What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Financial Scarcity

Hilary DeCesare: 00:00:00

Hey, everyone, welcome back. We are so excited to be here today. I mean, I've got somebody that, you know, they're, they're those that really come to the show and they're all incredible. This woman I have been doing so much research on I've had the pleasure of now talking to her. I've read up more on her after that initial conversations so impressed with her. She is somebody that we all should look towards. And have you ever seen somebody out there that touches lives impacts so much and you think, how do I just start to be just a little bit like that? Well, that's what we're going to learn about today. And I have to I have to tell you, the woman that I have with me today, for more than 40 years, Lynn twist has been recognized as a global visionary, committed to alleviating poverty, ending world hunger and supporting local justice, social justice and environmental sustainability. She's worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta to the refugee camps in Ethiopia, and the threatened drain forests of the Amazon as well as guiding the Fidlock philanthropic philanthropy Hello, that was allows. I'm getting so excited. I can't even say the words anymore. Some of the world's wealthiest families lens on the ground work has brought her so much deep understanding of people's relationships with money. She's the founder of soul of money Institute and has worked with over 100,000 people in 50 countries and board retreats, workshop keynotes, you name it, one on one coaching, and has really impacted people on their relationship with money. And so today we're going to be diving into so much.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:02:20

You're listening to the relaunch podcast and I'm your host, Hilary to Caesar, best selling author, speaker and transformational coach widely recognized in the worlds of neuro psychology and business launches, which cultivated the one and only three HQ method helping midlife women. Yep, that's me to rebuild a life of purpose, possibility and inspiring business ventures. Each week, we'll be diving into the stories that brought upon the most inspirational relaunches while sharing the methods and the secrets that they learned along the way, so that you too, can have not just an ordinary relaun ch, but an extraordinary relaunch.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:03:10

I gotta say, I am so excited to have you here and this conversation.

Lynne Twist: 00:03:17

Thank you, Hillary. It's a delight and an honor and a joy to be with you.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:03:21

Well, it really was fun the last time and I know, we had had something like, you know, a 10 minute block. And next thing, you know, we were up, I think we're up to like 45 minutes, we were kept going. And I said, Okay, we got to stop just because there's so much goodness that we're going to be covering. But I have to start with the impact you've had. And you started out with, you know, wanting to truly impact the world and to so many different groups. But Mother Teresa, not many people can, you know, can talk about that? Can we just jump into that really quickly? Like what was it like to be with somebody of such? Wow, like energetic proportions? I mean, what what did you think of that? And how did it come to be?

Lynne Twist: 00:04:09

First of all, thank you so much for having me on your program and being such an enthusiastic introducer of me, thank you. Well, I was raised as a Catholic as a child and I say raised as a Catholic because I'm not exactly Catholic now, but that was the faith of my parents and, and anybody who was a Catholic and people who aren't Catholic always, you know, look to Mother Teresa is kind of the the expression of holiness of sainthood of you know, being you know, really pretty much as if she walks on water and glows in the dark. You know, that's kind of how I thought of her. So I never imagined that I would ever know her but when I started to work for The Hunger Project, which was the organization that I was involved in at the very beginning of The Hunger Project, it eventually became clear that to work on world hunger one need had to go to India. So I began to go to India and make very many trips to India and spent a lot of time in India starting in 1981. And I remember in 19, I think it was 1983 and 84. Somewhere in there, I realized, Oh, I'm in India, working in India, I'm working on hunger. Maybe I'll maybe I'll cross paths somehow with someone who knows Mother Teresa. It would be such a thrill to meet her. And I shared that with my Indian friend, Indira Coimbra. And she said, Oh, I know Mother Teresa. I thought, Oh, you do? I was like, Oh my God, you know, Mother Teresa. She said, Of course I do. And next time you come and I was about to leave, you just let me know next time you're in Delhi, call me and I'll see if she's here. And if she's here, I'll set up a meeting. And you will know, I was just like, oh my god,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:05:50

