Financial Wellness with Michelle Medrano and Karen Russo

[00:00:01] Hello Mile Hi Church, this is the Mile Hi Church Podcast. So grateful to have you here with us today. I love getting to do these podcasts and I'm here once again on behalf of the Financial Wellness Ministry at Mile Hi Church. We have a Financial Wellness Ministry for a lot of reasons. We know that people want to be more empowered with regards to their financial lives and we want to help use our spiritual principles to do that.

[00:00:29] We also provide opportunities for practical skill building and support in paying bills and building budgets and investing in your future. And so we do all of this and help grow consciousness at the same time. So I'm here today with another luminary who's going to talk with us about financial wellness. And I chose that word, that term financial wellness as what I believe is a balanced term, an opportunity to invite people into

[00:00:59] that feeling of, Oh, I feel good. I feel well for some people that's being wealthy and for other people that's living a life of, um, of means that provide them to do the things that they want to do. And for other people, it's living very simply. No one gets to decide that for us. We get to decide that. But however it is that you choose to live your financial life out, we want you to do it in balance and wellness.

[00:01:27] So today I've got one of my favorite people on the planet. She's a colleague. She's a friend. I have known her for many years in our work together back at new vision center in Scottsdale, Arizona. I am welcoming Reverend Karen Russo. And let me just tell you about her before I bring her voice into this experience. She is the award winning author of the money keys. Great book. I love the launch party. When that book came out, that was a blast Karen.

[00:01:57] That was really fun. And the creator of virtual courses, including money momentum mastery and the 21 day spiritual money jumpstart with our unusual blend of experiences as an MBA from Columbia University, a top selling salesperson, an accomplished corporate trainer over 30 years in recovery and an ordained minister emeritus in centers for spiritual living. Karen shares from a lifetime of wisdom in both spiritual and business growth.

[00:02:25] Karen lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with the big fella loves to hike and deeply enjoys being a part of the New Vision Center for spiritual living. Welcome, Karen. It's a joy to have you here.

[00:02:36] Thank you. Thank you, Reverend Dr. Michelle. I'm happy to be here. It's an honor. And I, I'm, I'm a longtime fan of the mile high financial wellness ministry. It's just, it's the vibe of service to the community around an important area where we can always grow spiritually.

[00:02:57] We can. Yeah. And I, I think spiritual growth is really the, the key element that's really starts us off on a trajectory of, of greater wellness and balance. And so I thank you so much for bringing your wisdom today from your own experiences and from your money keys and all the wonderful work you do in the world. And so, you know, let's start out by talking a little bit about your money story.

[00:03:23] Like what, what happened in your life. What were significant moments in your financial wellness journey that kind of led you into wanting to be a leader in this realm? Yeah. Well, my financial wellness journey is all about integration. So I came up, you know, middle class East coast. My dad, um, first in his family to go to college.

[00:03:48] His parents were first time immigrants from Italy. My mom is the daughter of a school teacher and a nurse. And so her sister was a nurse and my mom's a school teacher. So that, uh, sort of little bit of ethnic middle class upbringing was my upbringing. And what I learned from, you know, my family had all different kinds of challenges, but my parents were a team on the financial front.

[00:04:15] And it was like, my dad played offense. My mom played defense and they were pretty clear to us that this was the message. If you work hard, life could be fair, which I want to recognize that's not the message or experience people are necessarily having today.

[00:04:33] Sure. But it was an ethical beginning. And so that, um, you know, we always had our needs met, but we were told like, if you work hard and pay your taxes, we'll go to the library to get some books. It was kind of a, like, it just was, it felt there was something stable in it.

[00:04:52] It was ethical now. And then I had my own challenges, which is a whole other podcast about, you know, a guy ended up in recovery and this Los Angeles and a therapist grew tired of me and said, I heard about this place called agape.

[00:05:08] So just, so there I was in my twenties. And what I realized is I had, I was doing a job and I was working really hard and I was starting on the spiritual path, but I looked back at that early money story. And I realized that what I had internalized was something I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. I can have what I want if I work hard and struggle. If I work hard and struggle is definitely under there a lot of times.

[00:05:36] Struggle is definitely under there. So my healing around money was not so much, um, like I had a certain amount of like I was working, I had money, I had my needs met, but to feel, to let the shoulders go down and feel spiritual source rather than counting on material channels.

[00:05:57] So rather than just thinking like I can always, uh, have my smarts and my hard work to, which is, which are material channels, my personality, intellect, hard work, those are material channels. I had to learn that there's a spiritual source that I am supplied through and whether it is a job or an investment or a this or that, um, or a hard work or personality, all of those things are channels which a divine flows through.

