More Money Podcast - 303 The Deep Connection Between Money and Trauma - Morgan Blackman, CEO of Holistic Bucks Coaching Inc.

Episode Date: November 17, 2021

For this week’s episode, we’re getting deep. We’re talking about the intersection of trauma and money. To help talk about how the two subjects connect is holistic wealth coach Morgan Blackman.  Morgan is the CEO of Holistic Bucks Coaching Inc. and is a certified Trauma of Money facilitator. The aim of Morgan's wealth and wellness coaching business is to help female business owners and leaders better understand their relationship with money in order to become financially secure and build generational wealth.  In this episode, Morgan explains how past traumas, regardless of their severity, can affect every part of our lives including our money. She also delves into the different trauma healing methodologies she uses in order to tackle those money-limiting beliefs. Morgan is a big believer that by taking care of your mental well-being, the rest of your life, including your wealth, will feel the healing effects. I'm a huge advocate for mental health (you know I've mentioned several times on the podcast I see a therapist!) and it was so great to hear from Morgan about how she's bridging the gap between money and mental health. For full episode show notes visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/303 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. I am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the show. This is episode 303, and we are getting a bit deep in this episode. We are talking about a very unique, well, is it unique? Well, unique to this show. I don't think I've ever done an episode on this particular topic. We're going to be talking about money and trauma. Yeah, I know, fun, but very important, actually. I'm so excited to share this episode with you because it's, I think, a very important topic, but it's also a very interesting and significant conversation that I have with my next guest, Morgan Blackman. So, Morgan, I've known, well, online for a while because I've been creeping

on her Instagram for a while and just really enjoy her content. But she is a holistic wealth coach who's on a mission to bridge the gap between money and wellness, which I'm all about. I feel like there's a huge connection between financial stability and security and mental health and wellness. So we definitely dive into all that in this episode. She is the CEO of Holistic Bucks and her passion to help heart led female business owners and leaders become financially secure and build the confidence they need to manifest a wealthier and more abundant life. And she strategically helps women achieve this through building a magnetic money mindset, gaining power over their financial decisions, and learning how to invest and have their hard-earned

money work for them in order to build lasting generational wealth and create a powerful impact in the world. Not only that, Morgan is a certified trauma of money facilitator, which equips leaders with different trauma healing methodologies to heal psychological traumas around money and create a sense of financial safety and overall well-being. She is also certified with the Complementary Therapists Accredited Association, CTAA, to provide emotional freedom technique, EFT, which we do dive into in this episode. And also she is certified with the Thought Field Therapy, TFT, tapping services. So yeah, we get into it in this episode. I'm really

excited to share it with you. Now, before I get to that interview with Morgan, I just want to share a few words about this podcast episodes sponsor. This episode of the more money podcast is supported by harvest ETFs. I talk a lot about ETFs on this podcast, but not all ETFs are created equal. Although in the late 90s, ETFs first started out as products that would track the movements of a broad market index like the S&P 500, now there are a plethora of active and niche ETFs to choose from. For example, if you want to ensure part of your investment portfolio is investing in clean energy companies, you may want to check out HCLN that harvests clean energy ETF. It invests in the 40 largest clean energy issuers from North America,

Europe, and Asia. And if you're interested in future growth in the space economy, then ORBT, or Orbit, Harvest's Space Innovation Index ETF can give you exposure to companies focused on space innovation, such as satellite owners and rocket launch technology companies. This is all to say that if you're looking for something outside of your regular index ETF, you've got options, a lot of them, and Harvest ETFs has a big selection to choose from. To learn more about Harvest ETFs, their ETF lineup, and even just to learn more about ETF investing in general, Harvest hosts their own Harvest Talks podcast. Visit harvestportfolios.com. Once again, that's harvestportfolios.com. Welcome, Morgan, to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you on to talk about this.

I feel like this is going to be an interesting, unique episode. I don't feel like I've really talked about any of this before. So I'm glad that we connected. I mean, I've been following you on Instagram for a while, and I'm excited to have you on the show. Yeah. Likewise. Thank you for having me. And this is such an interesting day because, I mean, we're recording it on election day. So I'm super excited.

Oh, yeah. Not sure if you voted for me, but yeah. I haven't. I'm going to be doing it later. But yeah, I actually totally like I didn't forget. But I just like this day was crazy. I'm like, oh, like oh yeah that's the one I have to do that still yeah I'm like always keeping it to like the last minute I know right I know so uh to start off tell me a little bit about yourself you've got this company called holistic bucks which I love it's really about you

know and I've had you know some guests on the show talk a little bit about wellness and like holistic wealth and things like that but i was really curious because you come at it from a very uh i find unique perspective i'd love to know how did you create this company that's not just about financial literacy but also like wellness and um you know, emotions and stuff like that. Yeah. Oh, man. Where does it start? Yeah, where does it start, really? Well, I guess the intention behind Holistic Bugs first. I come from a background, well, my degree in university was international development. So I already came in with this concept and philosophy of like the whole and the collective

and really my life's mission and I was about to say one point but it really still is is to empower people right to live the best version of themselves and their lives and how can we uplift people on a collective level um didn't know exactly what was going to happen with money uh but one like first and foremost is I'm a huge philanthropist and I really just care about the overall well-being of others and so like 2017 was and your podcast was probably still alive then because you've been doing this oh yeah I think I started in 2015 yeah. Oh wow exactly. Yeah. And I didn't quite know about you until maybe like two years ago but 2015 I was very fortunate I had a really good friend who was seeing a financial advisor and to me that was really like weird because I thought you know like all my friends were sort of all in the same situation like we have a whole bunch of student loans we're in debt like we're all broke you know like I always thought you had

