September 12, 2025 • 47 mins
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Struggling with money stress or just sick of the scarcity mindset? You’re not alone. In this episode, Lunden sits down with Ken Honda—Japan’s Zen Millionaire and bestselling author of Happy Money—to explore how we can shift from unhappy money to happy money by embracing gratitude, healing our financial wounds, and transforming our energy around money.
If you’re ready to shift your money energy and find peace in how you earn, spend, and receive - listen now!
Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
0:00 – Introduction
2:58 – Happy Money vs. Unhappy Money: What’s the Difference?
12:55 – How to Examine Your Relationship With Money
18:36 – Healing Money Wounds & Rewriting Your Money Story
29:50 – Creating Passive Income Systems That Work
23:51 - Sponsor: Snap Supplements 20% OFF using code LUNDEN25
34:09 – Getting Curious About Financial Change
43:12 – Raising Kids With a Healthy Money Mindset
Ken Honda is Japan’s best-selling author whose books have sold almost 9 million copies internationally since 2001. Known as the “Happy Money Guy”, “Money Healer”, and “Zen Millionaire”, his teachings bridge the topics of money and happiness, inviting readers to heal their relationship with money, experience more abundance and happiness, and express their gifts in alignment with their destiny and life purpose.
Connect with Ken:
FREE Book: The Magic of Arigato Your Money
FREE Self Love & Sweat Monthly Life Coaching Calendar: http://lifelikelunden.com/calendar
2 FREE HIGH INTENSITY RESISTANCE TRAINING WORKOUTS: https://lifelikelunden.activehosted.com/f/169
One-On-One Life Coaching & NLP with Lunden:
http://lifelikelunden.com/vip
Connect with Lunden:
IG: @lifelikelunden
YouTube: https://youtube.com/lundensouza
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lundensouza/
Twitter: @lifelikelunden
Use code LUNDEN25 for a discount on Snap Supplements: https://snapsupplements.com/lunden25
Podcast Sound Design Intro & Outro: https://hitspotaudio.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lunden Souza (00:00):
Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the
place where you'll get inspiredto live your life
unapologetically, embrace yourperfect imperfections and do
what sets your soul on fire.
I'm your host, Lunden Souza KenHonda.
(00:25):
It's so good to have you.
I'm so happy to have you here.
How are you?
Are you in Japan right now?
Ken Honda (00:30):
Yes, I am.
I'm on my way to your continent.
I'm going to Montreal andAmsterdam, stockholm and back
again.
So I'm going to East, east,east and eventually come back
home.
Lunden Souza (00:47):
Yeah, you're a busy guy.
Ken Honda (00:51):
Yes, I'm so happy.
So you are in the United States, right?
Lunden Souza (00:56):
Yep, I'm in Utah, and yeah, I was.
We were talking before wepressed record how I just I
thought I was coming here tohike, right, we have this idea
of what we think we're goingsomewhere to do, right, and then
you know, we get the message,we get the call that we're
supposed to be in a specificplace, and so it's been a couple
(01:18):
of years since I've been here.
But we were kind ofbacktracking before we pressed
record.
And I've had the honor ofmeeting you once and it was over
two years ago when we got tohave dinner when you were
recording your Naba course andall of that.
What's new in your life, what'sgoing on, what's exciting.
Ken Honda (01:34):
Yeah, so I just started my sort of like an
online publishing thing.
It's called Happy Libraries.
I'm releasing you know I havepublished more than 200 books
like these are some of the bookcovers and I so I'm releasing.
I condense them to a 15 minuteread, so it's about 30 pages.
(01:57):
So I'm releasing one book everyweek so I get to share what
I've learned over the years.
So the first book is the Magicof Arigato Money and the second
one is, well, find your Gift.
So like only 30 pages and it'son Amazon Kindle Unlimited, so
(02:22):
many people can read it for free.
So this is my another passionthat I found because I'm a
writer.
Lunden Souza (02:29):
It's just, I want to express myself through
writing, so I hope people canget the benefit out of reading
my stuff yeah, and it'sincredible, and I'm assuming
those listening have heard ofyou before, but if you haven't,
you know Ken, a bestsellingJapanese author.
You've sold almost 9 millioncopies of books.
(02:52):
Yes, yes, hold on oh my gosh,and yeah, happy money.
Happy money, which I've readand I want to dive right in
because I know this is going tobe a powerful episode for those
listening.
I know that from working withpeople, talking with people,
even in my own life.
(03:12):
Money is a thing and in somepeople's life it's happy and in
other people's life it issuffocating and holding them
back or limiting, and so I wantto start off with just what is
happy money and what's like the.
What is the reason?
What do you find is like thenumber one reason why people
don't have happy money?
Ken Honda (03:33):
if, if they don't you know, sadly, 95% of us are
living in the flow of unhappymoney.
Unhappy money gives you afeeling when you receive it
because we feel like it's notenough, and also when we pay
bills we also feel like a partof us gets ripped off from us.
So we feel so much frustrationand sometimes resentment because
(03:59):
we don't have a goodrelationship with money.
So if we did what we love to doto receive the money, then
we'll be smiling, no matter what.
But since most of us are doingthis to make money so I can
bring food on the table formyself and for my family, that
always comes with a feeling, andso I hope people can start
(04:25):
having more happy money, whichwill make you smile because
you're enjoying what you do andthen, as a result, you can be
smiling all the time.
Lunden Souza (04:36):
Yeah, and you have a great smile and a great yeah,
you exude happy money, right?
And I think a lot of peoplelistening when you said like, oh
, I just got to get the money toget the food on the table.
Or I was in a conversation theother day and I overheard
someone say like, oh yeah, well,I got to do that because I have
(04:57):
mouths to feed, right, and it'slike this money in this
survival right Of just trying tohave enough to have food and
live in that survival.
And I'm assuming and I want to,you know how do we get out of
that survival and get into happymoney?
Because it's really hard toreceive and give with that smile
(05:20):
and that abundance when in yourmind it's like I got to pay the
bills, I got to put a roof overmy family's head, I got to feed
.
You know these mouths and Idon't even know how I'm going to
do it.
So what's that first step fromgoing to, from unhappy money to
happy money?
Ken Honda (05:37):
Yeah, you're asking the very, very, very good and
essential question which I thinkwe should all ask ourselves.
You know, we feel sooverwhelmed by what's going on
in the world, including politicsand war, and also the financial
crisis everywhere.
(05:58):
That's why we are experiencingthe inflation of the living
expenses, like gas and food andbasic necessities.
So I read somewhere in NorthAmerica if you are making
average income, you cannot havean affordable, safe house, and
(06:21):
it's very sad because you know alot of, even though I think
United States or Japan, we areliving in the most abundant
country, but we are stillfeeling the crunch because the
system is not really set upright.
I don't want to blame who, butwe all admit that this is not
(06:41):
really working for everybody onthis planet, and so if you
crunched so I'm not I don't wantto blame you for just feeling
stress.
I mean, it's very natural.
At the same time, we can comeup with other ways to have a
different relationship withmoney.
So if you start looking at yourrelationship right now, is that
(07:07):
a happy, fulfilling one?
It's like your personalrelationship, your husband, your
wife or boyfriend or girlfriend.
Do you have a good relationship?
If you have good relationshipsin general, you're a happier
person.
So say just think of fivepeople who are close to you.
Are they very nice, generous,happy people?
If the answer is yes, welcometo heaven.
(07:30):
You're having a beautiful life.
Even though you may have somefinancial issues or health
issues here and there, you arehappy.
But if you don't have a goodrelationship, including money,
then your life could be astruggle.
So, first of all, take a lookat what's going on in your life
and then second step could bemake a decision.
(07:53):
No matter what, I'm going tohave a different relationship
from the one I have now, andthen something will start.
Lunden Souza (08:02):
Yeah yeah, examining your relationship with
money, I took your onlinecourse in Nava.
It was the first course I tookin the community, the Healing.
Ken Honda (08:11):
Your Money, thank you .
Lunden Souza (08:13):
And so I have.
So I wrapped around my debitcard.
The first exercise you had usdo was to write down how we want
to feel around money and thisis over.
I took this a year ago, so it'sover and I wrote down
overflowing, nurturing and atease.
And I remember you had said inthe exercise okay, like every
(08:37):
time you spend money, right,some people friends will tell me
like, oh, I don't even check myonline banking, I just tap the
debit card and I pray and I hopethat it goes through right, and
we laugh.
But I really think that's thereality of a lot of people's
lives.
Right Of just like tap and prayor run it as credit and it'll
go through later, right.