[00:06:25] So that journey, um, and then really integrating the spiritual practices and principles with money, that's what led me to write the money keys and to find a way to, um, to share an integration between spirituality and money. Well, what have been some of the key practices that have helped you to do that? I think you've mentioned a few, but give us some more specifics.

[00:06:50] Yeah, I, I would say there are practices and this is kind of my, what am I talking about today is I'm often talking about the balance between the receptive, almost feminine energy practices around money and the directive, almost masculine practices around money, which all of us, all genders, all sexual orientations have access to. Cause you said the word balance a couple of times in our intro.

[00:07:17] And I think real financial health includes receptive practices, like deep specific gratitude practices, like, uh, feeling a sense of vision and inclusion around our money that are whole, like I can be satisfied.

[00:07:39] Like those are practices working with satisfaction, wellbeing, joy, receiving, those are all gratitude. Those are all practices that are vital. And the practices of giving, tithing, clarity, affirmation, intention. Those are all practices that contribute to our financial wellness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really can feel them.

[00:08:07] You're, you're talking about, uh, something that, uh, all those things that when you speak about them, it just makes me go, ah, that all that stuff feels so good. And I, I recognize that sometimes in this world of, of finance, people get so scared and anxious and tense and sometimes aren't even motivated to give thanks when they're worried about money or they're scared about money.

[00:08:34] Do you have any suggestions for us about how we make that leap? Is it just like a Nike, Hey, just do it kind of a leap or, or, um, how do I go from being financially scared to death to doing some of these? To feeling some gratitude. Yeah. Yeah. I have a practice that I would call it gorilla gratitude, like intense boot cramp gratitude.

[00:08:57] So it's a little counterintuitive, but especially when you're like worried or stuck three levels of gratitude. And the first is be grateful for the bad things that are not happening to you right now. Yes. So this is a little counterintuitive to, you know, a lot of our like science of mind teaching would say, you know, we turn away from facts and conditions, but I'm going to say if, you know, if we're stuck in facts and conditions, it's not bad to look around and go.

[00:09:27] So I am not sleeping in my car. Right. That I call that be grateful. It's not worse than it is. Literally. So that is exactly it. Be grateful. It's not worse than it is, which, which really gets us in many ways just into like, it can wake us up intellectually and emotionally. It's, and I'm just going to say it that often people think their financial situation is so much worse than it actually is.

[00:09:54] Like, like the people, like, so the thing about like, how much money do you need to be secure? There is a study that was done. I'm tangenting, but we'll come back. There's a study that was done that's, and you asked millionaires, people who had a million dollars in assets, you asked, right? What, how much do you need to feel secure? And they would say 2 million. And then people who had 2 million said, how much do you need? And they would literally say five. Yeah. Ask somebody who has five, you go, when it's 10, when I got 10.

[00:10:21] So, so if you're looking for a number, I'm going to tell you it's not there. So start out being grateful. Be grateful that it's not worse than it is. And then go ahead and look at the facts and circumstances and say, be grateful for what is. So go ahead and look around and say, I've got clean water to drink. I have access to the internet. I've had a history of employment.

[00:10:49] I have six friends that I could call if I needed help with that one bill. I'm not going to call them, but I have six friends. Like, go ahead, enumerate all the things to be grateful for what is. And then it's almost like then, like you've calmed yourself enough where you can realize that behind the what is, is the infinite.

[00:11:11] The love of the divine, the intelligence of life itself, the abundant nature of infinite presence. Like then you can go be grateful for that. Yeah. Beautiful. That's beautiful. Beautiful practice. And I appreciate how you're really, I think, helping, especially in those moments where people just feel stuck and feel like they can't do anything but worry or problem solve or get very dramatic about it.

[00:11:40] And this can just kind of break all that up, can't it? Just kind of make it calm it right down. So beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

[00:11:49] What do you think, when I say the words financial wellness, and you've kind of already pointed to this, but what are some of the key things, the key elements in your mind that come forth as definitions of financial wellness and key ideas, especially that you talk about in your work about getting financial wellness in your mind? Yeah.

[00:12:12] I would say, I almost think about financial wellness as the spirituality beliefs and habits, like the integrated approach. So it's a spirituality that is in faith, not fear. It's beliefs that are empowering, freedom-based, not victim. And then it's habits that have you in the flow. So there's a circulation that's present, a giving and receiving.

