Why You Avoid Financial Wellness: Lets Talk Money!

Why do we avoid money conversations like the plague—especially in spiritual and wellness communities? In this bold, vulnerable, and eye-opening episode of "It Begins Here," host Jillian Johnson tackles the elephant in the room: financial wellness as a necessary pillar of healing.

With her signature bluntness (delivered with love), Jillian shares her frustration and fascination with how people—even those deeply committed to mind-body-soul connection—run from financial awareness. She recounts the experience of hosting workshops where attendees simply don't show up, not because they don't need it, but because they fear it. And she calls it what it is: fear is an illusion.

This episode weaves together the practical and the spiritual, arguing that true wellness requires balancing the material and the spiritual. Jillian introduces the concept of a "Net Worth Tracker"—a simple, non-intimidating snapshot of your financial reality—and emphasizes that healing your relationship with money is as essential as healing your body or your trauma. She challenges the spiritual community to stop treating money as "unspiritual" and start seeing it as energy, consciousness, and a tool for contribution.

If you've been avoiding your finances, feeling shame around money, or wondering how to integrate wealth consciousness into your spiritual practice, this episode is your invitation to finally take that first small, steady step. Your journey to financial wellness begins here.

 Where love creates movement, and movement creates change. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome Dea and welcome to It Begins Here. It Begins Here is a podcast about my journey and path to enlightenment, healing, awareness, realizations, and all the fun little stories in between. So I welcome you to It Begins Here, a podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