at that point. At that point. You're like, Okay, I'm back next week. Yeah,

Lynne Twist: 00:05:54

yeah. And so I went home and you know, thought, How cool. And then it wasn't maybe another year before I actually was in Delhi, because we worked in a bar. And we worked in Uttar Pradesh and worked in all these places, 15 states in India. And, and I was back in Delhi, maybe I think it might have been two years later, as long a long time. And I happen to think of her and I called her and she said, it's so great that you're calling me because I was just talking with Mother Teresa. And I said, Oh, cute. Once again, I was like, you were talking to Mother Teresa. And I was so like. She said, Yeah, and she's here. There's an orphanage for little girls under to hear that. She's going to be there tonight. And I think we can make time. I think we can make time for you to meet with her if you can make time and I said, Could I make time? Are you kidding? Let me see. Yes. Yes. The answer is Oh, yeah. And so I you know, of course, I hadn't been to church in years. And so I was suddenly I had to be a complete Catholic again, in order to make up for this. And this was in the morning. So I remember I went to mass in the morning, before I see her this afternoon. By me by 7:30pm. So I practically bathed myself in Holy Water, I canceled everything I thought I've got to pray all day long. You know, I suddenly became very, very Catholic. But really I'm making fun of it. But it was really quite quite confronting really for me and I was intimidated and confronted, inspired, excited, all the emotions, you could probably put in one body, I had them. And then on my way there, and I and I remember, I couldn't decide what to wear. Maybe you'll appreciate this. Should I wear an Indian character? Should I put a bindi on my forehead? Should I wear a western clothes? What would really honor her you know, I was all about kind of silly things like that, because I was so kind of reactivated and, and excited. So I remember when I was in the taxi or the private car that I got hired to take me there and wait for me. I was in New Delhi and it took 45 minutes to get to Old Delhi at that time of day where her orphanage was and it was in a square, a humble square in the very, very poor part of Old Delhi. And it was a cobblestones you know, square with a lot of bumps and scrapes and so that the taxi or the car parked on one side square and I saw across the square the picture of the of the Missionaries of Charity Shield the blue and white sorry that they wore as an outfit thing. Have it and and that said Missionaries of Charity and a picture of her and I was just like, breathless, I was so excited. I was kind of teary. I walked across the courtyard to the two steps that led up to the door modest door in this building. And on the steps was a crumpled up piece of newspaper and I'm a kind of a obsessive trash picker picker, upper person wherever I go, I pick up trash on my way. And then India, that's a big job. But anyway, I picked up this crumpled piece of newspaper on the doorstep and looked down. When I was going to throw it away. And there was a baby in there. There was a baby, a human being a little girl, a baby, she was the size of my hand and I'm not kidding, the smallest human being I have ever seen. And she was alive. And she was breathing. She was so tiny. I thought my God, she's going to die at any second. I've not get her inside and hand her over to someone who know what to do with this tiny, tiny, tiny little person. And so I wrapped her in my shawl and knocked on the door and it was answered by a nun. And I handed her my this little charge and I said this this tiny, tiny little infant was on the doorstep. And the woman who answered the door, Nan said, well, thank you so much. We'll take care of her. By the way, could you help us and I said, Well, I'm here to meet with Mother Teresa. I have an appointment with her. And the woman said well, you know she's not here. She said the J he'll bailing out the local prostitutes because we're so overwhelmed with children. We need them to come in here and help us. So I don't know when she'll be back. But could you give us a hand? We have 39 Little girls now 40 With this little one, and they're all under two, they're all babies. And there was one boy. And, and so yes, of course I would. And they've put an apron on me and I wash my hands. And they put me in front of a sink, where there was a kind of assembly nine of nuns and lay people bathing little tiny babies, some the small, as, you know, a month old, some, you know, one year and two months that all of them either deformed or blind or missing a finger or in some way, maybe deformed or, or maybe just unwanted. Oh, little girls, and so wrenching, so heartbreaking and heart wrenching, but so inspiring. Because if you can believe this, I could not. I don't remember anybody crying. Now that is impossible. However, it was a it was heavenly. It was bliss. It without a mission to do. Oh my God, it was so and the nuns were singing and these little babies and I'm watching little babies and singing with them. And passing little babies on kissing them. I totally forgot about Mother Teresa. And then I realized, she used to say to know me is to know my work, or to know my work is to know me. And I thought, well, this is my meeting with Mother Teresa, and I'm so fulfilled, I'm in bliss, I'm in heaven. And as soon as I had that thought, someone taps me on the shoulder and says, she's here, she's ready for you. And then immediately, no, I put my little charge down and pass it on to the next person. And I immediately got all you know, worked up again, scared to death that I was going to screw it up. And then someone led me to a little a hall, a long, skinny Hall, this is too long of stories. It's okay. It wasn't here to fall. So there's this long, skinny Derrick Hall. There's a wooden table with two chairs, a chair against the wall on either side of the table. I'm seated by the nun that took me to the hall on this wooden chair, very simple. Everything's very simple and very clean and very simple, nothing fancy. And she said Mother Teresa will be joining you in a moment. And so I'm sitting there just you know, praying and asking God to wash me of all my sins, and forgive me.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:12:22

Still worried about that.