[00:12:40] And I'll give a couple of tips, Money Monday and Faithful Friday. Ooh, lovely. Yeah. Money Monday is when you do all your masculine money-focused things. So that's when you give thanks, when you give attention, look at your receipts if you're in a business or look at what's been deposited if you're an individual.

[00:13:03] On Mondays, it's a good time to record the tithe that you gave Mile High Church on Sunday or jot down your, reconcile your auto-tithing. So Mondays, focus on what you do, what you do have, look at your accounts, do your tithing, and set your goals. And sometimes people do well with goals for the week around money.

[00:13:27] So particularly if you are looking to forgive someone, you might say, this is the week I'm going to write that letter. I'm not going to say it or do it. I'm just going to write the letter. Or if your goal is I want to handle mother's estate, this might be the week that I'm going to finally pull the papers out. If your goal is I want to reduce debt, this might be the week that I'm going to look at all the accounts and get the interest rates on all of them so I can formulate a plan.

[00:13:56] Just like what could be your action for the week. So that's your Money Monday. And think about it. So, Michelle, if people did that, like what would they feel after they do that? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Focused and clear. Empowered. Yeah. Uh-huh. Centered, yes. Uh-huh. That is absolutely a part of wellness for sure, I think. It is. And then Fridays is your receptivity. Faithful Fridays, the feminine practices.

[00:14:25] So this thing that you said earlier, people don't even stop to be grateful. If you're filled with worry about money all the time, it is like a negative prayer. It is, you know, whatever we think about is kind of the experience that we have, not kind of, is the experience that we have. So you're not a bad person if you're worried about money, but you are a distracted person. So what we're going to say is if you set a tide time every Friday, I'm going to give thanks. I'm going to do my gratitude practices.

[00:14:55] And I'm going to feel a sense of satisfaction for what I do have. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So you know our dear friend, Catherine Woodward Thomas made her transition. Yes, I do know that. Yeah. One of the things she taught about love, so Catherine Woodward Thomas wrote Calling in the Wand and several other wonderful books about our spiritual relationship with ourselves,

[00:15:19] is she used to say, you'll never have a partner or a lover, beloved, who can provide you with more love than you can feel and have and experience yourself. Mm-hmm. And that's true about money. Yeah. So that's the reason that the person who's, if you're nervous about having enough, if you have five, that's why you want 10, you know. Mm-hmm.

[00:15:49] So it's like, and it's not that, like I'm not a person who thinks the rich are greedy and should be punished and the poor, you know. Like I'm not, so yeah, I want you to have one or five or 10 million or billion, whatever you, but I want you to be satisfied. I want you to be satisfiable. Yes. It's satisfiable right where you are now. Right. I want you to be able to feel that. So if you do that on Fridays, then you're going to feel satisfied and grateful.

[00:16:16] And that kind of, that's the kind of level of engagement. Just like if you think about physical health, we think about our food and our nutrition and our sleep and our activity. The same with your financial wellness. It requires some engagement, doesn't it? It's not a passive thing. It's not, no. You're absolutely right. Yeah. That's beautiful. Thank you for those great practices. I love that. Money Monday and Faithful Friday.

[00:16:45] And the thing that I also like about what you're saying, Karen, is it's, that doesn't feel like an overwhelming ask. It just feels so elegant and easy and doable. Yeah. That's not too much, even for somebody who's feeling stressed about money. It's a nice little touchstone. And the benefit from it is like a pebble in the lake just being thrown.

[00:17:13] And then the ripples just are profound from those two days of focus, I think. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. Now, I know I didn't put this question in. I sent you some questions to talk about, but I am curious about, you have always been to me someone who's very centered and practical, yet very visionary and profoundly deep.

[00:17:41] And so what input do you have for people who get really caught up in the money news of the day and the money criticism? Like you mentioned, the big gazillionaires and all the critiques that are. And I'm like you. I do not fault anybody for having money. I just want anybody who has any amount of any money to feel well and happy and fulfilled in it. So I don't want to spend any time criticizing that.

[00:18:11] But there's so much in the news about these greedy people and all these people have your money and that sort of thing. How do you manage your energy around all of the crazy news and the news cycle about money and finance? How do I do it? I would say I do it okay, not perfectly. So that's a start. Sure.

[00:18:38] And I get triggered by other stuff. So it's not so in the, I'm thinking about that, you know, the crazy and the news. We were always taught back in the day that this is society's prayer requests, you know, watching the news, right? You're scrolling and it's like, this is what we should be praying for.