to have money to invest and to build wealth and from someone you know being a black woman I didn't come from wealth I I didn't you know even know about investing or like this this whole other world and knowing that like you don't have to be rich to invest right you can really start off small and um so she was the first person to sort of like introduce that concept from your idea or at least make it seem like um um real and like I have the ability to do it myself because she was also a woman of color and um she like every time she'd go to the bank I would like question her and be like oh like what did you learn today like what did you do what did I teach you and so she slowly started to introduce to me, like, you know, financial concepts, investment products. And, you know, I think the first product I learned about was like a GIC,

Guaranteed Investment Certificate. And I was just blown away by the concept that you could just put your money into something and it just like magically grows in inches on its own. And like, you know, you go back like two, five years later, however long you've locked it away for. And like, there's more money than you put in. And so it was like, oh, wow, like this, like, if people are able to build wealth, build wealth and maintain it, this is probably the way that they do it. Right. So this is what I have. Yeah, like, it's not just about earning a high income. It's about making your money make more money. I know when I realized that, I'm like, you mean I can not because I always thought I'm like, well, what if I never

get a job that earns a lot of money? I mean, you know, back when I was in my 20s, I thought I was going to work in the arts and like, well, I'm never going to make money if I work in the arts. So how can I retire one day? And then yeah, like similar to you learning about this stuff, you're like, oh, wait, there's another avenue. Yeah, exactly. And so with that, I, you know, I think most people, they're still, even when they get that information, they're still a bit like apprehensive, or they feel uncomfortable. They're like, well, I don't really know where to start. And I did feel like that in the beginning. But I was like, no, like, I'm just gonna research as much as possible, read as much books, like, and I just fell in the rabbit hole I dived deep into it and that whole

year was self-taught um I probably by the end of that year I felt really comfortable to put real money into the stock market and I tried to save as much as I could I put like five thousand dollars away and diversified it all that great stuff and then by the end of that year I was able to double my money in the same year and I was like like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. This actually is a real thing, you know, and I can do this. Someone from my upbringing, you know, coming up from a family that wasn't really born into wealth and my parents didn't really teach me good financial habits. I was like really blown away.

And for the first time ever, I felt confident about being the first person in my family or my generation to build like lasting wealth and in a healthy, sustainable way. and for the first time ever I felt confident about being the first person in my family or my generation to build like lasting wealth and in a healthy sustainable way and so fast forward five years later I've continued to invest and like my situation was a bit different because just like you know most people kind of take the traditional pathway towards like wealth and abundance or financial security where they like learn how to budget then I'm like okay build up my emergency savings well mine was backwards right because I just started investing first got really excited about that and I'm like oh wait you need money to invest so I had to like go backwards and learn

like how to save and like I didn't have a um you know like an emergency fund I'm like oh that's important because if any emergency happens I don't want to go into my investments and like learning how to budget and so I kind of worked backwards. And so last year with the pandemic, with the pandemic and COVID, I, long story short, I wasn't happy in my job. I always knew I wanted to create a business and it just so happened that I realized that there was the world of coaching and that was something I could do. I was actually in the I was trying to transition into the finance industry but I didn't really have um you know like I didn't go to school for economics I told you like I went and got my degree in international development

but I have all this like you know like knowledge and wisdom and just learning experience over time that I knew I felt confident I was in a place where I was able to help people, you know, get out of debt, or at least, you know, teach them my strategies on how I was able to build up an emergency fund in like, one year and pay off debt and budget and invest. And so coupled out with like my soft spot for women and being somewhat of a feminist. I know that word is sort of like a tricky word to say. No, I'm a feminist. I know. It has kind of started to, I feel like there's a, I mean, this is like off topic,

but I do feel like some people are starting to use the term feminist as a branding strategy. And you're like, okay, but it is actually a real movement, you know? It is. Exactly behind it. There's meaning and purpose definitely behind it. And so, um you know like

women are like the largest consumers I feel like we are starting more businesses we are starting to make more money even though we are still making less in terms of like you know cents to a dollar versus men um becoming more breadwinners and I'm like wow this is the time like if there's any time where women are supposed to get this shit together in terms of their money it's now and so absolutely I've also seen a lot of women in my life like not um I mean a part of it like they weren't able to be in control of the money because the men were more so in control of that and they were in a lot of toxic and abusive situations and I knew for myself like I didn't want to be ever trapped in that situation I wanted to be financially independent in that sense you know not saying

that like you know at the end of the day, I think it's teamwork. Right. Both people should have a say in how you manage money. But growing up, I only saw one person having a say. And so I wanted to steer clear of that. And I wanted to, like, further educate women. So last year, trying to transition into the finance industry and like I could not get a job. And I think the universe was doing it on purpose because I really was supposed to just create something for myself. And so I've been coaching for a bit over a year now with Holistic Bucks.

And in the name itself, Holistic Bucks, I wanted to really bridge the gap between, I've gone through a lot of, I guess, spiritual awakenings and moments where I really needed to lean on like, you know, the importance of my mental health and overall wellbeing. And I realized that there wasn't enough of that in the finance industry, like not talking enough about like trauma and how it's real, right? Like trauma is the reason for why sometimes we make these poor decisions around our real, right? Like, trauma is the reason for why sometimes we make these poor decisions around our money, right? And it becomes like this toxic cycle that's hard to get out of.

