Happy Money with Ken Honda: How to Transform Your Relationship with Money

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.

You'll discover:

• How Ken defines “Happy Money” as money infused with joy, gratitude, and positive intention—versus unhappy money, which is tied to stress, guilt, or fear.
• Money as energy—how our emotions and attitude shape the flow of abundance or anxiety in our lives.
• Scarcity vs. abundance mindset—why less often brings more peace, especially when we learn to say “I’m next” instead of feeling envy.
• Money EQ over IQ—why emotional intelligence with money matters more than financial knowledge alone.
• Practical rituals to foster a healthier money flow: daily gratitude during transactions, forgiving past financial scars, spending aligned with values, and being generous.

If you’re ready to shift your money energy and find peace in how you earn, spend, and receive—this episode is your starting point.

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 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
34:09 – Getting Curious About Financial Change
43:12 – Raising Kids With a Healthy Money Mindset

Chapters

• 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
• 23:51 Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
• 28:38 Creating Passive Income Systems That Work
• 34:09 Getting Curious About Financial Change
• 43:12 Raising Kids With a Healthy Money Mindset

Transcript

Lunden Souza: 0:00

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza Ken Honda. 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: 0:30

Yes, I am. I'm on my way to your continent. I'm going to Montreal and Amsterdam, stockholm and back again. So I'm going to East, east, east and eventually come back home.

Lunden Souza: 0:47

Yeah, you're a busy guy.

Ken Honda: 0:51

Yes, I'm so happy. So you are in the United States, right?

Lunden Souza: 0:56

Yep, I'm in Utah, and yeah, I was. We were talking before we pressed record how I just I thought I was coming here to hike, right, we have this idea of what we think we're going somewhere to do, right, and then you know, we get the message, we get the call that we're supposed to be in a specific place, and so it's been a couple of years since I've been here. But we were kind of backtracking before we pressed record. And I've had the honor of meeting you once and it was over two years ago when we got to have dinner when you were recording your Naba course and all of that. What's new in your life, what's going on, what's exciting.

Ken Honda: 1:34

Yeah, so I just started my sort of like an online publishing thing. It's called Happy Libraries. I'm releasing you know I have published more than 200 books like these are some of the book covers and I so I'm releasing. I condense them to a 15 minute read, so it's about 30 pages. So I'm releasing one book every week so I get to share what I've learned over the years. So the first book is the Magic of Arigato Money and the second one is, well, find your Gift. So like only 30 pages and it's on Amazon Kindle Unlimited, so many people can read it for free. So this is my another passion that I found because I'm a writer.

Lunden Souza: 2:29

It's just, I want to express myself through writing, so I hope people can get the benefit out of reading my stuff yeah, and it's incredible, and I'm assuming those listening have heard of you before, but if you haven't, you know Ken, a bestselling Japanese author. You've sold almost 9 million copies of books.

Lunden Souza: 2:52

Yes, yes, hold on oh my gosh, and yeah, happy money. Happy money, which I've read and I want to dive right in because I know this is going to be a powerful episode for those listening. I know that from working with people, talking with people, even in my own life. Money is a thing and in some people's life it's happy and in other people's life it is suffocating and holding them back or limiting, and so I want to start off with just what is happy money and what's like the. What is the reason? What do you find is like the number one reason why people don't have happy money?

Ken Honda: 3:33

if, if they don't you know, sadly, 95% of us are living in the flow of unhappy money. Unhappy money gives you a feeling when you receive it because we feel like it's not enough, and also when we pay bills we also feel like a part of us gets ripped off from us. So we feel so much frustration and sometimes resentment because we don't have a good relationship with money. So if we did what we love to do to receive the money, then we'll be smiling, no matter what. But since most of us are doing this to make money so I can bring food on the table for myself and for my family, that always comes with a feeling, and so I hope people can start having more happy money, which will make you smile because you're enjoying what you do and then, as a result, you can be smiling all the time.

Lunden Souza: 4:36

Yeah, and you have a great smile and a great yeah, you exude happy money, right? And I think a lot of people listening when you said like, oh, I just got to get the money to get the food on the table. Or I was in a conversation the other day and I overheard someone say like, oh yeah, well, I got to do that because I have mouths to feed, right, and it's like this money in this survival right Of just trying to have 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 happy money? Because it's really hard to receive and give with that smile and that abundance when in your mind it's like I got to pay the bills, I got to put a roof over my family's head, I got to feed. You know these mouths and I don't even know how I'm going to do it. So what's that first step from going to, from unhappy money to happy money?

