for us.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: We learn to look outside ourselves for answers.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't believe that.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: People are more capable of reading their own lives than they have been led to believe.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's a hard thing to unlearn, but you can unlearn it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what this show is for.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Each season is built around one of my books.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Same idea, different part of your life.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: One season is about the relationship each of us has with money, where the fear and the family conditioning came from, and what becomes possible once all of it is acknowledged.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Another one is about meditation.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And why the reason it didn't work may be that somebody handed you a practice that was never yours at all.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And there's also another one.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: And this one's about caring for the animals who depend on us.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Everything we can do for their well-being and the honesty and love that asks us to be with them when medicine reaches its limits.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Three books, three seasons, three subjects.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: They all look like they have nothing to do with each other, yet they have everything to do with each other.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: They all live in the same place.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, years ago in my seminary training, a teacher put a couple of phrases forward: adapt, adjust, acclimatize.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the other variation was do not bypassed.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: First acknowledge, then transform.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's the method, and it doesn't change.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: You tell the truth about what's actually happening, not what you wish were happening, not what you were afraid is happening, but what's real right here and right now.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: You let yourself feel it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get trapped in it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Then you decide what comes next.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: It could be a conversation that got away from you, a pet that depends on you, the money beliefs you grew up with, a meditation practice that maybe never quite fit.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: But the approach is the same every time.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll hear me say that in every season.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to bury you in language that nobody uses in daily life.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be no jargon, no dogma, no pedestal.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Just plain and clear and close to the way that we actually live.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: The same way I write, and it's the same way I teach.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you might be wondering what any of that has to do with money.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it turns out everything.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: You probably know that most money books start the same way.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Here's how money works, and here's what to do with it.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with that, but it skips the part that actually is stopping you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to start somewhere else.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to start with you.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because what you believe about money didn't start with you.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't decide it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was handed to you, not intentionally, but it's been running underneath every decision you've made for all your life.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a math problem.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's not something a budget fixes.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's inherited.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it lives in the body.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't move unless somebody looks at it directly.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the work I know how to do.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's not because I'm a money expert, it's because inherited material is what this practice has always been for.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this one is about money.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I called season one Money Company Happiness.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me tell you what this season isn't.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: It is not a budgeting show.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to talk to you about uh tracking your spending or canceling your subscriptions.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's nothing wrong with any of that if you're taking that type of approach.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just not what we're doing here.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: What we're doing here goes back further than that.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: The way you feel about money is older than you are.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You picked it up long before you're old enough to think about it.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you picked it up from the way the house got tense when bills came, from when your father or mother's face suddenly went flat when they opened up an envelope with a bill inside.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps maybe you heard, we can't afford that.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And everything underneath it.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: It could be from being taught that going without makes you strong, and that makes you good, or it builds character, and that wanting more makes you suspect.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody sat you down and taught you those things, and that's why they stuck.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: They are not things you decided, they were handed to you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Or more specifically, they are things you absorbed.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you're allowed to look at that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the work the season is doing.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's not fixing you.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with you.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to look at what you inherited and figure out what's actually yours and put down what isn't.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with the question in the title.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Can money actually buy happiness?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about shopping or hoarding money in pursuit of more.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: The question is intended to provoke an inner dialogue rather than be taken literally.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: After all, you cannot hand over a credit card at the counter to buy happiness.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: If we could, I know most of us would.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Safety, freedom, and possibility.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Those conditions speak directly to our nervous system and our soul.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because when our body feels safe, our mind opens.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: When our mind opens, our choices widen.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when choices widen, meaning has room to grow.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Money cannot create happiness on its own, but it can steady the body, open the mind, and give the heart room to recognize joy.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Happiness looks different for each of us, but there's often a gap between what we think will make us happy and what actually does.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: The truth is that happiness comes from within.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: It asks us to know ourselves, to be honest, to love and accept who we are, and to discover what matters most.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Happiness is not a prize waiting at the finish line.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is meant to walk with us every step of the way.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And money can walk with us too, not as an enemy, but as an ally, a force that can support our joy and expand it into the world around us.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: We pour time and energy into our relationships with ourselves, with our families, our partners, our friends, and even our coworkers.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yet one of the most important relationships, our relationship with money, is often overlooked, even though it shapes nearly every aspect of our lives.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: For many, this idea feels foreign, and we do not think of money the way we think of people.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yet, like human connections, our relationship with money influences our choices, our opportunities, and even our sense of self-worth.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: As with any relationship, it requires care and attention.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever felt shame when looking at a bank balance, resentment when paying a bill, or even a quick rush of relief when a paycheck hits, followed by a familiar tightening in your chest, you already know that money lives not only on the spreadsheets, but also in the body.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: It shows up in the breath, in the pulse, and in the habits we repeat when we feel afraid.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's how it shows up in anxiety and in moods.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why healing belongs to both the practical and the spiritual.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Money is universal.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Every human life depends on it in some form.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: So if it is that fundamental, why do so many of us feel blocked when it comes to money?