And so how do we identify that? How do we heal from that? At the end of the day, how do we really heal? And so Holistic Box is really helping and empowering women who have a conscious business or are leaders in their career to really heal their relationship with money so that they can build out their wealthiest and most abundant life.

Yeah, no, I completely agree. I mean, definitely the past, I guess, year and a half now, if we look back when the pandemic started, we're almost at the two year mark. But the mental health has been such, you know, at the forefront and as it should be. I think that's one of the good things that came out of the pandemic is a bigger spotlight on mental health. But also, you know, you know, looking at the financial industry, too, they've been talking about it more. They've been, you know, putting more of a focus on it because it is really important. I mean, you know, a big kind of like they do go hand in hand mental health and how you feel about yourself and your self worth, you know, in connection with your own money. I mean, I've definitely realized like the kind of moments in my life when there were kind of the dark times when I was, you know, battling

depression is because there was a financial aspect to it. And I think they're kind of typically always it always is doesn't mean it's always a, oh, I don't have money. Sometimes you have money. And that's also a problem. So I'm so curious, when we talk about trauma, the trauma of money, what does that kind of look like? What are some examples that you've kind of come in contact with? Yeah, so trauma, I guess there can be like two responses. And actually, I just start off with, like, trauma is sort of on, like, a spectrum. There's, like, micro trauma, and there's, like, the real extreme severe forms of trauma. And there's also, like, situational traumas, where it's maybe, like, one big event that happened that, like, really shook you up. You know, examples, like, people going to war, or, like, being raped, right? Maybe you're, like, robbed or something, in the sense of, like, the sense of like when it comes to money or maybe you like lost your home or you gambled

you know like all your money your family's money away you lost your job so those can be like big situational traumas um that can really leave you scarred emotionally mentally spiritually financially and then there's like micro traumas that like build up over time. Right. So if you're someone who's like, you know, constantly in survival mode, trying to stay afloat, moving from job to job, like your jobs aren't, I guess, secure or you feel like, you know, like you're not making enough and you're barely able to get by, food on the table, roof over your head. That for a very long time is probably putting your body into stress for a very long time, long term. And so that's how trauma starts to build. So, yeah, so I want people to know, like, it doesn't have to be a big situational event, but it could also just be, you know, small events built up over time. Yeah, I bet that's probably what most people deal with is the small events over time because lots of people are like, oh, I don't have trauma. And the people that say that is because when you think about trauma, you do think about a big event like some of the examples you shared. But I think most of us haven't experienced something like that.

But we have had those micro traumas that you don't even recognize. You don't recognize that they happen you just thought oh that was a bad day or a weird situation or oh it's always been like this etc exactly and i'm like reading this book right now called the body keeps score and as small as that trauma could be like it lives and it remembers your mind your brain remembers every little thing and so in the future like if an event comes up that's similar to that previous one that triggered you, you'll get that same response. You know, it may not even have to be as grave or as extreme as that initial event was, but your body still remembers it. And so that's really what trauma is, right?

These lived experiences, these negative lived experiences that live on within our body. body um and so which trauma is a good way to identify or how you can see that's you know i guess how you can tell somebody um is going through acute financial stress uh is someone who's maybe avoiding their finances so you have one end of the spectrum people that tend to freeze and avoid maybe budgeting looking at their money not really wanting to do their taxes, filing their taxes, things like that. And then on the flip side, the other extreme, you have like hyper arousal state. So I definitely would fall into this. But over the years, I've been able to tame it. But it's people who tend to maybe more impulsively spend or in order to fill that void or the emotional distress, you run to spending your money to soothe yourself,

right? And it becomes this, like, never-ending cycle. So people can lean on, like, either side. Some people are, like, a bit of both, right? But it's really identifying, like, which one you are. And like you said, like, most people have gone through it in their life, right? We've all gone through some form of financial trauma. So it doesn't mean that you can't heal from it and you can't ever get, you know, get over it and set goals and achieve things. So it doesn't mean that you can't heal for men and you can't ever get it, you know, get over it and set goals and achieve things. But it's great. Like self-awareness is always the first step. Yeah. Well, I guess that's kind of my next question now is, okay, when you have maybe taken some time and realized, well, I think I have gone through some sort of trauma.

How do you overcome that? I mean, that seems like, you know, even just thinking of like beyond money trauma, just any kind of trauma, that sounds like a mountain you have to climb a very difficult task. People spend years in therapy trying to do this. How what is kind of the first thing that you can actionably do? So you don't continue with the same patterns and can live a different life? Yeah, that's a really good question. I'm still trying to, I guess. Yeah, I'm like, I'd rather review the question or anyone does. Yeah, there really is no one right answer. I think there's like a bunch of different things

you can do. You can start off with one and see if that works and continue to move on to something that works for you. So it's not like I always tell people like my I guess pathway towards financial success and security it's not really like a linear pathway it's really non-linear it's really just like figuring shit out and finding out what works for you so I know yeah it is a big deal and it there's no straight path when it comes to dealing with trauma. But I guess, I mean, I'll just give a personal example, one thing that has been of big benefit, and it was a lot of like, maybe not surprisingly, but you know, I worked with a therapist a couple, I mean, this is going back actually, like seven years ago was the first time I'd ever worked with someone. And, and it wasn't really, I mean, it was sort of about finances, not really, it was it was dealing

with some things that I hadn't dealt with. But what triggered it realizing, oh, I mean, it was sort of about finances, not really. It was dealing with some things that I hadn't dealt with. But what triggered it, realizing, oh, I need some help, was kind of, you know, the finances was kind of a trigger. I was, you know, working jobs. I hated it. I wasn't earning that much. I just felt like everything was kind of coming on top of me. And I needed, you know, to breathe again.