Ken Honda: 5:37

Yeah, you're asking the very, very, very good and essential question which I think we should all ask ourselves. You know, we feel so overwhelmed by what's going on in the world, including politics and war, and also the financial crisis everywhere. That's why we are experiencing the inflation of the living expenses, like gas and food and basic necessities. So I read somewhere in North America if you are making average income, you cannot have an affordable, safe house, and it's very sad because you know a lot of, even though I think United States or Japan, we are living in the most abundant country, but we are still feeling the crunch because the system is not really set up right. I don't want to blame who, but we all admit that this is not really working for everybody on this planet, and so if you crunched so I'm not I don't want to blame you for just feeling stress. I mean, it's very natural. At the same time, we can come up with other ways to have a different relationship with money. So if you start looking at your relationship right now, is that a happy, fulfilling one? It's like your personal relationship, your husband, your wife or boyfriend or girlfriend.

Ken Honda: 7:12

Do you have a good relationship? If you have good relationships in general, you're a happier person. So say just think of five people who are close to you. Are they very nice, generous, happy people? If the answer is yes, welcome to heaven. You're having a beautiful life. Even though you may have some financial issues or health issues here and there, you are happy. But if you don't have a good relationship, including money, then your life could be a struggle. So, first of all, take a look at what's going on in your life and then second step could be make a decision. No matter what, I'm going to have a different relationship from the one I have now, and then something will start.

Lunden Souza: 8:02

Yeah yeah, examining your relationship with money, I took your online course in Nava. It was the first course I took in the community, the Healing.

Ken Honda: 8:11

Your Money, thank you.

Lunden Souza: 8:13

And so I have. So I wrapped around my debit card. The first exercise you had us do was to write down how we want to feel around money and this is over. I took this a year ago, so it's over and I wrote down overflowing, nurturing and at ease. And I remember you had said in the exercise okay, like every time you spend money, right, some people friends will tell me like, oh, I don't even check my online banking, I just tap the debit card and I pray and I hope that it goes through right, and we laugh. But I really think that's the reality of a lot of people's lives. Right Of just like tap and pray or run it as credit and it'll go through later, right.

Lunden Souza: 8:57

But I remember when we did this exercise, I was getting gas and I pumped the gas and then I leaned up against my car and while the gas was pumping, I was just opening up my heart to gratitude and reading these words overflowing, nurturing and at ease and it was just a very new experience, right, of course we get used to, you know I can speak for myself feeling gratitude when, like, a lot of money comes in right, or being grateful when I like saved enough money to go to a Dr Joe Dispenza retreat, right and like.

Lunden Souza: 9:33

But those little moments, right, the day-to-day transactions of like getting gas or buying your groceries or whatever it might be, that was a really powerful step for me. To just like not be on autopilot and just swiping and praying, but like taking the pause to be grateful to money, right. And I think of that relationship, like if we're not appreciating our partner or our friend or we're not taking the time to notice the little moments that they're showing up for us, then we're not going to have a good relationship. And so I it was just funny because I was like, oh yeah, I have to show Ken, you know, I I look at this all the time and it started with those simple moments of like getting gas or buying something small and and yeah, I had enough for it, but like being grateful that I had enough for the 40 bucks to fill up my gas tank or whatever it was, 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're shining, so you are the magnet for happy money. So a lot of people are depressed with money, so they feel so discouraged about doing anything. That's why we have a hard time looking at money issues. It's almost like scaling just weighing 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 check the online banking, who don't even want to go there with money, who aren't even ready to say like you might be unhappy over their money. But hi, let's get to know each other Like it's more, just like not going to talk about it and just going to move forward, and I know because, yeah, I've been there, yes, and and it's interesting, you know, it's not just.

Ken Honda: 11:41

You know, regular people, wealthy people, also have issues a different kind. You know, because the other day I was chatting with a very wealthy people and he was complaining about the gas. You know, prices going up. He's talking about his private jet gas, you know, like ripping off. So, you know, take a commercial flight, you know, and he said no, no, I don't want to do that. So still, he's like I'm feeling the crunch, you know, because the gas, of course the gas for a private jet must be also going high too. So if you're making a million dollars a year, people will probably assume like, wow, I have no problem. But if you have a million dollars, you have like two houses and a few boats and maybe a helicopter or a private jet, then, boom, at the end of every month all the money is gone. So unless you have a good relationship to have control over money and then control over your greed, control over your emotions, and then you cannot, until then you cannot find total 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 just enough to make ends meet from, let's say, a lower income level all the way to multimillionaire, and that person that doesn't have a lot and the person that has a lot can still have unhappy money.