But I remember when we did thisexercise, I was getting gas and
(09:02):
I pumped the gas and then Ileaned up against my car and
while the gas was pumping, I wasjust opening up my heart to
gratitude and reading thesewords overflowing, nurturing and
at ease and it was just a verynew experience, right, of course
we get used to, you know I canspeak for myself feeling
(09:24):
gratitude when, like, a lot ofmoney comes in right, or being
grateful when I like savedenough money to go to a Dr Joe
Dispenza retreat, right and like.
But those little moments, right,the day-to-day transactions of
like getting gas or buying yourgroceries or whatever it might
be, that was a really powerfulstep for me.
(09:45):
To just like not be onautopilot and just swiping and
praying, but like taking thepause to be grateful to money,
right.
And I think of thatrelationship, like if we're not
appreciating our partner or ourfriend or we're not taking the
time to notice the littlemoments that they're showing up
(10:05):
for us, then we're not going tohave a good relationship.
And so I it was just funnybecause I was like, oh yeah, I
have to show Ken, you know, I Ilook at this all the time and it
started with those simplemoments of like getting gas or
buying something small and andyeah, I had enough for it, but
like being grateful that I hadenough for the 40 bucks to fill
(10:26):
up my gas tank or whatever itwas, you know.
And so that was really special.
Ken Honda (10:32):
Thank you, Lunden, for sharing the story you are so
fun to be with and also you'reshining, so you are the magnet
for happy money.
So a lot of people aredepressed with money, so they
feel so discouraged about doinganything.
That's why we have a hard timelooking at money issues.
(10:55):
It's almost like scaling justweighing yourself how much you
weigh If you have health issues.
You don't want to just do that.
We can't face the reality.
That could be the first step,but could be the hardest of all
the steps you're going to take.
Lunden Souza (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, acknowledging.
I know there's some people yeah, I don't want to step on the
scale who don't want to checkthe online banking, who don't
even want to go there with money, who aren't even ready to say
like you might be unhappy overtheir money.
But hi, let's get to know eachother Like it's more, just like
not going to talk about it andjust going to move forward, and
(11:33):
I know because, yeah, I've beenthere, yes, and and it's
interesting, you know, it's notjust.
Ken Honda (11:41):
You know, regular people, wealthy people, also
have issues a different kind.
You know, because the other dayI was chatting with a very
wealthy people and he wascomplaining about the gas.
You know, prices going up.
He's talking about his privatejet gas, you know, like ripping
off.
So, you know, take a commercialflight, you know, and he said
(12:04):
no, no, I don't want to do that.
So still, he's like I'm feelingthe crunch, you know, because
the gas, of course the gas for aprivate jet must be also going
high too.
So if you're making a milliondollars a year, people will
probably assume like, wow, Ihave no problem.
But if you have a milliondollars, you have like two
(12:25):
houses and a few boats and maybea helicopter or a private jet,
then, boom, at the end of everymonth all the money is gone.
So unless you have a goodrelationship to have control
over money and then control overyour greed, control over your
emotions, and then you cannot,until then you cannot find total
(12:46):
peace with you.
Lunden Souza (12:49):
Yeah, that is so.
Yeah, that was that hit Because, like you said, you can have no
money in the bank or justenough to make ends meet from,
let's say, a lower income levelall the way to multimillionaire,
and that person that doesn'thave a lot and the person that
has a lot can still have unhappymoney.
Ken Honda (13:13):
Yes yes.
You know.
On the other hand, I have afriend who is more like a hippie
.
He spends only $1,000, you know, us $1,000 a year.
He lives in a forest so hegrows his own food with his
family of three.
You know he has a small childso, but he needs to buy
something like bandages.
(13:34):
You know some little medicinehere and there, like aspirins,
and you know you need thosethings.
You need cash, but besides thatyou don't need much.
You know you don't need yourcell phone.
He has internet.
His neighbor gave an oldcomputer and a very old
(13:54):
connector so he can at leasthave internet access.
But they're so happy withplaying with pets and all the
other things they don't needPlayStations, they don't need
Netflix and all the dramas, andso that's one way of living.
(14:14):
But unless we find ways to getout of this capitalism one way
or another, we have to deal withmoney.
So as much as we don't want todeal with money, we have to.
That is the tragedy and also acomedy of our life.
So if you have to be in thissociety, you might as well just
(14:34):
take a look at the issue, and ifyou can turn your unhappy money
into happy money by doing whatyou love, then the percentage of
happy money in your wallet willincrease, and then your smile.
So you have to find what youlove to make other people smile,
and the more smile you get, themore money you get.
Lunden Souza (14:58):
So I'm a writer.
Ken Honda (14:59):
So just you know, if I write a book, if this doesn't
sell, I have no money, but Ihave a good track record of
making everybody happy.
I have published more than 200books.
That means that if people don'tlike my books, they are not
going to buy the next book,right?
So I couldn't have lasted 22years as a writer because people
(15:26):
kept buying.
That means that people aresatisfied and they're looking
for reading my next book.
So as long as you can makesomebody happy or provide
something that people feel worthpaying for, then you can
receive happy money.
Lunden Souza (15:42):
So focus on what you can share what you can give
without feeling like you'reworking.
Yeah, yeah, and that conceptI'm familiar with and I do want
to touch on that.
But one of the things that yousaid was like, well, you need to
like address the issue and alsogoing through your work.
I know a lot of the storiesthat we tell ourselves around
(16:06):
money are big and in yourteachings and in the course I
took, it was you know, what didyou hear about money?
Growing up, what were thestories in your family or your
community or where you grew upcommunity or where you grew up,
(16:29):
and I was thinking about that,right, and going through some of
the stories and what my parentssaid about money, and there
were three specific things thatcame to me.
And, granted, I have wonderfulparents who did a really great
job financially, and I remembermy dad a phrase he would say a
lot for people that were likehad more money or were doing
(16:50):
things that cost more money waslike, oh, they're out of our
league.
Those people are out of ourleague, right?
Love you dad.
The second one is I remember mymom telling a story about when
her and my dad went on theirhoneymoon and my dad had
envelopes with all the cashseparated for all the things
that he was going to do, right.
And my dad, my dad grew up witheight kids in the family, you
(17:16):
know not.
You know they were fine, butnot the way my mom grew up,
right.
So my mom told me that storyand she goes I thought that was
so weird, right.
So there's the imprint of like,organizing your money and
planning is weird, right.
And then one time I didsomething that was in alignment
with myself but not in alignmentwith my grandfather, who does
(17:39):
have a lot of money, and hedidn't give me any money on
Christmas one year, like he,just like I didn't get anything
because I didn't walk the line,right.
So when I was examining mybeliefs around money, it was
like too much money is out ofour league.
If you pay attention to it,it's weird, like to organize it.
And then money is a form ofcontrol.
(18:02):
And so those were the storiesthat, through your work and me
healing my money wounds, thatcame up right, and no fault to
them.
I was young, they said it.
It just imprints in our brainand then we just operate from
that story until we change thatstory.
And so what do you have to likewhen you work with people on
(18:23):
their stories.
Isn't that such a big thing oflike examining where you came
from and the stories you heardabout money, and then it's a
choice to rewrite it, you know.
Ken Honda (18:34):
Yes, yes, definitely.
Healing the money blueprint andalso transforming them is one
of my joy to support people withit, because what doesn't work
anymore you can let go and thenyou can rewrite the whole thing.
For one thing, like money isevil, money is bad, money could
(18:56):
ruin our relationships.
So that could be so true at onepoint for somebody, but is that
true for you?
And present time?
Like 2025 or 2026, if itdoesn't feel right, it could be
okay.
This is like windows.
You know, a friend of mineshowed me windows 95, you know,
(19:18):
it's like a collector's item,like whoa, yeah, you know.
So like if your windows is 95.
Okay, dad, thank you now, Ilove you, but I don't need this,
you know.
And then you know out of my,your head, out of your heart,
and also, mom, thank you, I knowI love, I love you and I know
(19:40):
you love, but this thing thatyou gave me is no longer needed
in my heart.
So thank you, but I'll let gotoday.
So I did a lot of crying.
You know both of my parents aregone, so I still have them in
my imagination.
Thank you dad, thank you mom,but I don't need this anymore
(20:00):
and instead I want to have a newbelief around money.
Money is easy.
A lot of people get paid by thepresent.
That means that you don't getmoney from your past.
That's why people have a hardtime paying, because if you are
(20:23):
the solo worker, you work foryourself and then if you get
paid by doing whatever you donext month or after sending the
invoice, after paying all thebills, not much money is left.
But happy, wealthy people haveset up their life.