And then I, you know, worked with someone for a little bit. And that really helped shift things. And then you know worked with someone for a little bit and that really helped shift things and then I didn't see someone for a while and then I you know COVID happened I'm like oh okay we need you know once all my work dried up and it just seemed like the future is so unknown this is scary especially someone who's self-employed in my worst fear of course is like everything dries up right um I don't want people to be like oh told you so because you know quit my job similar to you and all that kind of stuff um and so I started seeing someone and a lot of the conversations we have sometimes tend to talk

about money I mean obviously that is my career so it comes up but it's it's fascinating such like just talking to someone or a professional and working through some of just like talking about what you're feeling and thinking can make a huge impact and especially talking about money stuff I think a lot of people don't realize you can work with the you know my guy's a regular therapist but I could talk about money because it's you know it's it's I can talk about whatever I want so I think that's one place to start yeah yeah having the conversation and having your like I guess thoughts and feelings kind of validate and listen to you know yeah and that's I think what people need more than anything because a lot of us didn't grow up in an environment where we felt comfortable to share our feelings about money or our parents were very like closed off I know for a lot of

people they're like my parents like where we come, the cultural notion is to like not talk about money, right? Like you don't ask your parents like how much they make or your aunties, your uncles, like nothing, nobody discusses money. And so it's like, you kind of have to like figure out your own relationship with money as you go. And you're probably gonna make a lot more mistakes if you had parents that were able to engage in a healthy conversation around money and to teach you like healthy you know principles and boundaries and just habits so that is a really big thing but um I was gonna just cover the whole like trauma and how do you really heal it because I any kind of trauma like you said doesn't have to be specific to money I still feel like it's

somewhat more of a spiritual and philosophical question because I feel like you're never ever going to completely heal from your trauma. I think that it and even if you do maybe a situational form of trauma, like things will always come up throughout your life. Oh, there's so many times in my life where I'm like, oh, I've dealt with this. It's in a box far away. We've managed you. We're good. One post or comment or some image pops up and it brings up a memory. And it's like, I get that feeling again of like, whew, like it just happened. I'm like, it's the most annoying thing being triggered.

You're like, come on. I just dealt with this. I thought we'd move past this. But I guess what you're saying is like, it's not about that. It'll never happen to you or like that, that feeling or, you know, we'll never have it. Like these things happen. We get triggered sometimes that's normal, but how, how to manage it. Cause you can't like, for me, I've definitely worked on that a lot the past few years. It's like when that happens, cause it does. And it's beyond your control. Like, believe me, I've tried to do all the things to, to not have certain things like pop up in my feed or something like that.

How do you react? And what can you do so it doesn't ruin the rest of your day? Yes, I love that the response and it's sort of like that quote, like you can fall but like, it's like how you get back up sort of situation. And even when we talk about money, like I always tell people, I think what's worked for me and how I've been able to maintain a level of financial security not to say that like things don't spring up for me right but it's like I sort of prepare ahead of time for these unfruitful you know circumstances like that's why we like teach people in this space like have an emergency fund because things will happen right and um it's like know, being better prepared for it

or doing that work internally and externally that's going to help you to, I guess, have a smoother ride over time, you know? It's going to become less bumpy over time the more work you do. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah, there's so many things that can happen in life that you can't control, but there's things that you can do to prepare. Like, you know, example, like, you know, work dried up at the beginning of COVID. That was really scary. But the thing that I'd prepared along the way was that emergency fund. And also, it's like, there's so many that and you know, you always have a mental like plan A, B, C, D, in case, okay, if I can't make a living on my own, what are we going to do? And you have some sort of backups. And just even even if I

never do those, you know, plan B's and all that kind of stuff. Having those in the back of my mind gives me peace of mind to know that you're not gonna have to sell your house and live on the street because sorry, all your money's gone. It's like that we've got a you know, we've got a plan B, we've got something like a safety net. But you mentioned earlier, and I think this is a really point to important point to talk about, because I know is a lot in the media. Because of COVID, people were stuck at home. And there was a lot more abuse happening because people could not leave. And also, it's not just that people can't physically leave their home, they financially cannot leave, maybe they lost their job, and they don't have any independent money. How are you going to leave

that situation? It's like, I think a lot of people just think of an emergency fund is like if you lose your job or something like that, how to cover the bills. No, it's for what if you need to make an escape? And that could be also a toxic work environment. Absolutely. That too. Yeah. A lot of people, like you said, don't realize that. I think that's like one of my biggest fears.

And I mean, it was sort of like portraying me at a young age, right? Because I saw that within my own household. So I knew at a young age, like I wanted to become financially independent in some way. And whether that was, like you said, I see so much people now. I mean, no, I don't think I'm gonna go in that direction. But yeah, well, I mean, I guess I could. It's like, okay, example, say there's someone who maybe like doesn't want to take the vaccine. Right. But now they're like mandated to have to go to work. You know, maybe if you had the security net, like you said, available, you could leave your job for like six months and maybe find somewhere else that's more suitable to you. You know, even things like that people don't think about.