Lynne Twist: 00:12:24

And then I looked down the long, dark corridor, and there is this beautiful, old kind of crippled Labrador retriever, which was who was her very, very best friend.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:12:36

Initially, I thought you were saying that about my that he was very old crippled on my

Lynne Twist: 00:12:43

beautiful black Labrador troops, a little gray beard, you know, really old kind of cripple coming down the hall. And right behind her, her beloved dog was Mother Teresa. And when I saw her eyes stood up, and I kind of rushed towards her and I knelt down, and I was possessed to kiss her feet. I didn't know whether you're supposed to do that or not. But something told me to do that. And I did. And then she put her hands in my head, and she and I was kneeling. And when I lifted my head up, I was about her height, because she was very, very small, like four foot three or something. So when I was kneeling, I was almost exactly her height. And she took my hands and she said, Stand up, child, stand up, dear. And then took my hands and took me over to this simple little table, and we turned the chairs towards each other, and we sat down, and I just, I just started to cry. And I told her how inspired I was by her how she had, you know, kind of touched my whole soul. And then I worked on world hunger and that could I just thank her for the example she is and I don't know what I said, I was just like, overflowing. And we had a very intimate very tender conversation. Mother Teresa didn't talk a lot that wasn't her thing. She was her work. She wasn't as you know, she didn't give speeches and stuff. But everything she said was simple and clean and clear and touching. And I'm just in a state of absolute total bliss, like I was in heaven or something and I was I had more experience of love and warmth and and and acceptance and unconditional love than I can ever remember having just you know, just everything you you dream of. And then behind me on my end of the hall way down the hall I hear loud, angry voices. So inconsistent with with where we were and what was going on there. Angry loud, rude voices, speaking in a Punjabi Indian Indian dialect. And then I spelled a very strong like an over perfume and aroma that was, you know, almost so so much it was just tasteful. Like, you know, the kinda it's just too much. Then I turn around and a very, very large Sikh man with a turban and a big Topaz right here in the middle of his turban. Very portly, very large, round and big is about as wide as he was tall and he was very, very tall, and a big kind of fancy brocade kurta, a very, very fancy outfit. And I remember he had rings on every finger, including his thumb and don't forget that all five fingers. And then behind him came his very large, very opulently dress very over made up, very, you know, kind of overdone over everything overweight, overbearing over over everything wife. And they came bursting into my meeting and in English said, We, Mother, we did not get the picture. We need to get the picture. And I thought they didn't say excuse me or anything like that. They were very, very rude. And I was just shocked that they would talk to her that way that they would interrupt my precious meeting with Mother Teresa, you know, I was like, Who are these people? That's going out of my head? Sure. And then this woman this big giant woman handed me an instamatic is a long time ago in the 80s Instamatic camera, one of these little throwaway cameras, and then she pulled Mother Teresa up I mean in a kind of what I thought in my memories kind of violent way pulled her up with her elbow. Mother, stand between us over here. Know your little Mother Teresa has osteoporosis often over like four foot three, this monstrous huge man. I mean, I may be exaggerating, but not much. And this huge woman on either side of her like bookends, and then there's little mother crease in the middle. And the woman's saying to me, take the picture, take the picture. So I took the picture. And then the woman did the most horrendous thing that really made my blood boil. She said to Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa, put your chin up . I can see your face.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:17:03

She she did not.

Lynne Twist: 00:17:06

And Mother Teresa had osteoporosis. So so her her you know she was bent over hurt. So she would like this. She put her hand on her other juices. Jen, what? Okay, take the picture. She kept her hand under Mother Teresa's chin. So Mother Teresa's face stuff like this. I could have killed these people. i Oh, my gosh, angry. And then they left they grabbed the camera and they didn't say thank you. They didn't kiss her hug her. They didn't anything they were how awful awful. I'm like, a wreck. And then I'm, I'm like thinking what am I going to do here and I sat down. Mother Teresa was totally fine. I was not. But we kept talking and then we completed our meeting. And then my blood was boiling. I get in my car. I thanked her I kissed her. She I hugged her I did everything to her and hugged all the babies and then I went back to my hotel in Delhi. Now, can I tell you the last part of the story because I really got something out of this.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:18:05