So whatever you did in the pastyou did two years ago, five
(20:46):
years ago, 10 years ago arestill paying you.
It's like you have your brotheror sister who is sending you
money.
Let me just think about it.
Like this book is still givingme book royalties, and also this
one.
Like this one.
I sold about two million copies.
This is a paperback, so it'sstill bringing something like I
(21:10):
don't know $50,000 or more everyyear from one book, and I have
hundreds of books.
So Ken Honda, younger one,young, thinner, more handsome
one.
Lunden Souza (21:22):
You actually look really good, but have you lost
weight since the last time I sawyou?
I feel like you look good andyour face and you're vibrant.
So I see you.
Ken Honda, I watch your videos.
Ken Honda (21:31):
I watch your videos, vibrant, so I see you.
Ken Honda, I watch your videos,I watch your videos, you know.
Yeah, so you know, I havebrothers from my age 34, 44, and
54.
They are all working for me.
So I have all those younger Ken, working for me because they're
(21:54):
sending me money.
The work I did at age 34 isstill paying me like a full-time
job, and also the work I didwhen I was 44, that was also
another big seller and theonline courses I created last
year is still paying me.
So create a system with yourhappy energy that will keep
(22:15):
paying you in the future.
So it's almost like sendingsomebody for the future.
So the work I do now I'mwriting a few books right now.
So the book royalties I don'tget paid today, right?
So I'm going to get paid maybein a few months and then next
year.
Get paid today, right, so I'mgoing to get paid maybe in a few
(22:37):
months and then next year.
So if you can create income, ifyou can create energy that will
keep paying you for the futureuntil you die, or, like my
daughter, will have the right toreceive book royalties after 50
years, after I pass away, soyou can leave your money to your
kids or grandkids or yourfoundation that you're setting
up.
(22:58):
So just come up with a system soyou don't have to worry about
the day-to-day expenses.
So that is the goal, at leastthe minimum goal, I want all of
you to achieve.
You know, be financially freewhile you're alive.
Lunden Souza (23:15):
want all of you to achieve, you know, be
financially free while you'realive.
Yeah, and I'm hearing the youknow single parent or the family
that's just in survival,thinking how am I going to
create something in a systemwhen I can't even get things on
the table?
When I can't even get things onthe table, and what do you tell
that person?
(23:35):
I get it.
Have happy money, smile.
But what's like that.
Is that first step, what I justtalked about, which is like
having your paper and just beinggrateful for those little
incremental gains and gives.
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Ken Honda (25:48):
You know, first of all, you can change.
That's something you shouldknow.
And if I were you if you haveinternet access, I assume you do
because you're watching this soI will start researching happy
people with money study fromwhere you are.
(26:09):
So I have seen and I haveinterviewed and I have so many
single mom parents.
I have a special scholarshipfor people who have financial
difficulties.
They sign up for my courses forfree so they can pay us back or
they can pay it forward in thefuture.
So I give away usually 10% to20% of our seminar seats for
(26:36):
free and a lot of people comeback and I believe that you can
turn around your financialrelationship.
So it's not just your fault thatyou happen to fall into this
financial, financial uh, I wouldsay pit, and you can get out.
(26:56):
You've seen you should look forstories, uh, from where you are
.
You can get out of the pit.
First.
That means like, uh, make bothends meet.
That is like an emergency thingright, and after that find a
better job that will pay you,that will pay you more respect
financially, emotionally andthen you need to kind of get
(27:18):
things in order.
So I would say you need a fewyears to really kind of regroup
your life and then sort thingsout.
But a lot of people who arestruggling financially do stupid
things financially too, likespend all the money at the
dollar shop and buy things thatyou don't even use and they
(27:39):
break you know.
So I know I have seen peoplewho come up from the financial
pitfall and then climb out.
So climbing out is the hardestpart and before that just
thinking that I can come out isthe hardest part.
But now you know and now you,if you want to come out for my
(28:00):
kid, for kids, then you're askfor help and other things.
The reason why you got into thisfinancial mess is that you have
a hard time asking for help andI can say there are five, four,
(28:23):
six things that you did wrong.
That's why you're there.
You didn't ask for help, youdidn't know about money, you
didn't have a good job, youdidn't have a high self-image.
That's why you're kind of likegoing down in the hall.
But you can change it If youthink, if you get curious about
your life a year from now, twoyears from now, where I want to
(28:44):
be, and if you get curious about, okay, I want to be or I can be
in a different place, thenyou're out of the terrible place
.
Lunden Souza (28:56):
Yeah, yeah, and I you know you said it's not your
fault, but then once you know,and then you stay in the pit.
It kind of is you know and I.
Ken Honda (29:08):
It's your choice.
Choice, it's not your fault,but it's your choice.
Lunden Souza (29:12):
Yes, it comes from .
Yeah, it's not your fault andit is your choice, and so, just
to recap, what I heard you sayis like change is absolutely
possible.
So you have to get on boardwith the fact that you can
change, and I think change isscary for people, but it's why I
(29:36):
believe we're here is just tochange and evolve and grow and
learn and change and adjust, andI think someone who just stays
the same in their beliefs and intheir habits and in their
routines will.
I dated a guy a while backstill a close friend of mine but
he always would say Lunden ifyou want no.
What did he say?
No change if there's no changes.
That's what he would always sayno change if there's no changes
(29:58):
.
And so change is possible.
I like what you said, too,about researching people who
have been there and who haveclimbed out of this pit.
I started my career originallyin fitness and I remember
reading a lot of biographies onprofessional athletes and I got
really into golfers becausetheir routine is different and
(30:23):
then they're flying to differentplaces and then their their
sport is not aggressive.
It's like different, and so Ijust really got into the way
that they operate their day today and started getting really
into interviews with them and so, yeah, reading stories and
hearing from people who havedone it, and then also you said,
like ask for help.
And in the beginning you said,if you have like five people
(30:45):
around you that you love and youcare about, you're in heaven,
right, you're there.
And I think of a specificconversation of a close friend
of mine that we had where I justfelt like he spoke life into me
.
He was just like, hey, you'rethis close, you're capable.
I see this in you.
These are the next steps youneed to do.
(31:06):
What are your expenses, whatare the things?
And now go out and look forthat, right.
And it was so helpful to havethat because I was in that
survival mode.
And then there was somebodythere who cared about me, who
has very happy money, who wasable to help me get into that
flow, and a book that I readthat I really like.
And just the phrase is who, nothow.
(31:28):
And I think sometimes, when Iwas in that scarcity mindset, I
was like how am I going to makethis work?
How am I going to find themoney?
How, how, how.
But when I started opening upmy heart, like the most magical
people came into my life thatinvited me to do different
things or speak here or be apart of their company, and that
(31:52):
really shifted too.
It's like not how am I going todo this by myself, but who
might I need to reach out to?
Or, when I'm going out with thisopen heart of gratitude, who
might I meet that might be ableto teach me something or provide
an opportunity?
And I was texting with a friendof mine before this and she was
debating on going somewhere ornot, and she wasn't sure and I
(32:14):
was like, well, if you do, go,walk out the door expecting a
miracle, Like walk out the doorthat you're going to meet
somebody that's going to changeyour life.
Because if you don't want to goand you're like feeling stuck
and so that's just yeah.
My reflections from what youjust said is just yeah, change
is possible and people.
And then if we go out with thatrepeat in our head that money
(32:38):
is evil, that we don't haveenough, like I think sometimes
just going out of like who mightI meet that might be able to
support me or teach me something?
Ken Honda (32:50):
Yes, exactly.
So, you know, if you think thetime is now, you can start
changing.
You know, I think curiosity isthe first choice curiosity is
the first choice.
Yes.
You can get curious about yourdifferent you, for you and your
family.
Lunden Souza (33:11):
Yeah, yeah, I just I just recently got curious
about investing.
I didn't know anything about itand so I, like you said, got on
the internet and I got withchat, gpt and I was like I've
never invested before, I justwant to learn.
You know what?
It gave me different things.
I took like this little onlinecourse, got some of the basics
(33:31):
and it's just kind of like fun,like it's just playful and, like
you said, curious.
Um, and that choice to get outof that stuck survival repeat
can be very memorized, right,and like it's like a chemical
(33:52):
reaction on repeat that we don'teven choose yet and being able
to like get ahead of theprogramming, does that make
sense.
Ken Honda (34:04):
Yes, it does.
Yeah, so you know, we have tochange one way, or another
because we are gettinginfluenced by the big changes
happening in the world, so AI istaking over some jobs, creating
another job.