I think it's heavily important to be independent in any way, whether that's in a nine to five or outside of that and having your own business. Well, even too, I find like I've always been very similar to you, always very focused on being financially independent from my partner, my husband. And it's not because I think I need to escape one day, but it's just I want to make sure that we are equals. And not to mean that we have to earn the same amount, but I just want us, I never want to depend on anyone besides myself. So if he dies or something or we divorce, I'm not going to be like, my world is over. It's like I got me and I have a job. I'm making money. I've got savings. I've got investments. I'm not going to be like, my world is over. It's like, I got me and I have a job. I'm making money.

I've got savings. I've got investments. I'm good. And honestly, that makes a healthier relationship because it's not the relationship's not about money. You know, I did not marry him. So I'm not in the relationship for that. We're in it because we want to and we're choosing to and we're in it because it's a good relationship. And if it isn't, then I'm not stuck to the situation. There you go. Yeah, exactly. Women have the autonomy. And if things isn't, then I'm not stuck to the situation. There you go. Yeah, exactly. Women have the autonomy. And if things aren't going right, you know, I always tell people, I have women that come to me and they're like, Morgan, I'm like getting a divorce right now. I'm in the middle of that process. And I wish I had taken more action in regards to like my own finances and just understanding how money works and just getting educated because I let

like my husband do all the work. And now, you know know like I have to be on my own and I don't know what to do you know that that fear and overwhelm so yeah like we've all been saying like it's really important for both parties for everybody you're right man or woman or pansexual whatever however trans or whatever you identify to to educate yourself and to be comfortable with your own relationship with money for sure yeah yeah no it, it's so important. So I want to talk about some of the, you know, like you have a very interesting background again, and I find it interesting. You know, a few techniques, I wrote them down.

Maybe you can explain them and just kind of talk about how do they, how do you kind of integrate them into your practice? Emotional freedom technique and the thought field therapy technique. What exactly are those? What do they do? How do they work? So fun. I'm all about tools methodologies um eft is interesting uh so it's like a blend of ancient chinese acupuncture

or acupressure is like pressing on the same points um that you otherwise would do with needles but without um and they're like energy points that help to relieve stress and anxiety like if you've ever gone to get um acupuncture that's exactly what it does um and it helps relieve stress and anxiety in certain um areas of the body for certain diseases ailments things like that and it's also a mix of uh neurolinguistic programming i like to say nlLP is almost just like affirmations. It's like rewiring the brain with positive self-talk and affirmations. And so you sort of blend the two, tapping on these points as you're affirming.

You can affirm actually negative statements and positive statements. And what happens, why people, and some people are like, why would you want to like affirm negative statements? But the negative statements is how you're able to, um, alert your mind to that specific trauma or that specific emotional response. So if you go in like, I am like abundant, like your, your mind and your body's not going to believe that. So you have to go in with like the triggering response to trigger it and then you go in with a positive affirmation to sort of like rewire your brain's response that statement so it's really cool um there's not like it's one of those like underground tools that like a lot of therapists are just starting to like bring up to

the surface there's a lot of study that still needs to be done but based on some of the anecdotes and studies that are out there it has been shown to be like 10 times if i'm getting this right like 10 times more effective than cbt with cbt cognitive cognitive behavioral therapy okay um that's usually like what most therapists do now like if you go to therapy like most of them are trained to do CBT. So it's show and like CBT is like really effective, too. But this one's shown to be even more effective. And the great thing about EFT, like it literally takes like 15, 20 minute sessions. You can do it in like short intervals. You can do longer ones. And even with just like one tapping session the results um are able to to to stay with you like the effects of it can stay with you for up to two years um so I kind of fell into I've heard about EFT tapping within the wellness space and wellness world I'm heavily into that uh but I did it specifically for public speaking so doing things

like this being on podcasts and stepping into this business. And for yourself too, there's a lot of talking involved and a lot of talking in front of audiences. And I grew up being someone with performance anxiety, social anxiety, and weirdest physical responses, knowing that I have to, no matter how much meditation I do

or deep breathing yeah my body just does some weird shit like I won't be able to sleep weeks in advance like oh yeah I can never really sleep the night before if it's like a big presentation or something or a new presentation no I won't be able to sleep that night no way but mine's gonna be like a week I'd be like Morgan it's like next week why are you waiting about this you know and like the moment comes and like my heart's racing like my stomach i don't know like i have to run to the washer like my digestive system is acting up and it was just like and like at the end of the presentation it's always weird because like it's okay it's fine right i'm like oh wow that's fine you're like no one died everything's fine yeah but it's the same thing the next time around i'm like morgan like chill so I was like you know I want to test this out on um my performance

anxiety and not to kid you I had my first presentation uh workshop or master class August of last year for holistic butts and I probably talk like every day for a week there's a an app actually you can probably put it in the show notes called the tapping solution and okay I tapped for a whole week and literally the day like it was interesting because leading up to the event I could sleep like I did not worry about it before going to bed my mind was not racing and the day of the event like nothing like I didn't have to run to the washroom like my heart was beating normally. I was like, Whoa, there's something to this. And so something to this. And so over the months, like I, you know, started doing it more on myself for other things. And then I really wanted to embed it into my coaching practice. So I got