Okay, so hold on. We have a quick break right now you do not want to miss this. First off this is you're the only person I have ever met who has met Mother Teresa. I've had a lot of other friends that who've met other very, very, you know, famous types, but never Mother Teresa. So when we come back, we're going to hear what was the lesson that came from this. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three h q method that I've been using for years throughout my entire life reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally and personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com Hey everyone, and welcome back. Suspense. I mean, if you did not hear the last part, you need to go back. Re listen to this. I'm here with Lynn twist. And she is telling us about when she met Mother Teresa. And there I the story is crazy. But there's gotta be a lesson right? There's got to be a lesson in the rudeness of these people. So Lynn, welcome back to the show and tell us what came to you after this event because you're now back at the hotel you've met these people insisted on taking a picture they were rude. Hey, you know Mother Teresa, lift up your chin. You don't look good and of tech let Candia

Lynne Twist: 00:20:03

so all the way back in the car took me about 45 minutes to get back from Odelay, to New Delhi to my hotel, and the whole time I realized, oh my god, I was in the presence of the most profound, unconditional love, perhaps I've ever known in my life. And in the presence of an almost gripping, fierce hate, that I felt for these people who interrupted my meeting, and were rude and violent to Mother Teresa, in the same space in her space, that contracts was so fierce, so incredibly poignant for me. And I was I went from, you know, from heaven to hell almost in their in her presence. And so I realized that she was fine with those people. She was as gracious to them as she was to me, she did not it did not get her the way it got me. And so I when I got back to my hotel room, I sat down and I wrote her a letter, and I said, you, I love my conversation with you. It was such a privilege to meet you. And I really realized that the teaching I received was the one of the most profound I've ever received. And it wasn't what you said it was who you were, when the people who came in and interrupted our meeting, were so rude to you. And my blood was boiling. And I was so angry, and I was tense, and my body was all up in knots. And you were just fine. You accepted them exactly the way they were. And I am so grateful. And so I wrote this letter to her. And she wrote me back. And this is really the coolest thing. She she used to type her own letters, and then she would sign them M period, Theresa, i. So that's funny. That is funny, she wrote me back. And she said, Thank you for your visit. And thank you for your work. And thank you for your insight. Because the vicious cycle of wealth can be as intractable and painful and hurtful to those who are caught in it as the vicious cycle of poverty. And she said to me, you are naturally thrown or lean towards participating with those who are underprivileged, who are marginalized, who are, who are in the conditions of hunger and poverty, you'll always lean in that direction. But you need to include in your circle of compassion, which is large, and grand and important and powerful. The wealthy, the entitled, The rude, the, the overbearing, the overt, domineering, that behavior is a vicious cycle to and what heals, all of it is love, and expand your circle of compassion. And I really, she was almost like in her letter. She didn't say this, but I just in telling you, the circle of compassion I had did not include those people. It did not include people that I didn't like, it didn't include people that I thought were not worthy of my time it didn't, I realized how bigoted I was in that experience. And she told me your karma, your dharma, your work, is to give them as much love because they're starving for love, too. And expand your circle of compassion to include them. This is your work, Lin. And so after that meeting,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:23:31

okay, I'm getting chills because I do know what you then went on to do? Yes. And it involves TEDx. It involved hundreds of stages, keynotes for some of the most, you know, the most well known name companies out there. And it's interesting, because as I was, as I was learning more about you, I had a thought, in my mind, I'm like how the pendulum is to the right to the left, she's working with the, you know, the rich, the poor, or the, as you said, the you know, wealthy poverty. And I was trying to figure out how did this all take place? Because then you start talking about the soul of money. So it really came out of this conversation with Mother Teresa putting it all together. Yeah. Yeah, that is, I mean, you talk about purpose, you know, not all of us get Mother Teresa to guide us in the, in the path but when that's that's powerful, and so I, I need you to, you know, this, this went against what you were originally doing, you were really out there for everyone who didn't have it just you know, the fact that you were, you know, cleaning these little babies and taking care of them and as you said, meet me where you know, they are and all I mean, how amazing is that? but you ended up going into this direction? How did you realize that you were going to talk about the soul of money and help everyone listening? What does that really mean?

