wealth

126 | Wealth Redistribution & Ancestral Repair with Morgan Curtis

 

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After hearing Morgan’s story of choosing to donate and redistribute 100% of her inherited family wealth, I knew I wanted to speak with her. In this conversation we discuss what it’s like to face the shadows of our ancestral lineages, ask deeper questions of what our family’s part was in injustices in our country and how we can use that knowledge to atone and repair.

Morgan is one of thousands of young people feeling called to redistribute inherited wealth back into the hands of indigenous and black people and organizations across the country… Her story calls us to consider that maybe true happiness is really found when we focus on others’ happiness rather than just our own…

In this episode we discuss:

  • Morgan’s privileged upbringing and calling to activism early in life

  • The inner journey navigating shame, guilt, and anger after learning about some of her ancestor’s involvement in slavery, moving indigenous people off their land, and fossil fuel investments - the very causes she was devoting her activism efforts against

  • The story of how Morgan began redistributing 100% of her inherited wealth and 50% of her earned income

  • How to navigate resistance that may come up when redistributing funds

  • How to begin the journey of looking into your own ancestral past

  • The fears Morgan faced around being public with this work

  • What Morgan has learned about true happiness

  • A letter to her descendants and vision for a healed world

Stay in Touch with Morgan:

Have money to give this season? Here are some of Morgan’s suggestions on where to begin:

  • Ekvn Yefolecv an intentional Indigenous ecovillage community returning to their ancestral homelands in what’s known as Alabama, to reclaim and revive language, ecology, cosmology and tradition.

  • Canticle Farm an urban farm, educational center, and intentional community, located in East Oakland, CA on Lisjan Ohlone territory. In particular, the Sister Water House of Restorative Justice at Canticle Farm is home to formerly-incarcerated Black elders and movement leaders.

  • #Case4Reparations Fund at Liberated Capital is an example of how to cede decision making power by funding the movement for reparations through campaigns and organizations chosen by a group of Black and Indigenous leaders.

Stay in Touch with Rising Women Leaders:


Rising Women Leaders was recently selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 20 Overcoming Fear Podcasts and Top 100 Women Podcasts on the web.


Guided by the call to transmute the legacy of her colonizer and enslaver ancestors, Morgan is dedicated to working with her fellow people with wealth and class privilege towards redistribution, atonement, and repair of ancestral harms. As a facilitator, money coach, organizer and ritualist, she works to catalyze the healing of relationships with self, family, ancestors, community, and the land, enabling the surrender of power and control so that resources can flow towards racial, environmental, and economic justice. She is in the process of redistributing 100% of her inherited wealth and 50% of her income to primarily Black- and Indigenous-led organizing and land projects. Morgan is a resident of Canticle Farm, a multi-racial, inter-faith, cross-class, intergenerational intentional community in Lisjan Ohlone territory (Oakland, CA). She is currently a Masters of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School, focused on racial justice and healing. You can learn more at her website: morganhcurtis.com.

 

039 | Resilience, Radiance, & Recovery with Elena Brower

 
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"Integrity matters. If you are in integrity, timing will be on your side."

It was an honor to sit down with renowned author and yoga teacher Elena Brower in the latest Rising Women Leaders podcast episode. We spoke of her journey: discovering yoga, becoming a teacher, finding her voice and more recently letting go of addiction, stepping into her power as a wellness advocate and team leader for doTERRA and the beauty that comes when you step into your highest alignment.  We spoke of the power when a woman steps into wealth and abundance, how to honor our grief and pain, and what to let go of to deepen our personal practices.

There is in an elegance and grace to everything Elena creates... Be sure to check out her new journal, Practice You as well as her other offerings listed below.

In this episode we discussed:

  • Discovering the path of yoga 
  • Finding your voice as a teacher
  • Being a mom and how that relates to spiritual growth and practice 
  • Elena's journey with addiction, sobriety and recovery
  • Her thoughts on stepping into wealth "...how absolutely perfect it is to be financially independent as a woman, and how important it is to be that example for many many thousands if not millions of other women, so I'm okay with that..."
  • Her love of essential oils
  • Elena's favorite morning rituals
  • The rise of the feminine & awakening of our collective consciousness
  • Her new journal, "Practice You"
  • Healing from the loss of her mother and thoughts on moving through grief and pain 
  • The importance of the early morning hours for personal practice

Connect with Elena: 


Elena Brower is a renowned author, yoga teacher and speaker. Influenced by several yoga traditions including Parayoga and Katonah Yoga, she is recognized internationally for her expertise in combining physical alignment and the art of attention. Since 1998, Elena has been offering these practices as a vehicle for approaching our world with realistic reverence and gratitude. She is the author of Art of Attention, a yoga workbook that has been translated into six languages and the creator of Teach.yoga, a virtual home for yoga teachers worldwide. Her new book, Practice You, will be out in September 2017 from Sounds True.

