Wednesday night, more than 60,000 people around the world listened in on a live teleseminar conducted by Soul of Money Institute founder and author of the award-winning book, The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist; joined by renowned wealth coach Tammy White.
I became familiar with Twist’s work as I was doing research for my own book, The True Cost of Happiness: The Real Story Behind Managing Your Money, which looks at the real and often non-financial causes of our behaviors around money. To this day, I can honestly say that Twist offers the most transformative insights and solutions I have seen when it comes to aligning our financial choices with our authentic goals and values.
Through her many years as an activist, in everything from fighting poverty and hunger around the world to social justice, environmental sustainability, and financial wellness; Twist has observed and shared what she calls the 3 great money myths we all carry about money. Myths that are debilitating, at best, and make us feel like we never have enough and are never doing the right things.
“This is not your fault,†says Twist. “Yes, you’ve got responsibility, but you’ve also got to realize that we are laying in a tsunami of messaging that tells us we have to have more. They make you think that you’re not good enough until you acquire and become something that you’re not.†“This results in an unhealthy relationship with money that has us behaving inconsistent with our humanity,†she adds.
As for the ‘3 myths’ Twist has identified, they are as follows:
1. There’s not enough to go around. We believe and behave as if there’s not enough. There’s not enough time, there’s not enough love, there’s not enough money; we aren’t enough, etc. Twist points out how for many of us, our first thought in the morning is, ‘I didn’t get enough sleep,’ and our last thought is, ‘I didn’t get enough done.’ This myth of  ‘not enough’ not only subconsciously legitimizes the never-ending pursuit of accumulating more than you need for you and ‘yours,’ it also means someone, somewhere is going to be left out — we need at the expense of others. This mindset, and the never-ending treadmill it puts us on with regard to acquiring money, not only undermines any sense of financial well-being, but it’s hell on relationships and kills our natural humanity towards others.
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