Lynne Twist: 00:25:15

If you're working on global issues, the kind that I've worked on or any issue really, in what's often called the nonprofit sector, I call it the social profit sector. Because I think we're generating a huge profit, a social profit. And I think we need to think of ourselves as generating a profit rather than nonprofit. But you raise money, that's part of what you do. And I am a fundraiser and I love fundraising. Many people don't don't like it and try to avoid it. I love it, I go towards it. I love facilitating the reallocation of the world's financial resources away from fear, which is where most of our money is going and reallocated that money towards the love, which is where we want money to go in our own lives in our country, in our in our world. And so for me, fundraising is sacred, fundraising is sacred and holy, and beautiful work. And so as a fundraiser, and I was a fundraiser, when I met with Mother Teresa, I was the chief fundraiser for The Hunger Project for many, many years, I started realizing the privilege of actually working with people who are caught, actually now I know people don't think of it this way, in the vicious cycle of wealth, which has its own vicious cycle. Because we all think that we don't need more once we have millions, or billions. But I can tell you, from my direct experience of our global billionaires, they think they need more too. And the more is better. And so there's not enough to go around, and you have to keep accumulating more and more for you and yours and make sure that you're well taken care of way beyond your own lifetime, is a way of being that's rooted in the lie of scarcity. I call it the lie of scarcity, which is a mindset that we all swim in, that says there's not enough to go around and someone's going to be left out. And it better not be you. And that mindset that there's not enough to go around the lie of scarcity has what I call three toxic myths in it. The first there is not enough, which I'm saying is blade out. Not true. There is enough. But let's go there in a moment. But the mindset, the unconscious, unexamined mindset, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough sleep, I don't have enough love. I don't have enough six sex, I don't have enough vacation, I don't have enough market share. There are enough volunteers. There's enough money, there is enough. This there's enough that is the siren song of a consumer culture. It's built into the culture for us to believe that there's not enough, it's not enough, there's not enough, and it gets into our psyche. And we start thinking I am not enough, or I am not enough. So we live in a deficit relationship with the world and a deficit relationship with ourselves. And I call that unconscious, unexamined mindset of scarcity.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:28:09

Hold on, you have said so much the unconscious when examined unexamined, mindset, mindset of scarcity. So let's go back and I want to I want to really kind of unpack this one because this is so much about where society has gone with wealth and what how you describe it, in this, you know, caught in this vicious, vicious, it's a vicious cycle. And there's a lie of scarcity. Tell us what you mean by there's a lie of scarcity. Where does that come from?

Lynne Twist: 00:28:53

Well, a consumer culture is based on constantly telling people they're not enough until they acquire whatever it is you're selling, or trying to get them to buy or purchase or, or accumulate. And it's we live in a very, very, very intense consumer culture, marketing and advertising is psychologically designed to make you feel inadequate to speak to you what they call your pain points. So that you experience pain so that you want to fix it. Everything is oriented around telling you there's something wrong with you until you acquire something. So we're we're swimming in that. I mean, there's it's written in the sky, it's on the back of every bus, it's in the, you know, when you go on the internet and you want to read the news, it gets interrupted by these messages, and they're all rooted in scarcity, scarcity, thinking, if you think about it, that's what's been promoted. There's not enough and you need more and more

Hilary DeCesare: 00:30:00

We're in a, we're in a world of more and more and more and more, the more and more, you're I need more of this, I need more of everything. But what you and your TEDx that I watched, what you really are talking about is something that I thought was really important to circle back around within that is this concept that it doesn't leave there's there is the sense of soulful wealth, and having a wealthy life and abundant life. But it's not an inner richness. It's funny, the words we even speak, are counterintuitive, right? Because we think Rich, and then for so many, it's bad, and, and well, but if you really look at it, it's a wealthy lifestyle from all areas, spirituality and growth. And there's a wealth around that there's a richness of life. How do you as you get up in front of, you know, very powerful business people? How do you break this down, to not cause them to, oh, you know, this woman doesn't get what we're trying to do, which is, you know, build the company build revenue, we have to do this or we won't be successful, how do you break down those barriers?