So, if you're in a field thatAI is taking over your job, you
(34:25):
have no company that you'reworking for, and so you may have
to find a different job, like aperson who was controlling the
horse carriages turning to adriver for cars chauffeurs so
you have to maybe shift your jobtoo.
(34:45):
Yeah, pivot us chauffeurs.
So, um, you have to maybe shiftyour job too.
Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, wehave to pivot our lives.
Lunden Souza (34:54):
So, um, like it or not, that's, uh, the world we
live in, because you brought itup and it just I was just
thinking of it like as an authorand a writer.
Like does is ai concerning foryou or are you just kind of like
, whatever, I'm going to do mything, like I guess I'm sure
people are writing books justoff of AI or whatever?
Is that a where do you?
(35:14):
What's your like thoughts onthat?
Ken Honda (35:17):
You know I always talk about this.
You know, the other day I didthe seminar for authors who want
to take advantage of AI.
We have hundreds of signups forthat course.
So what I taught is checkyourself Are you above AI or are
you under AI?
That means like if you arebetter than AI, then AI is going
(35:39):
to give you, like you knowAvengers suit, you know powerful
tools that you can work 100times over.
And if you're below AI, then AIis going to take over your job.
So say, even if you're makingthe same amount of money like,
say, $50,000 this year and yourfriend is making the same, you
(36:02):
could be making 10 times moretwo years from now.
You could be making 10% of whatyou used to make two years from
now.
So it's very tricky.
Even if you're in the sameprofession, like a designer, if
you can take advantage of AI,you don't need 10 assistants,
(36:28):
only chat, gpt or some AI.
You can work 10 times more, andif your work quality is not as
high, then you have no job.
So for me it's so fun because Iget to play with 10 most
(36:49):
incredibly talented editors.
Lunden Souza (36:52):
Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking of that because I
guess I would like to.
Yeah, I feel like I'm in whereI'm at, above right, I feel like
I can use it to just amplifyand get things done more
efficiently, but I also I don'twrite books, and so I was just,
yeah, thinking about that andyeah, it's really, really cool.
(37:15):
What do you?
I have a lot of parents thatlisten to the podcast and let's
say, you know, a parent camefrom unhappy money and has lived
their life in an unhappy moneyway, but they're choosing to
(37:35):
shift and change and then theywant to teach their kids this.
How do you?
I mean, you got it going on,Ken, You're the Zen millionaire,
right, it could be probablyvery easy for you to just like
dish it out to your kids and nothave them do anything.
I don't think that's how youlive, just because I and that's
my guess but like, how do youteach your children happy money?
(37:58):
How do you help them?
You know, build that from theground up for kids you know,
build that from the ground upfor kids.
Ken Honda (38:11):
So I think the most fun is to be creative on this
planet earth.
There are so many ways.
Do some work that doesn'tsatisfy you or fulfill you, or
do something that fulfills you.
Either you get paid or not.
So if you're financially free,either you get paid or not.
So if you're financially free,you can sing all day, you can
paint all day, you can creategames all day.
It's up to you.
(38:32):
So money is a tool that lets youdo whatever you want to do in
your life.
So the definition of abundancefor me is the ability to do what
you love when you love, withwhom you love, where you love
and at any time you want.
(38:52):
So you can choose singing, youcan choose cooking, you can
choose writing.
Like me, I don't need to getpaid anymore, but I do love
writing.
I do love speaking too.
Most of the time I do speakingfor free to help people, but
sometimes I get paid and thatwill be enough money to pay my
(39:16):
staff members and pay a lot ofexpenses here and there.
So as long as the moneycirculates, it's okay.
So money is not more than a tooland less than a tool.
If you don't use it, your lifecould be very miserable, because
you can decrease theinconveniences in your life.
(39:38):
With money, you can hiresomebody who will do something
for you so you can reallyconcentrate on what you want.
So money is a fun, happy friendwho can think with you, who can
let you do whatever you want.
But you don't need to sell yoursoul for that, because money is
(40:03):
just tool.
So money is just a tool, so youdon't have to pay more attention
than that.
But if you don't pay attentionto that, you have to work for
money.
So you have to be careful howyou play with the money.
So teach your kids that moneyis great and teach them there
(40:27):
are so many ways to get moneyand if you get money enough and
then you can enjoy life more.
So the ideal way is do what youlove and create money in the
process, so that way you don'tfeel like whatever you do is not
work anymore, it's just purejoy.
But that's only a luxury way ofliving on this planet.
(40:52):
Right now it's probably like a5% or maybe less living that way
.
Unfortunately, even though youhave tons of money, if you're
living in a flow of unhappymoney, unfortunately, you're
feeling a lot of stress, so justcheck yourself check your heart
.
(41:12):
Am I happy and am I reallyfulfilled?
It's nothing to do with howmuch money you have, how much
money you make.
It's about who you are.
And if the answer is yes, youare a lucky, happy person.
And if the answer is yes, youare a lucky, happy person.
And if the answer is no, whichpart is not really working?
Is that the hours you put into?
(41:32):
Is that the people you workwith?
Is that the content of yourwork?
And if you don't like any ofthem, change your job.
It might take like a couple ofmonths, a couple of years, but
just go closer toward what youlove so you will not be in
sacrifice.
So if you can teach your kidsthat life can be fun.
(41:54):
You know life is not forsuffering.
And then your kids will justjudge you by the way you live.
Your kids will just judge youby the way you live.
So if you're having a beautifullife, your kids will say mom,
dad, you know I want to.
Lunden Souza (42:12):
I want to grow up faster, so I want to be like you
, yeah, yeah, and I think of youknow stories I've heard where
you know, speakers I've heardspeak before where they're like
we were poor but I didn't knowbecause my mom was just so in
love with life.
And then there's probably kidswho are watching their parents,
who may be listening now.
So I always say I'm not callinganyone out, it's just calling
you in.
(42:32):
You pressed play on this tolisten, right, but if you're
frantic and everything is alwaysfrantic surrounding money, yeah
, your kids get to see that andwitness that and it is, you know
, a big, a big impression.
And I believe what you'rereferring to with the, what you
love, that's the concept ofIkigai, right Of of, I think
(42:53):
there's, is there two or threecomponents to it, of like doing
what can make you money and whatyou love with people that you,
or what's the.
Ken Honda (43:03):
Yeah, yeah, there there are eight uh uh categories
, but you know it's going totake another like 15 minutes, so
I can't really uh explain aboutthat.
Yeah actually I'm writing a book.
Follow your ikigai and happymoney will find you.
I'm going to release it onamazon on 8th of august, so just
google it.
Yeah, um, I'm gonna price itsomething.
(43:23):
It something like $3, soanybody can buy it.
So it's just a concept thatonce you learn something new,
that one idea will transformyour life.
So just keep learning.
There are so many greatknowledge in the YouTube space.
I think if you pay littlesomething you'll get more
(43:48):
knowledge.
But still, I think YouTubeworks.
If you don't have enough money,you don't need to go buy
expensive online courses, and ifyou can afford it, I would
recommend you do that.
But if you have a financialdifficulty, just make both ends
meet first and then get out ofthe stress, um of financial you
(44:12):
know crisis and after that, getyour uh, organize your life and
then go toward what you love,and then you are at the start
line and then start your life upto.
You can do everything and theneverything will be bringing
happy money.
(44:32):
So just take one step at a time.
Lunden Souza (44:37):
I call it YouTube University because I always am
learning things on YouTube.
And so, yeah, that concept ofikigai, of matching what you
love and what can bring youmoney, and, like you said, you
need to still get yourself tothat starting line of making
ends meet and having all yourbases covered, and then it might
take two months, it might taketwo years, but, yolo, you only
(44:59):
live once and how are you goingto find change if you don't step
into that change?
And, yeah, this is so, sohelpful and so magical, but how
are you going to find change ifyou don't step into that change?
Yeah, this is so helpful and somagical, and I know you also
left a free gift, so I'll putthat in the description that has
some eight steps to go through.
(45:21):
I know that your team sent itover to me, so I'll include that
in the show notes for those whowant free resources.
And then, like you said, you'regiving things constantly away
for free.
Youtube has so many resourcesand getting curious is going to
be our next step for thoselistening of just go out, get
Ken's book Happy Money, downloadhis free resource, get on
(45:42):
YouTube University and juststart getting curious about what
that next step might be.
Ken, I'm so grateful for yourtime.
Is there anything you want toshare before we close today?
Ken Honda (45:54):
Lunden.
I just want to congratulate youfor your beautiful success and
I really send my respect to youand happy mind energy so
everything you touch willprosper and all the viewers you
know.
Your life can be better andmore incredible.