Ken Honda: 13:13

Yes yes.

Ken Honda: 13:14

You know. On the other hand, I have a friend who is more like a hippie. He spends only $1,000, you know, us $1,000 a year. He lives in a forest so he grows his own food with his family of three. You know he has a small child so, but he needs to buy something like bandages. You know some little medicine here and there, like aspirins, and you know you need those things. You need cash, but besides that you don't need much. You know you don't need your cell phone. He has internet. His neighbor gave an old computer and a very old connector so he can at least have internet access. But they're so happy with playing with pets and all the other things they don't need PlayStations, they don't need Netflix and all the dramas, and so that's one way of living.

Ken Honda: 14:14

But unless we find ways to get out of this capitalism one way or another, we have to deal with money. So as much as we don't want to deal with money, we have to. That is the tragedy and also a comedy of our life. So if you have to be in this society, you might as well just take a look at the issue, and if you can turn your unhappy money into happy money by doing what you love, then the percentage of happy money in your wallet will increase, and then your smile. So you have to find what you love to make other people smile, and the more smile you get, the more 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 I have a good track record of making everybody happy. I have published more than 200 books. That means that if people don't like my books, they are not going to buy the next book, right? So I couldn't have lasted 22 years as a writer because people kept buying. That means that people are satisfied and they're looking for reading my next book. So as long as you can make somebody happy or provide something that people feel worth paying 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're working. Yeah, yeah, and that concept I'm familiar with and I do want to touch on that. But one of the things that you said was like, well, you need to like address the issue and also going through your work. I know a lot of the stories that we tell ourselves around money are big and in your teachings and in the course I took, it was you know, what did you hear about money? Growing up, what were the stories in your family or your community or where you grew up community or where you grew up, and I was thinking about that, right, and going through some of the stories and what my parents said about money, and there were three specific things that came to me.

Lunden Souza: 16:35

And, granted, I have wonderful parents who did a really great job financially, and I remember my dad a phrase he would say a lot for people that were like had more money or were doing things that cost more money was like, oh, they're out of our league. Those people are out of our league, right? Love you dad. The second one is I remember my mom telling a story about when her and my dad went on their honeymoon and my dad had envelopes with all the cash separated for all the things that he was going to do, right. And my dad, my dad grew up with eight kids in the family, you know not. You know they were fine, but not the way my mom grew up, right. So my mom told me that story and she goes I thought that was so weird, right.

Lunden Souza: 17:26

So there's the imprint of like, organizing your money and planning is weird, right. And then one time I did something that was in alignment with myself but not in alignment with my grandfather, who does have a lot of money, and he didn'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 my beliefs around money, it was like too much money is out of our league. If you pay attention to it, it's weird, like to organize it. And then money is a form of control.

Lunden Souza: 18:02

And so those were the stories that, through your work and me healing my money wounds, that came up right, and no fault to them. I was young, they said it. It just imprints in our brain and then we just operate from that story until we change that story. And so what do you have to like when you work with people on their stories. Isn't that such a big thing of like examining where you came from and the stories you heard about money, and then it's a choice to rewrite it, you know.

Ken Honda: 18:34

Yes, yes, definitely. Healing the money blueprint and also transforming them is one of my joy to support people with it, because what doesn't work anymore you can let go and then you can rewrite the whole thing. For one thing, like money is evil, money is bad, money could ruin our relationships. So that could be so true at one point for somebody, but is that true for you? And present time? Like 2025 or 2026, if it doesn't feel right, it could be okay.

Ken Honda: 19:13

This is like windows. You know, a friend of mine showed me windows 95, you know, it's like a collector's item, like whoa, yeah, you know. So like if your windows is 95. Okay, dad, thank you now, I love 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 know I love, I love you and I know you love, but this thing that you gave me is no longer needed in my heart. So thank you, but I'll let go today. So I did a lot of crying. You know both of my parents are gone, so I still have them in my imagination. Thank you dad, thank you mom, but I don't need this anymore and instead I want to have a new belief around money.

Ken Honda: 20:06

Money is easy. A lot of people get paid by the present. That means that you don't get money from your past. That's why people have a hard time paying, because if you are the solo worker, you work for yourself and then if you get paid by doing whatever you do next month or after sending the invoice, after paying all the bills, not much money is left. But happy, wealthy people have set up their life. So whatever you did in the past you did two years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago are still paying you. It's like you have your brother or sister who is sending you money. Let me just think about it. Like this book is still giving me book royalties, and also this one. Like this one. I sold about two million copies. This is a paperback, so it's still bringing something like I don't know $50,000 or more every year 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 saw you? I feel like you look good and your 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 have brothers 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 sending me money.