Lynne Twist: 00:31:30

Well, I don't know that I break them down. But I, I speak to a different place and who people are, the place where they know, they're enough, and that there is enough. And, you know, I have a principle of sufficiency, I'll state it, I think this is an important principle to, to share with you. And it's this, if you let go of trying to get more of what you don't really need, which is what we're brainwashed to want more of the stuff we don't really need. It frees up all the energy that's tied up in this chase, to turn and pay attention to what we already have. When we pay attention to what we already have, when we nourish what we already have. And when we share it, it expands. So it's the opposite of what we think. When you when you grow your company from the enoughness, rather than the scarcity or the lack, then it's not coming from fear or, or lack, it's coming from a wholeness and integrity, that's the source of true prosperity. You want to prosper, you don't necessarily want to accumulate. So I like to say I, I want to be known for what I allocate, not what I accumulate. That is so good. And I just want to say the word wealth, the actual etymology of that word, comes from well being. That's what wealth, the original meaning of the word wealth. And that's really what I think it's designed to be, is well being. Now well being is what people really want. They want well being, and well being comes from the well of being in each of us. The well that

Hilary DeCesare: 00:33:24

is everybody, I want you to really think how many of you have really broken that word down? Well, being this well of being and when you said allocate not accumulate, and around wealth, it it puts a totally different twist. On what twist, Miss Twist? It really does. It puts something totally new out there in terms of really thinking about money. And I want to ask you, when people right now are wanting to be successful, they're they're feeling like, you know, money is going to help them if they just had some money, they're going to be able to do this or some money, they're going to be able to do that. What do you say to them? If they are at that point where, you know, they're barely able to get by they're barely able to put food on the table. And money would help pay for those things. How do you how do you differentiate because it is a problem especially right now in the world.

Lynne Twist: 00:34:39

You know, it's really beautiful your question because it sounds counter what I'm saying sounds counter to taking care of yourself and your family and I'm not counting that in fact, I'm I'm giving you perhaps another way to look at taking care of yourself and your family when When we're when we're when we're overwhelmed with lack and fear and anxiety that we don't have enough, we actually, the universe mirrors that it's a little bit like, you know, I'm sure you're aware, and most people are kind of the law of attraction, which is one thing you might say I'm talking about. Another thing I'm talking about, though, is, here we are, November is a month in bliss, in the United States of, of gratitude and thanksgiving. When you're in touch with the beauty and bounty and blessing of your life, and you earn from there, you earn in a different way. You You don't earn out of anxiety and struggle and strife and you earn from a wholeness that you bring to the world and an invitation to be compensated for your service to the world. Now, I know this sounds a little bit woowoo for people who are trying to remit you know, pay the rent, and maybe it is, but I'll tell you, I've worked with people who have almost nothing. I worked with a woman who had $150,000 of credit card debt. And she came to me and she said, What do I do, and we, before I could even work with the numbers I needed to get her to not be her debt. She was her debt. There wasn't her and her debt. You know, let's say her name is Sally. There was Sally was her debt, she was walking around as a debt, a debt debtor. And what we did was we established here's Sally, and then she has debt. We need Sally so that we can work on the debt and whittle it down and earn some money, but she had become her debt. Lynn, this is so good.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:36:44

I want to I want to keep going with this we have to stop, take a quick break. And when we come back, let's really break down this concept of you are not your debt, or you are not your wealth event, right, that richness. So when we come back, we're gonna get more into this and what specifically people can do to understand more about raising their wealth vibration. When we get back, we'll go right into this thing so much. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three h q method that I've been using for years, throughout my entire life, reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally. And personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com. Hey, and welcome back. Wow, this conversation is moving rapidly. And now we're really going to touch on this concept of debt. Have you feeling like you're part of that debt? You're part of this whole spinning down? I can't get out of it. I can't even figure out you know, the first step. Well, Lynn has written a book around all of the above around how you actually have a soul of money, transform your relationship with money and life. And so welcome back, Lynne, let's talk more about this concept that you had this client, she came to you $150,000 in debt, she couldn't differentiate herself from the debt. She was it was one in the same. And you helped her get out of that with what are the steps? How do you even begin to go down that process of getting someone to realize that?