So please get curious aboutyour next step.
(46:15):
You know I I'm just sending youso much love and happy mind
energy to all the people who arelistening and watching and then
enjoy life.
You know, know, things are alittle tricky out there, but you
can find happy feeling in yourheart and then the rest is easy.
Lunden Souza (46:34):
Thank you for your time, ken, thank you guys for
listening and we'll see you atthe next episode.
Ken Honda (46:40):
Yes, arigato.
Lunden Souza (46:42):
Arigato.
Ken Honda (46:42):
Arigato.
Lunden Souza (46:49):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
Self Love and Sweat, thepodcast.
If you enjoyed this episode orwere inspired by it or something
resonated with you, do me afavor and share this episode
with a friend, someone that youthink might enjoy this episode
as well.
That's the ultimate complimentand the best way to make this
(47:12):
podcast ripple out into theworld of others, and also you
can leave us a review up to fivestars wherever you're listening
to the podcast.
Thank you so much for listeningand we'll see you at the next
episode.
I appreciate you.
Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the
place where you'll get inspiredto live your life
unapologetically, embrace yourperfect imperfections and do
what sets your soul on fire.
I'm your host, Lunden Souza KenHonda.
(00:25):
It's so good to have you.
I'm so happy to have you here.
How are you?
Are you in Japan right now?
Ken Honda (00:30):
Yes, I am.
I'm on my way to your continent.
I'm going to Montreal andAmsterdam, stockholm and back
again.
So I'm going to East, east,east and eventually come back
home.
Lunden Souza (00:47):
Yeah, you're a busy guy.
Ken Honda (00:51):
Yes, I'm so happy.
So you are in the United States, right?
Lunden Souza (00:56):
Yep, I'm in Utah, and yeah, I was.
We were talking before wepressed record how I just I
thought I was coming here tohike, right, we have this idea
of what we think we're goingsomewhere to do, right, and then
you know, we get the message,we get the call that we're
supposed to be in a specificplace, and so it's been a couple
(01:18):
of years since I've been here.
But we were kind ofbacktracking before we pressed
record.
And I've had the honor ofmeeting you once and it was over
two years ago when we got tohave dinner when you were
recording your Naba course andall of that.
What's new in your life, what'sgoing on, what's exciting.
Ken Honda (01:34):
Yeah, so I just started my sort of like an
online publishing thing.
It's called Happy Libraries.
I'm releasing you know I havepublished more than 200 books
like these are some of the bookcovers and I so I'm releasing.
I condense them to a 15 minuteread, so it's about 30 pages.
(01:57):
So I'm releasing one book everyweek so I get to share what
I've learned over the years.
So the first book is the Magicof Arigato Money and the second
one is, well, find your Gift.
So like only 30 pages and it'son Amazon Kindle Unlimited, so
(02:22):
many people can read it for free.
So this is my another passionthat I found because I'm a
writer.
Lunden Souza (02:29):
It's just, I want to express myself through
writing, so I hope people canget the benefit out of reading
my stuff yeah, and it'sincredible, and I'm assuming
those listening have heard ofyou before, but if you haven't,
you know Ken, a bestsellingJapanese author.
You've sold almost 9 millioncopies of books.
(02:52):
Yes, yes, hold on oh my gosh,and yeah, happy money.
Happy money, which I've readand I want to dive right in
because I know this is going tobe a powerful episode for those
listening.
I know that from working withpeople, talking with people,
even in my own life.
(03:12):
Money is a thing and in somepeople's life it's happy and in
other people's life it issuffocating and holding them
back or limiting, and so I wantto start off with just what is
happy money and what's like the.
What is the reason?
What do you find is like thenumber one reason why people
don't have happy money?
Ken Honda (03:33):
if, if they don't you know, sadly, 95% of us are
living in the flow of unhappymoney.
Unhappy money gives you afeeling when you receive it
because we feel like it's notenough, and also when we pay
bills we also feel like a partof us gets ripped off from us.
So we feel so much frustrationand sometimes resentment because
(03:59):
we don't have a goodrelationship with money.
So if we did what we love to doto receive the money, then
we'll be smiling, no matter what.
But since most of us are doingthis to make money so I can
bring food on the table formyself and for my family, that
always comes with a feeling, andso I hope people can start
(04:25):
having more happy money, whichwill make you smile because
you're enjoying what you do andthen, as a result, you can be
smiling all the time.
Lunden Souza (04:36):
Yeah, and you have a great smile and a great yeah,
you exude happy money, right?
And I think a lot of peoplelistening when you said like, oh
, I just got to get the money toget the food on the table.
Or I was in a conversation theother day and I overheard
someone say like, oh yeah, well,I got to do that because I have
(04:57):
mouths to feed, right, and it'slike this money in this
survival right Of just trying tohave enough to have food and
live in that survival.
And I'm assuming and I want to,you know how do we get out of
that survival and get into happymoney?
Because it's really hard toreceive and give with that smile
(05:20):
and that abundance when in yourmind it's like I got to pay the
bills, I got to put a roof overmy family's head, I got to feed
.
You know these mouths and Idon't even know how I'm going to
do it.
So what's that first step fromgoing to, from unhappy money to
happy money?
Ken Honda (05:37):
Yeah, you're asking the very, very, very good and
essential question which I thinkwe should all ask ourselves.
You know, we feel sooverwhelmed by what's going on
in the world, including politicsand war, and also the financial
crisis everywhere.
(05:58):
That's why we are experiencingthe inflation of the living
expenses, like gas and food andbasic necessities.
So I read somewhere in NorthAmerica if you are making
average income, you cannot havean affordable, safe house, and
(06:21):
it's very sad because you know alot of, even though I think
United States or Japan, we areliving in the most abundant
country, but we are stillfeeling the crunch because the
system is not really set upright.
I don't want to blame who, butwe all admit that this is not
(06:41):
really working for everybody onthis planet, and so if you
crunched so I'm not I don't wantto blame you for just feeling
stress.
I mean, it's very natural.
At the same time, we can comeup with other ways to have a
different relationship withmoney.
So if you start looking at yourrelationship right now, is that
(07:07):
a happy, fulfilling one?
It's like your personalrelationship, your husband, your
wife or boyfriend or girlfriend.
Do you have a good relationship?
If you have good relationshipsin general, you're a happier
person.
So say just think of fivepeople who are close to you.
Are they very nice, generous,happy people?
If the answer is yes, welcometo heaven.
(07:30):
You're having a beautiful life.
Even though you may have somefinancial issues or health
issues here and there, you arehappy.
But if you don't have a goodrelationship, including money,
then your life could be astruggle.
So, first of all, take a lookat what's going on in your life
and then second step could bemake a decision.
(07:53):
No matter what, I'm going tohave a different relationship
from the one I have now, andthen something will start.
Lunden Souza (08:02):
Yeah yeah, examining your relationship with
money, I took your onlinecourse in Nava.
It was the first course I tookin the community, the Healing.
Ken Honda (08:11):
Your Money, thank you .
Lunden Souza (08:13):
And so I have.
So I wrapped around my debitcard.
The first exercise you had usdo was to write down how we want
to feel around money and thisis over.
I took this a year ago, so it'sover and I wrote down
overflowing, nurturing and atease.
And I remember you had said inthe exercise okay, like every
(08:37):
time you spend money, right,some people friends will tell me
like, oh, I don't even check myonline banking, I just tap the
debit card and I pray and I hopethat it goes through right, and
we laugh.
But I really think that's thereality of a lot of people's
lives.
Right Of just like tap and prayor run it as credit and it'll
go through later, right.
But I remember when we did thisexercise, I was getting gas and
(09:02):
I pumped the gas and then Ileaned up against my car and
while the gas was pumping, I wasjust opening up my heart to
gratitude and reading thesewords overflowing, nurturing and
at ease and it was just a verynew experience, right, of course
we get used to, you know I canspeak for myself feeling
(09:24):
gratitude when, like, a lot ofmoney comes in right, or being
grateful when I like savedenough money to go to a Dr Joe
Dispenza retreat, right and like.
But those little moments, right,the day-to-day transactions of
like getting gas or buying yourgroceries or whatever it might
be, that was a really powerfulstep for me.
(09:45):
To just like not be onautopilot and just swiping and
praying, but like taking thepause to be grateful to money,
right.
And I think of thatrelationship, like if we're not
appreciating our partner or ourfriend or we're not taking the
time to notice the littlemoments that they're showing up
(10:05):
for us, then we're not going tohave a good relationship.