Ken Honda: 22:00

The work I did at age 34 is still paying me like a full-time job, and also the work I did when I was 44, that was also another big seller and the online courses I created last year is still paying me. So create a system with your happy energy that will keep paying you in the future. So it's almost like sending somebody for the future. So the work I do now I'm writing a few books right now. So the book royalties I don't get paid today, right? So I'm going to get paid maybe in a few months and then next year. Get paid today, right, so I'm going to get paid maybe in a few months and then next year. So if you can create income, if you can create energy that will keep paying you for the future until you die, or, like my daughter, will have the right to receive book royalties after 50 years, after I pass away, so you can leave your money to your kids or grandkids or your foundation that you're setting up.

Ken Honda: 22:58

So just come up with a system so you don't have to worry about the day-to-day expenses. So that is the goal, at least the minimum goal, I want all of you to achieve. You know, be financially free while you're alive.

Lunden Souza: 23:15

want all of you to achieve, you know, be financially free while you're alive. Yeah, and I'm hearing the you know single parent or the family that's just in survival, thinking how am I going to create something in a system when I can't even get things on the table? When I can't even get things on the table, and what do you tell that person? I get it. Have happy money, smile. But what's like that. Is that first step, what I just talked about, which is like having your paper and just being grateful for those little incremental gains and gives. Let's say hey really quick.

Lunden Souza: 23:52

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Lunden Souza: 24:53

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Ken Honda: 25:48

You know, first of all, you can change. That's something you should know. And if I were you if you have internet access, I assume you do because you're watching this so I will start researching happy people with money study from where you are. So I have seen and I have interviewed and I have so many single mom parents. I have a special scholarship for people who have financial difficulties. They sign up for my courses for free so they can pay us back or they can pay it forward in the future. So I give away usually 10% to 20% of our seminar seats for free and a lot of people come back and I believe that you can turn around your financial relationship.

Ken Honda: 26:48

So it's not just your fault that you happen to fall into this financial, financial uh, I would say pit, and you can get out. You've seen you should look for stories, uh, from where you are. You can get out of the pit. First. That means like, uh, make both ends meet. That is like an emergency thing right, and after that find a better job that will pay you, that will pay you more respect financially, emotionally and then you need to kind of get things in order. So I would say you need a few years to really kind of regroup your life and then sort things out.

Ken Honda: 27:28

But a lot of people who are struggling financially do stupid things financially too, like spend all the money at the dollar shop and buy things that you don't even use and they break you know. So I know I have seen people who come up from the financial pitfall and then climb out. So climbing out is the hardest part and before that just thinking that I can come out is the hardest part. But now you know and now you, if you want to come out for my kid, for kids, then you're ask for help and other things.

Ken Honda: 28:14

The reason why you got into this financial mess is that you have a hard time asking for help and I can say there are five, four, six things that you did wrong. That's why you're there. You didn't ask for help, you didn't know about money, you didn't have a good job, you didn't have a high self-image. That's why you're kind of like going down in the hall. But you can change it If you think, if you get curious about your life a year from now, two years from now, where I want to be, and if you get curious about, okay, I want to be or I can be in a different place, then you'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 and it is your choice, and so, just to recap, what I heard you say is like change is absolutely possible. So you have to get on board with the fact that you can change, and I think change is scary for people, but it's why I believe we're here is just to change and evolve and grow and learn and change and adjust, and I think someone who just stays the same in their beliefs and in their habits and in their routines will. I dated a guy a while back still a close friend of mine but he always would say Lunden if you want no. What did he say? No change if there's no changes. That's what he would always say no change if there's no changes. And so change is possible. I like what you said, too, about researching people who have been there and who have climbed out of this pit.

Lunden Souza: 30:10

I started my career originally in fitness and I remember reading a lot of biographies on professional athletes and I got really into golfers because their routine is different and then they're flying to different places and then their their sport is not aggressive. It's like different, and so I just really got into the way that they operate their day to day and started getting really into interviews with them and so, yeah, reading stories and hearing from people who have done it, and then also you said, like ask for help. And in the beginning you said, if you have like five people around you that you love and you care about, you're in heaven, right, you're there. And I think of a specific conversation of a close friend of mine that we had where I just felt like he spoke life into me. He was just like, hey, you're this close, you're capable. I see this in you. These are the next steps you need to do. What are your expenses, what are the things? And now go out and look for that, right. And it was so helpful to have that because I was in that survival mode. And then there was somebody there who cared about me, who has very happy money, who was able to help me get into that flow, and a book that I read that I really like. And just the phrase is who, not how.