certified for EFT. Nice. So how does this, I guess, integrate and you working with a client who maybe has like anxiety around money or something like how would they is it just like again like I feel like I've seen this like um performed but how would you integrate that with a client who's who needs this that's interesting so most like the way that my I guess coaching structure works especially like my long-term coaching programs I always start off with mindset like we do everything money mindset um so it's like the beginning like you said identifying the trauma around money what it is are you someone that tends to avoid your finances are you more in a hyper arousal state um just becoming self-aware

bringing it up to the surface and then we start to bring in these different tools so sometimes it can be like just talking it through like really identifying like what are the limiting beliefs here and like how can we shift that into an empowering belief and then I would take that exercise and like turn that into an EFT tapping um session and it works perfectly because like all the limiting beliefs all your limiting beliefs are stated right in front of me you know so we tap on that and then we go in with the empowering belief how you want to shift your mindset around money so that helps helps because, you know, physiologically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, through EFT tapping, we are releasing this, we are reducing the stress response to those limiting beliefs and to, I guess, certain

actions that you have to take regarding your finances. So if you're someone that's scared of budgeting, then we will tap on that and you should feel better about budgeting afterwards and it may not take one session it may take a couple so every client is different um some people they may not have a lot of like money mindset work to do whereas some are like you know like half the time with them is like really like working on their anxiety and management of time and like yeah all of that um so and so I blend in a bit of that and then I also provide them other tools and resources too sometimes I mix in like a bit of meditation and like meditation it's just one tool I think it's really important because um there's this stat or this research that's been done that shows that like 95% of our thoughts are subconscious so a lot of the things that we're

doing we realize it's really just based on cash conditionings you know and it's just like we're on autopilot all the time um and then like i think it was like 80 to 85 percent of these thoughts are negative and when i found that out i was like whoa so we're on autopilot and we're like on autopilot in a negative space in a negative space exactly so i'm like no no like this is wow this is profound this is good information but like how do we you know change that change that narrative and so um I think a lot of the times too like when we're dealing with our money um and especially for people who who are going through acute financial stress being very mindful that you're probably not going

to make the best decisions when you're in a space of like extreme stress and anxiety and fear and worry, you know, like all these like negative emotions. It's probably not best to like, you know, go shopping when like your boyfriend just broke up with you or like, you know, like things like that. Yeah, it's like that whole, was it uh retail therapy it's like that's the worst advice yeah i don't even came up with that but probably probably the you know people companies brands selling you stuff exactly yeah they're the only ones who really benefit from it exactly so um yeah for me it was sort of like you, identifying or just just being self aware of like, when you do spend money, like, what kind of space are you in when you are spending money or like making these decisions. And most of the time, you'll realize even for myself, like my biggest spending months are like months where like, I was probably like, not grounded and out of balance. And like, there were a lot of things happening in my life stressed out you know like uber eats oh i'm the same way if i'm like having a hard if it's a stressful time i'm spending more money which is you know never good because then you then you get over whatever that situation is

and you look back at your credit cards you're like what the hell happened and sometimes it's like you don't even mean to like spend money itself like it's it's a means to an end like for me I emotionally eat so it's oh me too yeah so it's like I will run oh me too yeah run to the grocery store uber eats or like you know and that's how I realized at the end of the month oh wow I spent a lot of money but it was like I really just wanted to eat you know like as a way to see myself so I just want something to make me happy yeah something to to get rid of this feeling so yeah it's it's I mean I mean I'm definitely I'm so interested in that EFT thing I've heard about it I feel like I watched a documentary it was the one with Prince Harry

or whatever and I think he did tapping yeah it's on like Apple TV or something like that yeah and I think he actually did I think that's what you described and And because he has obviously some trauma. And I'm like, that is so fascinating. I mean, I'm up for anything new that'll help. Like what is literally what is the downside? Zero. You tap yourself a bit like. Nothing. And it doesn't work for you.

It doesn't work. It doesn't work. That's why I said it's like try different things. I know some people may feel like this is weird and like may not give it a chance. But, you know, that's cool. That's why I brought up meditation because yeah just like I was talking about like you know our our mind like we're in constant chatter all the time and negative chatter most of the time right and so how are we able to quiet these thoughts on a day-to-day basis how are we able to like ground ourselves in the moment and so I think meditation is a really cool outlet

because it helps you to stay in the present moment to not focus about the future and worry and be anxious or to stay in the past and worry about that like no it's like being now being grateful for being in the now you're breathing you're alive you're here you know like everything's gonna be all right and so um and you know with meditation I know some people have like their beef with it people are like oh I've tried it like I can't sit still and I like urge people to try even if it's like five minutes a day and I'm nowhere perfect like there are like maybe like moments like I go through phases there's maybe like a week where I don't meditate you know but I realize like my life is a bit more seamless when I do because like I said I just feel more centered I just feel more centered. I just feel more aligned with myself. I'm not like

in a rush, you know, toxic hustle culture, go, go, go, go. I'm able to be like, okay, no, 10 minutes to me this morning to start the day off. Right. And that just makes all the difference. So totally. It's like one of those things where it's like, we know it's good for us, but we don't want it. Like, just like working out. It's like, you know, you feel good after like, do you don't like, yeah, you feel sore, like you don't like yeah you feel sore but you don't like mentally feel bad you feel pretty good after it's just natural but it's such a struggle to do it but yeah like you said it's like i i really made it a point this year to try to meditate once a day and i was really good for a few months have the headspace app and all that kind of stuff dropped off and now i i feel like this is my my signal to get back to

it but my husband he's been he's been doing it I'd say every single day for like over a year and he's like it is changed it is such I can see the big difference him and that and journaling and run like he's also sees a therapist and so all of these things and really sticking with it and just like you said it could be five minutes. I think that's the longest I've ever actually, because I am like really bad with sitting still and stuff like that. And you let my mind wander. But I do recognize that when I did dedicate that time, I did,