And so I it was just funnybecause I was like, oh yeah, I
have to show Ken, you know, I Ilook at this all the time and it
started with those simplemoments of like getting gas or
buying something small and andyeah, I had enough for it, but
like being grateful that I hadenough for the 40 bucks to fill
(10:26):
up my gas tank or whatever itwas, you know.
And so that was really special.
Ken Honda (10:32):
Thank you, Lunden, for sharing the story you are so
fun to be with and also you'reshining, so you are the magnet
for happy money.
So a lot of people aredepressed with money, so they
feel so discouraged about doinganything.
That's why we have a hard timelooking at money issues.
(10:55):
It's almost like scaling justweighing yourself how much you
weigh If you have health issues.
You don't want to just do that.
We can't face the reality.
That could be the first step,but could be the hardest of all
the steps you're going to take.
Lunden Souza (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, acknowledging.
I know there's some people yeah, I don't want to step on the
scale who don't want to checkthe online banking, who don't
even want to go there with money, who aren't even ready to say
like you might be unhappy overtheir money.
But hi, let's get to know eachother Like it's more, just like
not going to talk about it andjust going to move forward, and
(11:33):
I know because, yeah, I've beenthere, yes, and and it's
interesting, you know, it's notjust.
Ken Honda (11:41):
You know, regular people, wealthy people, also
have issues a different kind.
You know, because the other dayI was chatting with a very
wealthy people and he wascomplaining about the gas.
You know, prices going up.
He's talking about his privatejet gas, you know, like ripping
off.
So, you know, take a commercialflight, you know, and he said
(12:04):
no, no, I don't want to do that.
So still, he's like I'm feelingthe crunch, you know, because
the gas, of course the gas for aprivate jet must be also going
high too.
So if you're making a milliondollars a year, people will
probably assume like, wow, Ihave no problem.
But if you have a milliondollars, you have like two
(12:25):
houses and a few boats and maybea helicopter or a private jet,
then, boom, at the end of everymonth all the money is gone.
So unless you have a goodrelationship to have control
over money and then control overyour greed, control over your
emotions, and then you cannot,until then you cannot find total
(12:46):
peace with you.
Lunden Souza (12:49):
Yeah, that is so.
Yeah, that was that hit Because, like you said, you can have no
money in the bank or justenough to make ends meet from,
let's say, a lower income levelall the way to multimillionaire,
and that person that doesn'thave a lot and the person that
has a lot can still have unhappymoney.
Ken Honda (13:13):
Yes yes.
You know.
On the other hand, I have afriend who is more like a hippie
.
He spends only $1,000, you know, us $1,000 a year.
He lives in a forest so hegrows his own food with his
family of three.
You know he has a small childso, but he needs to buy
something like bandages.
(13:34):
You know some little medicinehere and there, like aspirins,
and you know you need thosethings.
You need cash, but besides thatyou don't need much.
You know you don't need yourcell phone.
He has internet.
His neighbor gave an oldcomputer and a very old
(13:54):
connector so he can at leasthave internet access.
But they're so happy withplaying with pets and all the
other things they don't needPlayStations, they don't need
Netflix and all the dramas, andso that's one way of living.
(14:14):
But unless we find ways to getout of this capitalism one way
or another, we have to deal withmoney.
So as much as we don't want todeal with money, we have to.
That is the tragedy and also acomedy of our life.
So if you have to be in thissociety, you might as well just
(14:34):
take a look at the issue, and ifyou can turn your unhappy money
into happy money by doing whatyou love, then the percentage of
happy money in your wallet willincrease, and then your smile.
So you have to find what youlove to make other people smile,
and the more smile you get, themore money you get.
Lunden Souza (14:58):
So I'm a writer.
Ken Honda (14:59):
So just you know, if I write a book, if this doesn't
sell, I have no money, but Ihave a good track record of
making everybody happy.
I have published more than 200books.
That means that if people don'tlike my books, they are not
going to buy the next book,right?
So I couldn't have lasted 22years as a writer because people
(15:26):
kept buying.
That means that people aresatisfied and they're looking
for reading my next book.
So as long as you can makesomebody happy or provide
something that people feel worthpaying for, then you can
receive happy money.
Lunden Souza (15:42):
So focus on what you can share what you can give
without feeling like you'reworking.
Yeah, yeah, and that conceptI'm familiar with and I do want
to touch on that.
But one of the things that yousaid was like, well, you need to
like address the issue and alsogoing through your work.
I know a lot of the storiesthat we tell ourselves around
(16:06):
money are big and in yourteachings and in the course I
took, it was you know, what didyou hear about money?
Growing up, what were thestories in your family or your
community or where you grew upcommunity or where you grew up,
(16:29):
and I was thinking about that,right, and going through some of
the stories and what my parentssaid about money, and there
were three specific things thatcame to me.
And, granted, I have wonderfulparents who did a really great
job financially, and I remembermy dad a phrase he would say a
lot for people that were likehad more money or were doing
(16:50):
things that cost more money waslike, oh, they're out of our
league.
Those people are out of ourleague, right?
Love you dad.
The second one is I remember mymom telling a story about when
her and my dad went on theirhoneymoon and my dad had
envelopes with all the cashseparated for all the things
that he was going to do, right.
And my dad, my dad grew up witheight kids in the family, you
(17:16):
know not.
You know they were fine, butnot the way my mom grew up,
right.
So my mom told me that storyand she goes I thought that was
so weird, right.
So there's the imprint of like,organizing your money and
planning is weird, right.
And then one time I didsomething that was in alignment
with myself but not in alignmentwith my grandfather, who does
(17:39):
have a lot of money, and hedidn't give me any money on
Christmas one year, like he,just like I didn't get anything
because I didn't walk the line,right.
So when I was examining mybeliefs around money, it was
like too much money is out ofour league.
If you pay attention to it,it's weird, like to organize it.
And then money is a form ofcontrol.
(18:02):
And so those were the storiesthat, through your work and me
healing my money wounds, thatcame up right, and no fault to
them.
I was young, they said it.
It just imprints in our brainand then we just operate from
that story until we change thatstory.
And so what do you have to likewhen you work with people on
(18:23):
their stories.
Isn't that such a big thing oflike examining where you came
from and the stories you heardabout money, and then it's a
choice to rewrite it, you know.
Ken Honda (18:34):
Yes, yes, definitely.
Healing the money blueprint andalso transforming them is one
of my joy to support people withit, because what doesn't work
anymore you can let go and thenyou can rewrite the whole thing.
For one thing, like money isevil, money is bad, money could
(18:56):
ruin our relationships.
So that could be so true at onepoint for somebody, but is that
true for you?
And present time?
Like 2025 or 2026, if itdoesn't feel right, it could be
okay.
This is like windows.
You know, a friend of mineshowed me windows 95, you know,
(19:18):
it's like a collector's item,like whoa, yeah, you know.
So like if your windows is 95.
Okay, dad, thank you now, Ilove you, but I don't need this,
you know.
And then you know out of my,your head, out of your heart,
and also, mom, thank you, I knowI love, I love you and I know
(19:40):
you love, but this thing thatyou gave me is no longer needed
in my heart.
So thank you, but I'll let gotoday.
So I did a lot of crying.
You know both of my parents aregone, so I still have them in
my imagination.
Thank you dad, thank you mom,but I don't need this anymore
(20:00):
and instead I want to have a newbelief around money.
Money is easy.
A lot of people get paid by thepresent.
That means that you don't getmoney from your past.
That's why people have a hardtime paying, because if you are
(20:23):
the solo worker, you work foryourself and then if you get
paid by doing whatever you donext month or after sending the
invoice, after paying all thebills, not much money is left.
But happy, wealthy people haveset up their life.
So whatever you did in the pastyou did two years ago, five
(20:46):
years ago, 10 years ago arestill paying you.
It's like you have your brotheror sister who is sending you
money.
Let me just think about it.
Like this book is still givingme book royalties, and also this
one.
Like this one.
I sold about two million copies.
This is a paperback, so it'sstill bringing something like I
(21:10):
don't know $50,000 or more everyyear from one book, and I have
hundreds of books.
So Ken Honda, younger one,young, thinner, more handsome
one.
Lunden Souza (21:22):
You actually look really good, but have you lost
weight since the last time I sawyou?
I feel like you look good andyour face and you're vibrant.
So I see you.
Ken Honda, I watch your videos.
Ken Honda (21:31):
I watch your videos, vibrant, so I see you.
Ken Honda, I watch your videos,I watch your videos, you know.
Yeah, so you know, I havebrothers from my age 34, 44, and
54.
They are all working for me.
So I have all those younger Ken, working for me because they're
(21:54):
sending me money.