Elena is also an executive producer of On Meditation: Documenting the Inner Journey, a film that intimately explores meditation experiences, and has contributed to the Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, and Yoga Journal. Experience Elena's filmed practices on YogaGl, and her Audio Meditations on elenabrower.com/meditation.

 

032 | Mindful Men Series: Money & Mindfulness with Spencer Sherman

 

Lately I’ve been reflecting on what it means to have “enough.” 

Last month I was lucky to sit down with a founding partner of Abacus Wealth Partners, an investment company that focuses on making the world a better place, Spencer Sherman.

I found it really interesting when he shared, “Giving and saving are two ways to tell your body and mind, ‘I have enough.’” 

Mindfulness and meditation have greatly helped me shift my relationship to money.  

I remember even just a few years ago when I had accumulated a large amount of savings, yet my mindset was solely focused on what I didn’t have. Because of that, I didn’t take a moment to reflect on everything around me. Instead I kept pushing myself. 

Now, I do my best to remind myself of what I have, with gratitude. A mantra I use often is, “I have everything I need, and I welcome so much more.”  (Thanks to Gabrielle Bernstein for that one)

Shifting my mindset around money and focusing more on generosity than on scarcity has helped me let go of the need to grasp on to the next prospective client, the bigger house, or next new item for my wardrobe.

And I have to say, it’s been so relaxing to take that pressure off. 

The funny thing is, the more I soften and rest into the trust that I have everything I need, I feel like so much more abundance is coming to me.

I’ve consciously been letting go of the grasping, the feeling of “getting the short end of the stick” and really honoring where I am at and what I have. 

It’s not an easy practice, I know, and sometimes I still get stuck in the mindset of “I don’t have enough.” So that’s why I’m excited to share with you my latest podcast episode all about Money and Mindfulness with Spencer Sherman. 

“The less attached I have been, the more ease I have found with money, the more it comes to me.” ~ Spencer Sherman

A few months ago it became clear to me that I’d like create a “Mindful Men Series”  to honor the perspective of the divine masculine and share the voices of men I see around me honoring their gifts and purpose while giving back to the world. 

After listening to the episode, I’d love to hear, what does enough look like for you? How do you cultivate a feeling of enough?  Let me know in the comments over on instagram. 

I’m also excited to share that this Fall Spencer and I are collaborating in an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program locally in Sebastopol.

Save the date September 5, 6:30 - 9 pm at The dhyana Center for a free orientation to learn about the program.

In this episode we discuss: 

  • Discovering your true net worth 
  • The best day/worst day of Spencer’s life 
  • The missing piece one of his clients discovered to living a joyful life after having “made it” in the financial world
  • Meditation and how that has affected Spencer’s relationship to money and how he relates to clients in his business
  • The first step to take to bringing more awareness to your finances 
  • Abacus’ approach to wealth management and sustainable investing 
  • Our upcoming course, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (Save the date for Sept. 5 for a free orientation)
  • Spencer's book, The Cure for Money Madness

I hope you enjoy today’s show. It may be just what you need to earn more money, start saving and giving, or maybe to just cultivate more peace of mind.

With love,
Meredith

P.S. Join me this coming Wednesday August 9th for my next webinar, The Art of Feminine Abundance where I’ll be sharing more about my insights on wealth, joy and abundance. Click here to sign up.

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Spencer Sherman is a financial expert, public speaker, teacher and author. Spencer has taught classes and spoken to audiences across the U.S., including at Esalen and Kripalu. He has practiced meditation since 1983 and is a qualified teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). He is a founding partner of Abacus Wealth Partners, an investment company that focuses on making the world a better place. Spencer and his wife Janine live in Sebastopol, CA with their 2 children.