[00:18:55] And yet I'll just be real to say in the last 20, 25, 30 years, factually what's happening in the United States seems more fraught and also more at our fingertips than ever before. So around any issue where you're feeling triggered. My feeling is, is that's the place of practice.

[00:19:19] And it's also in our responsibility to have ourselves in good space when we're getting input from. So I do track, you know, this app for this news and this thing for that. And I notice if the retirement investments go like, shoot, that thing lost 20%. Right. So I, I'm not immune from looking at it. No. I put myself in a pretty good place before I look.

[00:19:48] So that's, that's part of it is just, it's just no, remember who you are as you look at numbers and digits. And I think the, the number one thing around money is we don't want to criticize others for having the things that we want to have. So that's not going to help. And to remember that we are the authors. Money is essentially neutral, even if it's big, big, big zeros and numbers. We, the meaning about money is what's important.

[00:20:17] And you and I were the meaning makers. So just like language or technology, which can be used for the transfer formative or the trivial, same with money. So one of the antidotes to resenting how other people are using money is to be impeccable with our own money. So where do you shop? Where don't you shop? You know, where do you invest? Where don't you invest?

[00:20:41] I just put some family inheritance money into a mutual fund that supports women's leadership throughout the globe. So, you know, if I get a couple of points less of a return, that doesn't matter as much to me as using that investment. So, yeah. So again, it always comes back to taking responsibility for our own direction and attention of our consciousness. Yes. And I think you're talking very beautifully about how it is both.

[00:21:09] And this is not, I've said for years, you've heard me say it. This teaching is not a teaching of denial. We don't just put our heads in the sand and not look at anything. And I call it intuitive banking when we don't even want to look at our money. But I love what you're saying is put yourself in the most centered space before you ever look.

[00:21:28] And look and pay attention and be with your decisions and let them rise out of that deep knowing and that powerful, powerful sense. So that's beautiful. Thank you. If you could have anybody do one thing to improve their financial wellness in life, what is the one thing you'd say that they should start with? And it may be even something you've already said. So it's okay if you want to repeat it.

[00:21:57] I would say this is use yourself as your own best practice or your own mental equivalent. So in your money life, you want to say, I'm going to look at an area of my life where I know I have had spiritual transformation and success and confidence.

[00:22:16] So for example, if I have overcome, if I have recovery from an addiction and I have a sense of freedom and joy about that, if I can transform that, I can have a different experience with my money. Or for example, if I've forgiven someone or I've overcome a trauma or I've always been great with friendship and I've never worried that I won't have a friend and friends have come and go. But I know I'm a good friend and so friends are always there.

[00:22:45] If I feel abundant in friendship, I can feel abundant with my money. So use yourself as your own best practice. That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now tell us, do you have any workshops or classes or anything you're doing coming up that our listeners could find you and participate? Yeah, the best place to go to find me and all the Money Keys materials would be at the main website, themoneykeys.com. themoneykeys.com.

[00:23:15] And I'd recommend for people, we've got a digital kit that has the original Money Keys book, Grow Yourself, Grow Your Wealth, which gives the tips on Money Monday and Faithful Friday. And it's also got a dozen tracks of music that are curated from all the different New Thought artists. So I think that's called your Money Keys digital kit. And you can purchase that there at themoneykeys.com.

[00:23:41] And then the 21-day spiritual money jumpstart can either be a self-study digital 21 days of lessons, or once or twice a year, we have a practitioner like practitioner Maureen Garrity from the New Vision Center who leads a 21-day group. So that is also something to tune into at themoneykeys.com. Oh, beautiful. And I assume people can get your book off of your website and can they get it on Amazon and other places?

[00:24:10] There's still some on Amazon. If you go to the website, you can purchase it digitally right there. And then if you want to get a hard copy, one of it for me, you can also just drop me an email and we'll get you, we'll order you one from Ingram. So Karen at themoneykeys.com. Great. Good, good, good. Well, Karen Russo, thank you so, so very much. This has been a delight to have this time with you.

[00:24:34] You're so wise and I'm sure that our listeners are benefiting even now from getting a chance to hear you. Go visit Reverend Karen's website, please, and take a look at the wonderful work that she's doing in the world. It's a wonderful joy to behold. And of course, we always invite you to the Mile High website at milehighchurch.org. High is spelled high, H-I like high. So please tune in to us and thanks for tuning into this podcast.

[00:25:03] Go forth and live out your financial oneness, your financial wellness too. Thank you.