The work I did at age 34 isstill paying me like a full-time
job, and also the work I didwhen I was 44, that was also
another big seller and theonline courses I created last
year is still paying me.
So create a system with yourhappy energy that will keep
(22:15):
paying you in the future.
So it's almost like sendingsomebody for the future.
So the work I do now I'mwriting a few books right now.
So the book royalties I don'tget paid today, right?
So I'm going to get paid maybein a few months and then next
year.
Get paid today, right, so I'mgoing to get paid maybe in a few
(22:37):
months and then next year.
So if you can create income, ifyou can create energy that will
keep paying you for the futureuntil you die, or, like my
daughter, will have the right toreceive book royalties after 50
years, after I pass away, soyou can leave your money to your
kids or grandkids or yourfoundation that you're setting
up.
(22:58):
So just come up with a system soyou don't have to worry about
the day-to-day expenses.
So that is the goal, at leastthe minimum goal, I want all of
you to achieve.
You know, be financially freewhile you're alive.
Lunden Souza (23:15):
want all of you to achieve, you know, be
financially free while you'realive.
Yeah, and I'm hearing the youknow single parent or the family
that's just in survival,thinking how am I going to
create something in a systemwhen I can't even get things on
the table?
When I can't even get things onthe table, and what do you tell
that person?
(23:35):
I get it.
Have happy money, smile.
But what's like that.
Is that first step, what I justtalked about, which is like
having your paper and just beinggrateful for those little
incremental gains and gives.
Let's say hey really quick.
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Ken Honda (25:48):
You know, first of all, you can change.
That's something you shouldknow.
And if I were you if you haveinternet access, I assume you do
because you're watching this soI will start researching happy
people with money study fromwhere you are.
(26:09):
So I have seen and I haveinterviewed and I have so many
single mom parents.
I have a special scholarshipfor people who have financial
difficulties.
They sign up for my courses forfree so they can pay us back or
they can pay it forward in thefuture.
So I give away usually 10% to20% of our seminar seats for
(26:36):
free and a lot of people comeback and I believe that you can
turn around your financialrelationship.
So it's not just your fault thatyou happen to fall into this
financial, financial uh, I wouldsay pit, and you can get out.
(26:56):
You've seen you should look forstories, uh, from where you are
.
You can get out of the pit.
First.
That means like, uh, make bothends meet.
That is like an emergency thingright, and after that find a
better job that will pay you,that will pay you more respect
financially, emotionally andthen you need to kind of get
(27:18):
things in order.
So I would say you need a fewyears to really kind of regroup
your life and then sort thingsout.
But a lot of people who arestruggling financially do stupid
things financially too, likespend all the money at the
dollar shop and buy things thatyou don't even use and they
(27:39):
break you know.
So I know I have seen peoplewho come up from the financial
pitfall and then climb out.
So climbing out is the hardestpart and before that just
thinking that I can come out isthe hardest part.
But now you know and now you,if you want to come out for my
(28:00):
kid, for kids, then you're askfor help and other things.
The reason why you got into thisfinancial mess is that you have
a hard time asking for help andI can say there are five, four,
(28:23):
six things that you did wrong.
That's why you're there.
You didn't ask for help, youdidn't know about money, you
didn't have a good job, youdidn't have a high self-image.
That's why you're kind of likegoing down in the hall.
But you can change it If youthink, if you get curious about
your life a year from now, twoyears from now, where I want to
(28:44):
be, and if you get curious about, okay, I want to be or I can be
in a different place, thenyou're out of the terrible place
.
Lunden Souza (28:56):
Yeah, yeah, and I you know you said it's not your
fault, but then once you know,and then you stay in the pit.
It kind of is you know and I.
Ken Honda (29:08):
It's your choice.
Choice, it's not your fault,but it's your choice.
Lunden Souza (29:12):
Yes, it comes from .
Yeah, it's not your fault andit is your choice, and so, just
to recap, what I heard you sayis like change is absolutely
possible.
So you have to get on boardwith the fact that you can
change, and I think change isscary for people, but it's why I
(29:36):
believe we're here is just tochange and evolve and grow and
learn and change and adjust, andI think someone who just stays
the same in their beliefs and intheir habits and in their
routines will.
I dated a guy a while backstill a close friend of mine but
he always would say Lunden ifyou want no.
What did he say?
No change if there's no changes.
That's what he would always sayno change if there's no changes
(29:58):
.
And so change is possible.
I like what you said, too,about researching people who
have been there and who haveclimbed out of this pit.
I started my career originallyin fitness and I remember
reading a lot of biographies onprofessional athletes and I got
really into golfers becausetheir routine is different and
(30:23):
then they're flying to differentplaces and then their their
sport is not aggressive.
It's like different, and so Ijust really got into the way
that they operate their day today and started getting really
into interviews with them and so, yeah, reading stories and
hearing from people who havedone it, and then also you said,
like ask for help.
And in the beginning you said,if you have like five people
(30:45):
around you that you love and youcare about, you're in heaven,
right, you're there.
And I think of a specificconversation of a close friend
of mine that we had where I justfelt like he spoke life into me
.
He was just like, hey, you'rethis close, you're capable.
I see this in you.
These are the next steps youneed to do.
(31:06):
What are your expenses, whatare the things?
And now go out and look forthat, right.
And it was so helpful to havethat because I was in that
survival mode.
And then there was somebodythere who cared about me, who
has very happy money, who wasable to help me get into that
flow, and a book that I readthat I really like.
And just the phrase is who, nothow.
(31:28):
And I think sometimes, when Iwas in that scarcity mindset, I
was like how am I going to makethis work?
How am I going to find themoney?
How, how, how.
But when I started opening upmy heart, like the most magical
people came into my life thatinvited me to do different
things or speak here or be apart of their company, and that
(31:52):
really shifted too.
It's like not how am I going todo this by myself, but who
might I need to reach out to?
Or, when I'm going out with thisopen heart of gratitude, who
might I meet that might be ableto teach me something or provide
an opportunity?
And I was texting with a friendof mine before this and she was
debating on going somewhere ornot, and she wasn't sure and I
(32:14):
was like, well, if you do, go,walk out the door expecting a
miracle, Like walk out the doorthat you're going to meet
somebody that's going to changeyour life.
Because if you don't want to goand you're like feeling stuck
and so that's just yeah.
My reflections from what youjust said is just yeah, change
is possible and people.
And then if we go out with thatrepeat in our head that money
(32:38):
is evil, that we don't haveenough, like I think sometimes
just going out of like who mightI meet that might be able to
support me or teach me something?
Ken Honda (32:50):
Yes, exactly.
So, you know, if you think thetime is now, you can start
changing.
You know, I think curiosity isthe first choice curiosity is
the first choice.
Yes.
You can get curious about yourdifferent you, for you and your
family.
Lunden Souza (33:11):
Yeah, yeah, I just I just recently got curious
about investing.
I didn't know anything about itand so I, like you said, got on
the internet and I got withchat, gpt and I was like I've
never invested before, I justwant to learn.
You know what?
It gave me different things.
I took like this little onlinecourse, got some of the basics
(33:31):
and it's just kind of like fun,like it's just playful and, like
you said, curious.
Um, and that choice to get outof that stuck survival repeat
can be very memorized, right,and like it's like a chemical
(33:52):
reaction on repeat that we don'teven choose yet and being able
to like get ahead of theprogramming, does that make
sense.
Ken Honda (34:04):
Yes, it does.
Yeah, so you know, we have tochange one way, or another
because we are gettinginfluenced by the big changes
happening in the world, so AI istaking over some jobs, creating
another job.
So, if you're in a field thatAI is taking over your job, you
(34:25):
have no company that you'reworking for, and so you may have
to find a different job, like aperson who was controlling the
horse carriages turning to adriver for cars chauffeurs so
you have to maybe shift your jobtoo.
(34:45):
Yeah, pivot us chauffeurs.
So, um, you have to maybe shiftyour job too.
Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, wehave to pivot our lives.
Lunden Souza (34:54):
So, um, like it or not, that's, uh, the world we
live in, because you brought itup and it just I was just
thinking of it like as an authorand a writer.
Like does is ai concerning foryou or are you just kind of like
, whatever, I'm going to do mything, like I guess I'm sure
people are writing books justoff of AI or whatever?
Is that a where do you?
(35:14):
What's your like thoughts onthat?
Ken Honda (35:17):
You know I always talk about this.
You know, the other day I didthe seminar for authors who want
to take advantage of AI.
We have hundreds of signups forthat course.
So what I taught is checkyourself Are you above AI or are
you under AI?