I was able to do it a minute longer the next day and et cetera, et cetera. I did see some progress, but it is one of those things you have to try new things. You have to give it a good chance not just once or twice you have to give it a good go and then just see what happens but if you don't try anything you're not gonna then there's no change that's gonna happen and then you're gonna be in the same situation and what's the point of that exactly and like it's a muscle right so like you said the more you do it the better you get at it for sure and like what is it that's saying like do something for 21 days and it becomes like a new habit. It's like on autopilot, like you just get used to doing it, you know?

Not sure how true that is. But yeah, it's just, you know, so yeah, just trying different tools, modalities. I know, like I noticed you just mentioned journaling. Journaling can be something too. If you grew up like being a writer or loving to express yourself through words like really like i said that constant chatter in your mind like if you're not finding a way to release that and and it could be through like people think meditation has to be just like sitting down kumbaya like waiting for something like god to like come through the sky and talk to you you know it can really just be like art or you know um singing or music or dancing like

any kind of way for you to like release these emotions and to bring you back to yourself this is like i said a lot of the times we're just we're we're off kilter right and there's a lot of trauma stored in our bodies too so how are you letting go how are you releasing that in the mind and body so writing i think writing is a beautiful way to just get like and it doesn't even have to make sense i know there's like different like journaling techniques and like manifesting techniques out there too but really just at the end of the day like even if it's just brain dumping and brain dumping is like just yeah just writing as if you're gonna reread it and be like oh here's a bunch of spelling mistakes who cares i've never reread any of my journal entries yeah just put whatever you

want in there just right just write how you're feeling. It doesn't have to make sense at all. And some people burn it. You can just leave it there and do the same thing the next day. And I find that helps because I'm someone that, like, I'm kind of like a workaholic. And so sometimes I go to bed and I have, like, all these things, like, to do the next morning. Oh, yeah. And, like, my mind's racing.

And I'm like, okay, cool. Like, I just need to, like, write this out. So I just, like, it's just not in my head no more. Oh, yeah. I'm the same way. If I don't write down, I've been doing this for years. And whenever I fall off, I can recognize it. But I write down here are the tasks that you need to do tomorrow, or like my little to do list or whatever it is, I have to write it down, whether it's in an app. And sometimes I move from an app to writing it down to putting it in a spreadsheet. And then you know, whenever I get lazy with one that I move on to the next kind of thing, so like, that's not working, I guess I'll

go back to my pen and paper. If I don't do that, it's going to swirl around in my head, I'll dream about it, I'll wake up thinking I did a full workday. And no, I didn't, you know, so getting those things down really works for me. But I think kind of going back to kind of the whole message of this episode is, when you really take care of yourself and especially your mental health you will see your finances and your financial health progress in a positive way and other elements like I've found because I've paid so much more attention to to my mental health all other aspects of my life either they don't seem as bad because they really weren't that bad but I had a negative mindset or things have just like, you know, one of the things you've kind of

mentioned was, you know, the limiting beliefs and abundance mindset. I have such a bigger abundance mindset than I ever had, not just because I, and I think a lot of people think too, when you say abundance mindset, sometimes people will be like, are you talking about your ego or overconfidence? Like, no, no, no, no. But you know, it's, it's, I just have a, it's just having a more hopeful, positive outlook about the world and also your personal potential. Yeah. You really hit the nail on the head. I always tell people, I'm so reluctant to say like finance coach, because I want my clients to know know like, we're not just healing like your relationship with money. Like this is your whole life, right? Like you heal your money, you also heal your relationships, right? Like your health. It's a trickle effect. Everything gets affected, right? that you're making before anything else. So of course that's going to be reflected in every area of your life. So I love that. It's, yeah, it's beautiful work.

And this is why it's so important to bridge, you know, both wellness and finance together and treat it as a whole and not just like this thing on the side. You know, money's just this thing on the side you deal with when you're ready to deal with it. No, this is, every decision that we make, we like, it's tied to money.

It's like, okay, I want to go to my friends my friends this weekend like do i have the money to do it you know like every decision is tied to if i have the money or not so yeah or on the other side of it i know a lot of people think oh all my problems will be solved like my mental health problems or just like my relationships if i have money it's like no no no there's a lot of people that have a lot of money out there they still have those same problems so we need to deal with both of them at the same time exactly yeah more money does not mean less problems for sure no it does not it just means different problems or or more of the same right um so before i let you go morgan uh you know i'm sure lots of people want to do a deep dive on you follow you on Instagram like I do and see some of your resources.