Lynne Twist: 00:38:52

Well, I don't know that there's a formula Exactly. But I'll tell you what I did with her because sometimes stories are better teachers than any kind of step one, step two, step three. She came to me on a Monday and she sat in my living room and she was just a puddle of tears. She had two children. She was a single mom, she didn't have a job. She had just, you know, worked herself into this frenzy about her credit card debt. And so I said, Well, how this here's how we're going to start, I want you for seven days until I see you next Monday to acknowledge and thank but really acknowledged appreciate and, and give gratitude to every person who crosses your path. Like when you go to the cleaners, thank the people at the cleaners, for cleaning your clothes and say something about how pleasant they are. If that's the case, when you're on the bus, speak to the bus driver and thank them for you know, acknowledge, appreciate, give gratitude, acknowledge, appreciate, give gratitude. I want you to take a stand that you will do that for say One day she might forget here and there, but make that your priority for seven days. And she said, What does that have to do with my, my debt? I said, just trust me and do that. When she came back, she was filled with gratitude for Verbena live really. She saw the wonder and beauty of the people in her life. She was she had heaped praise upon her children who had mostly been putting up with her constant victim whining in tears, what are we going to do a conversation, it shifted her whole conversation. Now, let me just say something, there's a principle here, I'll say, I don't believe we live in our lives. I don't believe we live in our circumstances, even I don't believe we live in our relationships or in our communities or in the world. I believe where I assert we live in the conversation we have about our lives. I believe we live in the conversation we have about our circumstances, I believe we live in the conversation we have about our relationship, the conversation we have about our community, the conversation we have about the world, that's actually where we live, we may not be able to immediately change our circumstances, so our world or our community or our relationship, but we have absolute Omnipotence over the conversation we have about our relationship we have about our circumstances. And that's where I gave her an idea of her real power. She changed her conversation from victim whining, worry, anxiety, to noticing the beauty of the person at the cleaners noticing the beauty of the bus driver, noticing the gift of her children, she became a walking conversation of praise and wonder, and an appreciation and gratitude. And it started to become who she knew herself to be. And then when she came back, she there was Sally, this person and there was her giant debt. But she was separated from a distinguished front, then we could start working on it. And we did she realized she could go ahead you want I

Hilary DeCesare: 00:42:21

was gonna say, you know, you allowed her to resonate with that whole understanding of something bigger than herself. Right. And when you can resonate with that in the fact of gratitude and thankfulness and appreciation, it takes you to a level of resonance, right? And then you when what you put out there you attract YouTube said about law of attraction, but it's really the law of resonance of like, you know, what resonates with you. And she was now resonating with this, these feelings of goodness with these feelings of appreciation and thankfulness, versus the debt that is so powerful.

Lynne Twist: 00:43:07

And it was it was seven days, you know, she missed a few times, she was angry because there was construction from her house and she couldn't park her car. And then she realized, I'm going to park down the street. And thank these guys who are digging up the sewer in front of my house for the job they do and how invisible it is when it's working. And when it's not working. Everybody's complaining all the time. But, but my God, they dig under the streets and fix our pipes. She was almost in tears over this conversation she had with the people who were fixing the sewer in front of her house or her apartment. So So anyway, so that was step one. And then there was someone to work with. And I asked her if she would continue that practice. So she would stay as centered as she possibly could in being the mother of two who appreciates the world who has a roof over her head, who loves her children, who knows she served by the community and who's now going to go to work on knocking down that debt. And then she was kind of excited. Okay, well, how are we going to start? You know, What job do you think you can get? Can you do this? Can you apply for this job? You know, she she didn't have a job at the time, but she was in a conversation with a restaurant to becoming the maitre d or the person who takes the reservations and stands in front. What do you call that person? hostess?

Lynne Twist: 00:44:28

Yeah, the hostess.

Lynne Twist: 00:44:30

And she was she was going to do that at night because that's when her mom could take care of the kids. Because her mom worked too. And then she had another opportunity to maybe do this this job, which she could do at her home and this was before COVID Before we were all on Zoom. You know this is a long time ago. But anyway, so little by little by little. She started paying off her debt. It took her two years but $450,000 That is not

Hilary DeCesare: 00:44:56

long for two years the debt. That's right really impressive.

Lynne Twist: 00:45:01

And she had to keep, you know, bolstering herself and getting back into what I call sufficiency enoughness. You know, she would fall off the step like we all do, like when you're taking, you know, you're on a diet, and then suddenly you see ice cream cone, and you just have to eat it like that. But mostly, she was a PERT a human being, who had debt, rather than a debtor,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:45:25