That means like if you arebetter than AI, then AI is going
(35:39):
to give you, like you knowAvengers suit, you know powerful
tools that you can work 100times over.
And if you're below AI, then AIis going to take over your job.
So say, even if you're makingthe same amount of money like,
say, $50,000 this year and yourfriend is making the same, you
(36:02):
could be making 10 times moretwo years from now.
You could be making 10% of whatyou used to make two years from
now.
So it's very tricky.
Even if you're in the sameprofession, like a designer, if
you can take advantage of AI,you don't need 10 assistants,
(36:28):
only chat, gpt or some AI.
You can work 10 times more, andif your work quality is not as
high, then you have no job.
So for me it's so fun because Iget to play with 10 most
(36:49):
incredibly talented editors.
Lunden Souza (36:52):
Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking of that because I
guess I would like to.
Yeah, I feel like I'm in whereI'm at, above right, I feel like
I can use it to just amplifyand get things done more
efficiently, but I also I don'twrite books, and so I was just,
yeah, thinking about that andyeah, it's really, really cool.
(37:15):
What do you?
I have a lot of parents thatlisten to the podcast and let's
say, you know, a parent camefrom unhappy money and has lived
their life in an unhappy moneyway, but they're choosing to
(37:35):
shift and change and then theywant to teach their kids this.
How do you?
I mean, you got it going on,Ken, You're the Zen millionaire,
right, it could be probablyvery easy for you to just like
dish it out to your kids and nothave them do anything.
I don't think that's how youlive, just because I and that's
my guess but like, how do youteach your children happy money?
(37:58):
How do you help them?
You know, build that from theground up for kids you know,
build that from the ground upfor kids.
Ken Honda (38:11):
So I think the most fun is to be creative on this
planet earth.
There are so many ways.
Do some work that doesn'tsatisfy you or fulfill you, or
do something that fulfills you.
Either you get paid or not.
So if you're financially free,either you get paid or not.
So if you're financially free,you can sing all day, you can
paint all day, you can creategames all day.
It's up to you.
(38:32):
So money is a tool that lets youdo whatever you want to do in
your life.
So the definition of abundancefor me is the ability to do what
you love when you love, withwhom you love, where you love
and at any time you want.
(38:52):
So you can choose singing, youcan choose cooking, you can
choose writing.
Like me, I don't need to getpaid anymore, but I do love
writing.
I do love speaking too.
Most of the time I do speakingfor free to help people, but
sometimes I get paid and thatwill be enough money to pay my
(39:16):
staff members and pay a lot ofexpenses here and there.
So as long as the moneycirculates, it's okay.
So money is not more than a tooland less than a tool.
If you don't use it, your lifecould be very miserable, because
you can decrease theinconveniences in your life.
(39:38):
With money, you can hiresomebody who will do something
for you so you can reallyconcentrate on what you want.
So money is a fun, happy friendwho can think with you, who can
let you do whatever you want.
But you don't need to sell yoursoul for that, because money is
(40:03):
just tool.
So money is just a tool, so youdon't have to pay more attention
than that.
But if you don't pay attentionto that, you have to work for
money.
So you have to be careful howyou play with the money.
So teach your kids that moneyis great and teach them there
(40:27):
are so many ways to get moneyand if you get money enough and
then you can enjoy life more.
So the ideal way is do what youlove and create money in the
process, so that way you don'tfeel like whatever you do is not
work anymore, it's just purejoy.
But that's only a luxury way ofliving on this planet.
(40:52):
Right now it's probably like a5% or maybe less living that way
.
Unfortunately, even though youhave tons of money, if you're
living in a flow of unhappymoney, unfortunately, you're
feeling a lot of stress, so justcheck yourself check your heart
.
(41:12):
Am I happy and am I reallyfulfilled?
It's nothing to do with howmuch money you have, how much
money you make.
It's about who you are.
And if the answer is yes, youare a lucky, happy person.
And if the answer is yes, youare a lucky, happy person.
And if the answer is no, whichpart is not really working?
Is that the hours you put into?
(41:32):
Is that the people you workwith?
Is that the content of yourwork?
And if you don't like any ofthem, change your job.
It might take like a couple ofmonths, a couple of years, but
just go closer toward what youlove so you will not be in
sacrifice.
So if you can teach your kidsthat life can be fun.
(41:54):
You know life is not forsuffering.
And then your kids will justjudge you by the way you live.
Your kids will just judge youby the way you live.
So if you're having a beautifullife, your kids will say mom,
dad, you know I want to.
Lunden Souza (42:12):
I want to grow up faster, so I want to be like you
, yeah, yeah, and I think of youknow stories I've heard where
you know, speakers I've heardspeak before where they're like
we were poor but I didn't knowbecause my mom was just so in
love with life.
And then there's probably kidswho are watching their parents,
who may be listening now.
So I always say I'm not callinganyone out, it's just calling
you in.
(42:32):
You pressed play on this tolisten, right, but if you're
frantic and everything is alwaysfrantic surrounding money, yeah
, your kids get to see that andwitness that and it is, you know
, a big, a big impression.
And I believe what you'rereferring to with the, what you
love, that's the concept ofIkigai, right Of of, I think
(42:53):
there's, is there two or threecomponents to it, of like doing
what can make you money and whatyou love with people that you,
or what's the.
Ken Honda (43:03):
Yeah, yeah, there there are eight uh uh categories
, but you know it's going totake another like 15 minutes, so
I can't really uh explain aboutthat.
Yeah actually I'm writing a book.
Follow your ikigai and happymoney will find you.
I'm going to release it onamazon on 8th of august, so just
google it.
Yeah, um, I'm gonna price itsomething.
(43:23):
It something like $3, soanybody can buy it.
So it's just a concept thatonce you learn something new,
that one idea will transformyour life.
So just keep learning.
There are so many greatknowledge in the YouTube space.
I think if you pay littlesomething you'll get more
(43:48):
knowledge.
But still, I think YouTubeworks.
If you don't have enough money,you don't need to go buy
expensive online courses, and ifyou can afford it, I would
recommend you do that.
But if you have a financialdifficulty, just make both ends
meet first and then get out ofthe stress, um of financial you
(44:12):
know crisis and after that, getyour uh, organize your life and
then go toward what you love,and then you are at the start
line and then start your life upto.
You can do everything and theneverything will be bringing
happy money.
(44:32):
So just take one step at a time.
Lunden Souza (44:37):
I call it YouTube University because I always am
learning things on YouTube.
And so, yeah, that concept ofikigai, of matching what you
love and what can bring youmoney, and, like you said, you
need to still get yourself tothat starting line of making
ends meet and having all yourbases covered, and then it might
take two months, it might taketwo years, but, yolo, you only
(44:59):
live once and how are you goingto find change if you don't step
into that change?
And, yeah, this is so, sohelpful and so magical, but how
are you going to find change ifyou don't step into that change?
Yeah, this is so helpful and somagical, and I know you also
left a free gift, so I'll putthat in the description that has
some eight steps to go through.
(45:21):
I know that your team sent itover to me, so I'll include that
in the show notes for those whowant free resources.
And then, like you said, you'regiving things constantly away
for free.
Youtube has so many resourcesand getting curious is going to
be our next step for thoselistening of just go out, get
Ken's book Happy Money, downloadhis free resource, get on
(45:42):
YouTube University and juststart getting curious about what
that next step might be.
Ken, I'm so grateful for yourtime.
Is there anything you want toshare before we close today?
Ken Honda (45:54):
Lunden.
I just want to congratulate youfor your beautiful success and
I really send my respect to youand happy mind energy so
everything you touch willprosper and all the viewers you
know.
Your life can be better andmore incredible.
So please get curious aboutyour next step.
(46:15):
You know I I'm just sending youso much love and happy mind
energy to all the people who arelistening and watching and then
enjoy life.
You know, know, things are alittle tricky out there, but you
can find happy feeling in yourheart and then the rest is easy.
Lunden Souza (46:34):
Thank you for your time, ken, thank you guys for
listening and we'll see you atthe next episode.
Ken Honda (46:40):
Yes, arigato.
Lunden Souza (46:42):
Arigato.
Ken Honda (46:42):
Arigato.
Lunden Souza (46:49):
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
Self Love and Sweat, thepodcast.
If you enjoyed this episode orwere inspired by it or something
resonated with you, do me afavor and share this episode
with a friend, someone that youthink might enjoy this episode
as well.
That's the ultimate complimentand the best way to make this
(47:12):
podcast ripple out into theworld of others, and also you
can leave us a review up to fivestars wherever you're listening
to the podcast.
Thank you so much for listeningand we'll see you at the next
episode.
I appreciate you.
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