Lunden Souza: 31:28

And I think sometimes, when I was in that scarcity mindset, I was like how am I going to make this work? How am I going to find the money? How, how, how. But when I started opening up my heart, like the most magical people came into my life that invited me to do different things or speak here or be a part of their company, and that really shifted too. It's like not how am I going to do this by myself, but who might I need to reach out to?

Lunden Souza: 31:58

Or, when I'm going out with this open heart of gratitude, who might I meet that might be able to teach me something or provide an opportunity? And I was texting with a friend of mine before this and she was debating on going somewhere or not, and she wasn't sure and I was like, well, if you do, go, walk out the door expecting a miracle, Like walk out the door that you're going to meet somebody that's going to change your life. Because if you don't want to go and you're like feeling stuck and so that's just yeah. My reflections from what you just said is just yeah, change is possible and people. And then if we go out with that repeat in our head that money is evil, that we don't have enough, like I think sometimes just going out of like who might I meet that might be able to support me or teach me something?

Ken Honda: 32:50

Yes, exactly. So, you know, if you think the time is now, you can start changing. You know, I think curiosity is the first choice curiosity is the first choice. Yes. You can get curious about your different 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 it and so I, like you said, got on the internet and I got with chat, gpt and I was like I've never invested before, I just want to learn. You know what? It gave me different things. I took like this little online course, got some of the basics and it's just kind of like fun, like it's just playful and, like you said, curious. Um, and that choice to get out of that stuck survival repeat can be very memorized, right, and like it's like a chemical reaction on repeat that we don't even choose yet and being able to like get ahead of the programming, does that make sense.

Ken Honda: 34:04

Yes, it does.

Ken Honda: 34:09

Yeah, so you know, we have to change one way, or another because we are getting influenced by the big changes happening in the world, so AI is taking over some jobs, creating another job. So, if you're in a field that AI is taking over your job, you have no company that you're working for, and so you may have to find a different job, like a person who was controlling the horse carriages turning to a driver for cars chauffeurs so you have to maybe shift your job too. Yeah, pivot us chauffeurs. So, um, you have to maybe shift your job too. Yeah, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, we have 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 it up and it just I was just thinking of it like as an author and a writer. Like does is ai concerning for you or are you just kind of like, whatever, I'm going to do my thing, like I guess I'm sure people are writing books just off of AI or whatever? Is that a where do you? What's your like thoughts on that?

Ken Honda: 35:17

You know I always talk about this. You know, the other day I did the seminar for authors who want to take advantage of AI. We have hundreds of signups for that course. So what I taught is check yourself Are you above AI or are you under AI? That means like if you are better than AI, then AI is going to give you, like you know Avengers suit, you know powerful tools that you can work 100 times over. And if you're below AI, then AI is going to take over your job.

Ken Honda: 35:53

So say, even if you're making the same amount of money like, say, $50,000 this year and your friend is making the same, you could be making 10 times more two years from now. You could be making 10% of what you used to make two years from now. So it's very tricky. Even if you're in the same profession, like a designer, if you can take advantage of AI, you don't need 10 assistants, only chat, gpt or some AI. You can work 10 times more, and if your work quality is not as high, then you have no job. So for me it's so fun because I get to play with 10 most 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 where I'm at, above right, I feel like I can use it to just amplify and get things done more efficiently, but I also I don't write books, and so I was just, yeah, thinking about that and yeah, it's really, really cool. What do you?

Lunden Souza: 37:18

I have a lot of parents that listen to the podcast and let's say, you know, a parent came from unhappy money and has lived their life in an unhappy money way, but they're choosing to shift and change and then they want 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 probably very easy for you to just like dish it out to your kids and not have them do anything. I don't think that's how you live, just because I and that's my guess but like, how do you teach your children happy money? How do you help them? You know, build that from the ground up for kids you know, build that from the ground up for 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't satisfy 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 create games all day. It's up to you.