rather than a debtor. And you got her into enoughness. Yeah, and,

Lynne Twist: 00:45:28

you know, I really learned, I'll just say this other thing, if I can. We used I used to, before I started working on hunger and poverty, I used to actually call people poor. And I think we all do that we say, Oh, those people are poor, or in Ethiopia, the people are poor or in, in Bangladesh, the people are poor. This is a poor person. And I used to call people rich, or this is a rich person. But think about that. The people that I've met, that are living in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Guinea, Bissau, Gambia, South Africa, they're not poor, there's nothing poor about them. In fact, they exhibit more courage to live through a day than you and I are gonna need in our lifetime, they are strong, they are resilient, they are creative, they may not know how to read and write. But that's because no one taught them. They're smart, they're intelligent, they're amazing. What's poor is their circumstances, not them. Their whole, incomplete people, living in poor circumstances. Same with people who are wealthy, whole and complete people living in the ebb and flow and often tyranny of excess resources. So to describe people, by their circumstances, and to label them that way demeans them, they start thinking they are poor, but they're not. What's poor is their circumstances, not them. In fact, those circumstances often foster a kind of strength, and resilience and people who have to face that every single day that you and I have to take workshops and read books to get. So we really demean and discount people by labeling them, even labeling them, Republican Democrat or any of those things progressive, because then we can't hear them anymore. They don't we don't see a human being, we see a point of view that we don't agree with or that we agree with. So this is a you know, this is sort of a teaching that I received from working in all these places, and realizing these people, there's nothing to feel sorry, for. They're the hardest working people on the planet, working on ending hunger and poverty, and what a privilege to join them. Rather than sorry for them.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:47:37

This is resonating so much, because I went to Africa this summer. And we went through these villages. And there was this one village that we went through, and there was a woman sweeping with a homemade broom, outside of a very small, almost like a little hut, almost like a little teepee that a little kid would sleep in. And you knew that that was her home. And she was taking such pride. And what I saw was pride in, you know, cleaning up in front. And when we got to where we were going, my kids who'd never really seen anything like this, they're like, oh, did you see that? You know, that poor lady that poor, you know, her son and how she was doing. And yet there was you could tell there was such pride in her as she cleaned up around her home. And I often say that when somebody is going through a time in their life, and we would say, Oh, I feel so sorry for that person. I feel so sorry. Well, actually what you're sending them is that sorrowful you're sending them the negative. And really what we need to be doing is sending them as you did that, you know, affirmation of like, there's light there. There's hoping, you know, there's hope there's, there's who knows what tomorrow will bring for this person. But let's hope that there is a sunshine ray coming down on him instead of I'm sorry. And there's a big dark cloud, because that's the last thing you want to put on them. Yeah. What a beautiful way that you just said that in the story. And it really is it resonates and you're doing so many incredible. I mean, we didn't even tap on 90% 95% of what you're doing and the impact. And so for people that want to start to and they realize that to be wealthy, it's to help others it's to have that sense of appreciation and gratitude. What do you suggest people can do right now to really get involved with the giving aspect?

Lynne Twist: 00:49:42

Let's see. Well, first of all, you know, we talked about the soul of money contributing money being a philanthropist does not take rich, huge bank accounts, just whatever you have, sharing some of that with, with the world. Is is actually very healthy for your financial life and for your sense of sufficiency. You know, the really probably overflowing abundance for everybody who's listening to me and I don't mean bank accounts now. I mean, you know, you are alive, you are relatively healthy, you have the natural world all around you, you have a roof over your head, hopefully, you have you have treasures in your life you love your kids or you love your, your partner or your love your puppy dog or your kitties. So to really recognize how much you love life and live in that is one thing. And then to see where you can make a real difference. You know, you don't need to be some mega wealthy person to make a difference. You know, you if you're if you if you if of service. It comes from your wholeness. I'll give you a beautiful quote from Rachel Naomi Remen. She says helping fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life when you help you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life is broken. When you serve, you see life as hole. Oh,

Hilary DeCesare: 00:51:16

that is so good. And unfortunately, we got to end it right now. I will contemplate that how can people I can read more.

Lynne Twist: 00:51:24

They can buy my book. I have a new book. I have a new book Living in a committed life. It's all in here. It tells you everything to do. It is so powerful

Hilary DeCesare: 00:51:33

living a committed life by Lynne twist. And let me tell yo u the other books that she's written the TED, the TED Talk that she has said, please go with money.

Lynne Twist: 00:51:43

Women have committed like these two books that I've stolen money.

Hilary DeCesare: 00:51:47

Very good. And so again, wow, how powerful is that? And next week, imagine being a Kol in a cult. And also being a professional tango dancers serial entrepreneur, we are going to hear so much about how you can break away from things that are holding you back. So again, Lynne, twist. Thank you for being here. Everyone. live now. Love now relaunch. Now, look at all of the possibilities that are out there for you. And we'll see you next week.

Lynne Twist: 00:52:21

Thank you so much.