I'm gonna be very blunt here. So many people are in such need of financial wellness mindset training. Every individual I encounter, they're like, oh, that's the worst, right? Especially when we're referring to it amongst the healing pillars of um connection, mind, body, soul. I think that there should be some financial there because it has to stand out because people avoid it. They avoid it like the freaking plague. And I know why. I understand why. I'm gonna I'm gonna break through somehow. I've now held multiple workshops and there's a trickle amount of people, and it it makes me laugh. I don't get upset about it, it just makes me laugh because I'm like, all you mofos totally need this, especially in the spiritual world. Healing practitioners need it the most because they have that beautiful connection, spiritual, social aspect of what they do. But you always need a little bit of capitalism, always. Actually, you should balance it, right? We should be balancing between materiality and spirituality. I'm constantly reminded to do that, and I sometimes go heavy on one and heavy on the other. Feel like I'm walking on Mars. It's like, okay, I'm gonna get my footing eventually, right? But you people, you silly humans, I waited in our last workshop. I waited for 15 minutes and then no one showed. And I was like, all right, I'm jumping out because I'm not gonna talk to myself. I could have recorded it, but I'm so sick of hearing myself talk, honestly. And if as you may know, as a presenter, I um I get the audience involved. Like you're we're connecting. I'm not standing up here talking for an hour. That's gonna bore me to death. But it's it's funny, and it is, it's vulnerability, it's fear. People know they've they realize they fear it, right? But they don't act to get past the fear. Fear is an illusion, it's an absolute illusion, and I catch myself still, and all humans will. We will constantly on your healing journey, on your whatever you want to call it, your journey to you, right? Um, there is so much that gets avoided, and one of them is financial wellness. And what do I mean by financial wellness, right? It's wealth consciousness. It's how do I feel, behave, interact with wealth? What is my mindset around it? Is it toxic? Is it positive? Most of the time it's very toxic. Just coaching beautiful humans and interacting with them and just having a half an hour conversation. I can nail down so many instances that you totally negated yourself, absolutely negated yourself, and the universe listens. We talk about this too, right? All the time. And I I repeat these podcasts and and the the topics for a reason. I'm trying to get through, and something's gonna snap, something's gonna click, right? Something's gonna click. So, yes, I'm here. I'm here to like many others, educate on a topic that has so much fear, avoidance, neglect. Man, if you just focused on it a little, wherever you focus energy, right, is where things grow. We all know this. It's not the marketing. You could you could have build the foundation first. I can't, it's funny. I have witnessed so many organizations where they did not set up the foundations first, they're just marketing and selling and selling. And my I mean, I honestly, I think most companies do this, and then they worry about the back end, and it shows. It shows as a client and a customer, I can just feel it when I'm talking or interviewing for different applications and all that. It's like, oh, uh, yep, you're gonna sell me the moon and the stars. Can I can I talk to the person who's the who's doing all the coding and creating behind the scenes, please? Where's the tech team? What can this thing do? Right, but even with that, I mean, startups have to focus on financial wellness, they have to understand what's needed, where are we going, like all that is financial data too. So, going back to me trying to, and I will educate on what I call abundance mindset because I think that's what people can really understand or may not. I've named it multiple things, and I'm just trying to keep it simple, but I don't think people don't want to attend, I think they fear it. They're like, oh geez, this isn't this is gonna make me uncomfortable. I don't know this topic. So let me get you past that. Whatever you don't face builds this is how I swear to you, many, not all, I'm sure, but many diseases happen, many illnesses, many sicknesses, because there's something that you're avoiding. You can't avoid it. In order to move forward, you have to get past it. And talking to me about financial wellness, I'm an empath. I feel ya, and I've been through it all. I don't I talk about my wealth and I talk about my successes to empower and inspire, not to, oh, a boost, blah blah no. It's like you can do this too, you know. Yes, of course I am very intelligent. Ha ha ha, right? Scorpio Sun, Gemini Moon, Sag rising, and there's minimal toxicity in there. So I the worst thing that I'm gonna do is hurt myself, right? I think that's what we do mostly. I think most humans do that. The worst thing that they do is harm themselves, and you are harming yourself by not going through the hell of gate that you think it is, because your fear has built up this illusion that it's gonna be so painful and nauseating, but once you take a put a little toe in the water, it's smooth sailing, especially talking to someone like me. I mean, my voice, I think, alone, the vibration alone, gives you calmness. It's soothing. That's why I do this. I know, I know my voice is soothing and connecting and calming. Wait till you hear me sing. But it's not the reason that I want you to jump on here, right? It's like, oh, it is she's calming and soothing. Yeah, I will talk to you about my finances. Wait until you meet the team. The team that we've built. That's simply J to do this, and there are others, I'm certain. But it's not financial data is not this like fit it in a you know, square, square peg in a square hole. It's not so easy, and there's a lot of emotions behind it, especially people with money, which is an illusion, right? Money is a complete illusion. So I want you to realize whatever successes you've had, and I know you've had them. Think back, get out the journal, I know you had them. What did you have to do to achieve that? You had to act. Just act. So what if you fall down and fail? I've quote unquote lost and failed a couple of times, several times. Everybody does. It's okay. You have to get forward, you have to get past this. So, yes. I will continue my quest for individuals and humans to understand financial wellness and what that means. It's awareness. It's awareness of how you relate to your wealth and money, it's awareness of how you interact with it, it's awareness of how it makes you feel. And you have to get past it. Baby steps. It's like, I talk about this too. It's like signing up for a coaching, a physical fitness coach, and they're like, okay, you're gonna do 20 push-ups, and it's like, what the No, I'm not. Because I'm not gonna continue to do this. See, that's not changing my behavior. I had one coach, Danielle, really nice. Sorry, we did not connect, and she knew it. I was trying to like rewire part of her, like helped her. I literally paid her and helped her. She she helped me. Yeah, yeah. I'm not doing what she's doing. Nope. Nope. Back to old bad ways, no, no, no alcohol, no coffee, that like behavior. It takes time, people. It takes time to change behaviors. You don't do it overnight, and you don't have someone do something that's not the normal course. You have to ease them into it, and that is patience. That's small, steady steps, is how it works. Let's all jump on board and realize this. I know I sound cocky, but shit, I built stuff that lasts. Why? Purpose, patience, perseverance, keep going. I'm not running through walls. The same with your finances. Again, you have to get a status point of where you are. I like to call it a net worth tracker. That's what we call it, right? It's a nice little snapshot of you, it's a balance sheet, quite frankly. It's a snapshot of you personally. What are your assets? What do you own? What do you owe? Liabilities? What you owe should not be greater than what you have. I'm telling you, there's a lot of illusion out there. You think people are wealthy, they're not. They're over-leveraged. They have liability up the wazoo because they've been borrowing and borrowing, and they think it's okay. I'm gonna go, no, it's not. Slow and steady. That's the kind of connection that I'm building and we're building, and we're gonna we're gonna break through because it's a necessity. It's part of the foundations of anything. You have to balance the material world when you're living in it. I'm gonna say it again. You have to balance the material world because you're living in it.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

I don't need big bold stuff. It doesn't make me feel good. I want connection.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

I'll take a 1,500 square foot house in the middle of 20 acres.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