Where can people find more information about you? Yeah, so definitely Instagram, but I am sort of trying to limit my presence. Yeah, I'm trying to do the whole social media detox. Yes. But yeah, you can, you know, start off on instagram if you need to or you can start off with my website holisticbots.com um i have like my mailing list where every week i'm sending out newsletters very informative and i also just got like a number for my business for people to like like you know like more build personal relationships and for people to have easier

access to me outside of instagram so i also have like a phone number too that like I can't remember off the top of my head. It's on your website, I'm sure though. Yes. And you can put in the show notes. But it's like all over my website and stuff too. And then the link in my bio on IG. So yeah, you can start there. Awesome.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show and talking about this with me. I think it's going to, I think inspire some people to i i love episodes like this because i feel like if anyone's listening and they really needed this episode it makes me feel good knowing that i'm like oh yeah this is the episode that's gonna you know kind of uh push them in a positive uh direction because i mean you know i'm sure like you the reason you got into this was something happened like positive to push you into this sphere same thing happened to me and if I can do that to other people I'm like how cool is that exactly yeah like I guess one thing I can leave off with is just like to really celebrate

your accomplishments like I think we're so hard on ourselves and yes really just like taking it day by day and just being like well what have I accomplished what am I doing right and just focusing on that you know and and gratitude those are all really important like my favorite quote is by Maya Angelou and it's like do the best you can until you know better and then when you know better do better it's like today I came on here today and I probably talked about something that most people don't you know get to often hear or listen to so you know it's a different perspective it's a different outlook on how to approach your relationship with money and so now that I you know showed you those tools like meditation EFT tapping like you know something new go out there tomorrow maybe you download the app you try it

for yourself you know it's just small steps every day. And just Yeah, give yourself grace. Maybe I'm gonna try that tomorrow. I'm one of those people that I'm like, I'm gonna start doing this Monday and then another Monday where it was around. So I'm like, you know what, maybe Tuesday. Release the pressure, release the pressure. Yeah, I know. I know. That's something I'm working on. Anyways, so great to have you on. Thank you so much. Anytime. Thank you, much. Anytime. Thank you, Jessica. Take care. And that was episode 303. With Morgan Blackman, you can find more information about her at holistic bucks.com. Also make sure to follow her on Instagram at holistic bucks.

And yeah, learn more about her coaching services. Also, I should mention too, she has an online course, you can find it on her website, I'm going to link to it in the show notes for this episode. So make sure to go to Jessica morehouse.com slash 303. She also has a free opt in if you want to take advantage of it. You can also just find it at the show notes, or you can go to woo rise.com slash holistic bucks slash broke to woke challenge. Again, I'll just link everything very easy for you in the podcast show notes, Jessica Morehouse.com slash 303. So of course, I've got some things to update you on and share. So stick around. I just want to share a few words about today's podcast episode sponsor. This episode of the More Money Podcast is supported by Harvest ETFs. Looking to add some sustainability or growth equities to your portfolio, but still

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that's harvestportfolios.com. Okay, so we're back. Okay, so things to update you on. A reminder, I'm giving away a ton of different books. You can find this big book giveaway that I do every single season of the show. But the current books that I'm giving away, you can check them out at jessicamorehouse.com slash contest enter to win all of them, you will win one of them, not all of them. But you can enter for a chance to win all of the books or at one of the books, one of the many of the books. So make sure to go there, jessicamorehouse.com slash contest. Another exciting fun news. This isn't the only podcast episode for this week. I actually have a bonus episode for you tomorrow. And you're not going to want to miss it, especially if you are interested.

I know we talk a lot about index investing and ETFs on this podcast, we're going to be talking about ETFs, but in a very different way. We're not going to talk about indexing, as we usually do, which is again, a big passion of mine. We're going to talk about some, you know, active ETFs and niche ETFs, some ETFs that you probably have no idea about, and just kind of a different way of thinking of investing in different investing strategies just to be aware of and to consider for yourself. And so you're definitely going to want to check that episode out tomorrow. So make sure to subscribe or to follow or however you're listening to this episode. Make sure you're in the loop. And also to stay in the loop as a reminder, I do have an email list that goes out bi weekly,

or sometimes just once a month really depends so I do not bug you that much but I do have very important stuff in there like whenever I'm doing there's an announcement or something just important that I want you to know you're going to get an email newsletter with a bunch of you know details in there so if you go to jessicamorehouse.com slash subscribe that is where you can sign up for the email list also to and this, you know, this is one way to get on the email list as well. I have a full free resource library. So if you go to Jessica Morehouse.com slash resources, you can sign up to access my full free resource library. It has budget spreadsheets, it has guides and checklists, it has videos, it has so much stuff all for free. So

just go to JessicaMorales.com slash resources to check that all out. Okay, that I feel like is it's really what's been going on. I'm sure more things will go on. Maybe I'll do, you know, a couple or maybe at least one webinar before the the year, the year is out. But, uh, for right now I am literally packing, um, to, to get out of our place. Cause we are, we have to hand over the keys on November 25th. Um, so we need to pack everything and put it in storage and, but also like not pack too much stuff. Cause we're going to still need stuff to live in our little Airbnb for a few weeks. So I have no idea what this Airbnb even looks like. It's on the east end of the city. And I've actually never I mean, that's where we're moving. FYI, I don't know if I even mentioned that we're moving

to the east end of Toronto. I've actually never really Yeah, stayed there before. So it'll be an interesting experiment to what's to come. So anyways, that is it for me. Big shout out to my wonderful podcast editor Matt Rideout. And yeah, I'll see you back here tomorrow for a bonus episode that you will not want to miss. All right. Thank you so much and see you back here tomorrow. this podcast is distributed by the women in media podcast network find out more at women in media.network