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we settle for survival instead of thriving?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: In much of the world, we are working just to survive.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: With a roof over our heads, food on the table, we tell ourselves that we're doing okay.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: But beneath that comfort lies that fear of lack.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: That fear creates anxiety and limits our potential.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, think for a moment of someone you love.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not specifically speaking of romantic relationship.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: It could be anybody, family, friends, and so on.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You want that relationship to be healthy, mutually beneficial, and joyful.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And why should it be any different than with money?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's an old saying often misquoted: money is the root of all evil.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: But the actual verse says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is not money itself, but how we relate to it.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: But people's intentions can be evil at times, and I'm not speaking any religious connotation.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's because money is energy.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And like any form of energy, it flows.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Problems arise when we block that flow, when we fear money, cling to it, resent it, or feel guilty for having it.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Energy itself does not run out.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: But our thinking can freeze its movement.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And desire works the same way.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: We often link wanting more with greed.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: However, a passion for more life, love, and knowledge can be a powerful force for growth.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: But what matters is the foundation.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is your desire rooted in harmony or in balance?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Do you intend to use money for good or harm?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: The money does not decide that.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: You do.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So why does wealth still feel shameful to so many?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's because we inherited those beliefs that tell us we don't deserve it.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: And society often associates wealth with greed and moral corruption.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And in many ways, it's easy to understand why.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: But those beliefs become energetic blockages standing between the life we live and the life we long to create.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk about the infamous latte that you've probably heard so much about, or the coffee drink.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's one of those annoying budget tips about not buying a coffee or a latte.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: It may be well-intentioned, encouraging you to cut back on unnecessary spending, but it's hardly a ticket to financial freedom.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: At best, this is misleading because small treats or indulgences such as a latte do not prevent you from building wealth.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Not buying a latte may give you the illusion of progress, but it prevents us from addressing the real barriers to our financial security.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the latte myth suggests that the problem lies in our choices rather than the system itself.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can't budget your way out of stagnant wages, health care inequities, and skyrocketing housing costs.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Change won't come from cutting out your daily coffee.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And quite frankly, the people who are telling you to give up your daily coffee are generally the people who don't have to worry about money at all.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: However, understanding the roots of your relationship with money can help you identify the steps needed to reclaim control.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Wages determine how much is left after we have bought the essentials.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Healthcare determines whether an illness bankrupts us.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Housing determines whether monthly payments build equity or disappear into another's account.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Each domain amplifies the other.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: The system reinforces itself not through a single dramatic event, but through numerous minor pressure points.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you may feel that you cannot change your thoughts about money or heal your feelings for money.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: But like anybody, you're not alone.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're not alone.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're certainly not alone.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Financial trauma is real, and it is tied to our ancestral and societal conditioning.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, it's not your fault.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't choose this conditioning, nor did your parents or your grandparents.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a helpful reminder to consider.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wanting more is not the problem.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wanting without wisdom is the problem.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Wisdom arrives when we align our desires with our values.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: When values lead, money follows in cleaner ways.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wealth is not reserved for a chosen few.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: It does not require extreme sacrifice, but it does require a shift in how you relate to money.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you fear money, you push it away.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you welcome it as a positive force, you allow it to flow.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: That does not mean money will appear by magic.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: But a healthy relationship with money creates the conditions for abundance to flow more freely through your life.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let me repeat that one more time.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: It creates the conditions for abundance to flow more freely through your life.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I feel most of us want to leave the world in a better state than we found it for ourselves and our children.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And healing your relationship with money is one of the most powerful ways to do that.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: When more good people have both resources and a healthy relationship with money, generosity becomes natural rather than performative.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Courage becomes affordable.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Time becomes available for what matters, what truly matters.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: For many years, I worked in the service industry.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And in the service industry, people are known to be good tippers.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I spoke into this with many of my friends and just people I've generally known in that industry.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: And we all feel the same way that money is an energy we like to share.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because we believe it will come back to us in kind.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if you shift your mindset and heal your relationship with mind, you can change not only your life, but the lives of your family, your community, and future generations.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: We can move beyond inherited scarcity beliefs and embrace money as a tool for good.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: When held with integrity, money can bring freedom, purpose, and peace, both individually and collectively.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to remember that healing your relationship with money is not just about wealth.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's about purpose.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's about creating a life of peace, fulfillment, and contribution, using your resources to help build a world where people can thrive.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: But importantly, it must start with you.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure you've heard that before.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: You must take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to leave you with something to notice this week.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Notice what your body does when you say the word money out loud.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do your shoulders rise?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Does your jaw tighten?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: When you do this, let the breath lengthen.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Place one hand on your heart and one in your belly.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then say to yourself, money is energy, and I can learn to work with it.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: We can retrain the nervous system one honest breath at a time.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Together, we can rewrite the story of wealth by healing the internal blockages we carry about it.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: By doing so, we have the opportunity to open the door to prosperity, purpose, and peace, not just for ourselves, but everyone around us.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Join me next time for episode two What's the First Emotion that money brings up in you?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, I'm Swami Larry.