I already have it all visualized on my vision board. It's coming. But slow and steady, right? I live in a two-family and rent out the first floor. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Trying to work on the minimalists, but awareness of your financial status is a need because then you figure out where you're going. It's just a snapshot, you're not gonna focus on it. I don't like to look at it every day. No. I where energy grows, right? Where you dedicate energy grows, but keep in mind staring at what you currently have negates your future perspective, negates where you're going because you're stuck there. It's like looking at the past all day. Past, past, past. You're not, you know, unless you have a real-time spreadsheet that's currently running, constantly running, which we that's what we do. That's what Simply J does. Gives you real-time balance sheets and PLs so you can see where you are. Plus or minus, you know, process. It's a thing, and people fear it, and they have to act. And I promise we'll dive slowly, but you gotta rip off the band-aid. And you think you think your definition of wealth is probably wrong, by the way. Money is an illusion. It ain't worth shit. New slash took off that gold standard, it's been worth shit. I I like I maybe that's why I never got it on an early age. I'm like, this does not make sense. How can a piece of paper be so valuable? It doesn't make sense. But I wasn't taught, and many are not, and here I am.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Here we are. Please reach out.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Any questions or on social media? Just comment. And if we don't get through, you know how to reach me. My cell phone's everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

We have to work on this. And you have to meet people where they are. It will prevail. Rip off the band-aid.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Ask for a net worth tracker. Don't even have to look at it. You just populate it, and then I'm gonna say, okay, that's where you are. Look, look, look, and I'll close it, and let's not look at that again until you update it. Maybe in a quarter, three months.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

And you take tiny little steps to do what you do, because wealth includes value, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

My wealth definitely includes my value. I am smart as shit. Absolutely. So are many of you. I am quick-witted, I am analytical, I am also very charming. And I can connect. My emotional intelligence is high, that's worth something. Let me tell you, there's a lot of people that cannot even connect. I literally have other teachers of mine say, I people just don't connect anymore. I'm going through singing lessons, oh my god, so fun. And they clearly are stating, the teacher's clearly stating people are looking for singers and they're having trouble finding them because people are not connecting. So if you can connect to people, if you can active listen, you have a lot of value. You can communicate, if you can understand something even though you don't agree with it, that's pretty impressive. Let's let's make a team for that. That's what value is. Yes, of course, assets. I like tangible assets. I have crypto too. I've had some bad run-ins with crypto though. Oh boy. And that's okay. Lessons learned. But it's value worth is a lot more than just money. Again, money's an illusion. What companies do you own? What value do they provide? Right? That's what I'm all about.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

What tangible assets do you have? I I do like real estate.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

It's a lot of work. I'm not gonna lie. It is a lot of work. Whatever is someone tells you otherwise is is lying. People are work. And that's just the way it is. Things happen. So if you don't have a team, you're gonna be doing everything, and that's not a life that I choose to live, because every moment has purpose. Every moment has stillness. I I do like um, you know, some gold and silver. Yep. Um, but there are other things, right? It's what what do you put value on? And then how much do you require? Because you can't spend more than your means. You're not gonna get anywhere. You're not learning the foundations, and things ebb and flow, right? But you do wanna contribute. I love to pay people because they gave me value. And that's reciprocity, that's fluidity of money. You receive it happily, you give it happily, you receive and give. You even have to give to your government. Yep, I said it. Ten percent P.S. No more than that. I think that's well enough. That's my two cents. But yes, wealth consciousness. Look that up. That is definitely worth something. And just start listening to yourself when you talk, when you think, when you're dealing with money. Catch yourself, and then you'll change. Because eventually you can't stop ignoring it. It's gonna hound you to the depths of hell. It'll keep coming back, smacking you in the face. Occurrences, instances keep coming back, smacking you in the face. Then you're gonna get some illnesses. When you get sick, you have to question why. There's a reason your body is reacting that way. Your mind, body, and spirit are all one. Merkaba. Look up that symbol. Merkaba. M-E-R-C-L-A, capital B A. Merkaba. So financial wellness is wealth consciousness. It's how you interact with money, it's how you relate with money, it's how you think about money, it's how you talk about money. Also your wealth. Money and wealth are are different things. I really, really money is an illusion. But it's what how we transact. It's just like bartering, right? How are you gonna put wealth on bartering? Same thing. I wouldn't put a bunch of wealth on the money I possess, although amazing that I could buy. And I keep some in the bank for savings to spend at a future date, right? But eventually you're gonna disperse it out for something. It flows, it's fluid. Wealth? What do you bring that has value? How do you contribute? Tangible assets. That's wealth. Love and light. It begins here. Thanks for listening. Love and light to all you beautiful humans.