Ken Honda: 38:32

So money is a tool that lets you do whatever you want to do in your life. So the definition of abundance for me is the ability to do what you love when you love, with whom you love, where you love and at any time you want. So you can choose singing, you can choose cooking, you can choose writing. Like me, I don't need to get paid anymore, but I do love writing. I do love speaking too. Most of the time I do speaking for free to help people, but sometimes I get paid and that will be enough money to pay my staff members and pay a lot of expenses here and there. So as long as the money circulates, it's okay.

Ken Honda: 39:29

So money is not more than a tool and less than a tool. If you don't use it, your life could be very miserable, because you can decrease the inconveniences in your life. With money, you can hire somebody who will do something for you so you can really concentrate on what you want. So money is a fun, happy friend who can think with you, who can let you do whatever you want. But you don't need to sell your soul for that, because money is just tool.

Ken Honda: 40:04

So money is just a tool, so you don't have to pay more attention than that. But if you don't pay attention to that, you have to work for money. So you have to be careful how you play with the money. So teach your kids that money is great and teach them there are so many ways to get money and if you get money enough and then you can enjoy life more. So the ideal way is do what you love and create money in the process, so that way you don't feel like whatever you do is not work anymore, it's just pure joy. But that's only a luxury way of living on this planet. Right now it's probably like a 5% or maybe less living that way. Unfortunately, even though you have tons of money, if you're living in a flow of unhappy money, unfortunately, you're feeling a lot of stress, so just check yourself check your heart.

Ken Honda: 41:12

Am I happy and am I really fulfilled? It's nothing to do with how much money you have, how much money you make. It's about who you are. And if the answer is yes, you are a lucky, happy person. And if the answer is yes, you are a lucky, happy person. And if the answer is no, which part is not really working? Is that the hours you put into? Is that the people you work with? Is that the content of your work? And if you don't like any of them, change your job. It might take like a couple of months, a couple of years, but just go closer toward what you love so you will not be in sacrifice.

Ken Honda: 41:51

So if you can teach your kids that life can be fun. You know life is not for suffering. And then your kids will just judge you by the way you live. Your kids will just judge you by the way you live. So if you're having a beautiful life, 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 you know stories I've heard where you know, speakers I've heard speak before where they're like we were poor but I didn't know because my mom was just so in love with life. And then there's probably kids who are watching their parents, who may be listening now. So I always say I'm not calling anyone out, it's just calling you in. You pressed play on this to listen, right, but if you're frantic and everything is always frantic surrounding money, yeah, your kids get to see that and witness that and it is, you know, a big, a big impression. And I believe what you're referring to with the, what you love, that's the concept of Ikigai, right Of of, I think there's, is there two or three components to it, of like doing what can make you money and what you 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 to take another like 15 minutes, so I can't really uh explain about that.

Ken Honda: 43:12

Yeah actually I'm writing a book. Follow your ikigai and happy money will find you. I'm going to release it on amazon on 8th of august, so just google it. Yeah, um, I'm gonna price it something. It something like $3, so anybody can buy it. So it's just a concept that once you learn something new, that one idea will transform your life. So just keep learning. There are so many great knowledge in the YouTube space. I think if you pay little something you'll get more knowledge. But still, I think YouTube works. If you don't have enough money, you don't need to go buy expensive online courses, and if you can afford it, I would recommend you do that.

Ken Honda: 44:02

But if you have a financial difficulty, just make both ends meet first and then get out of the stress, um of financial you know crisis and after that, get your uh, organize your life and then go toward what you love, and then you are at the start line and then start your life up to. You can do everything and then everything will be bringing happy money. 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 of ikigai, of matching what you love and what can bring you money, and, like you said, you need to still get yourself to that starting line of making ends meet and having all your bases covered, and then it might take two months, it might take two years, but, yolo, you only live once and how are you going to find change if you don't step into that change? And, yeah, this is so, so helpful and so magical, but how are you going to find change if you don't step into that change? Yeah, this is so helpful and so magical, and I know you also left a free gift, so I'll put that in the description that has some eight steps to go through. I know that your team sent it over to me, so I'll include that in the show notes for those who want free resources. And then, like you said, you're giving things constantly away for free.

Lunden Souza: 45:32

Youtube has so many resources and getting curious is going to be our next step for those listening of just go out, get Ken's book Happy Money, download his free resource, get on YouTube University and just start getting curious about what that next step might be. Ken, I'm so grateful for your time. Is there anything you want to share before we close today?

Ken Honda: 45:54

Lunden. I just want to congratulate you for your beautiful success and I really send my respect to you and happy mind energy so everything you touch will prosper and all the viewers you know. Your life can be better and more incredible. So please get curious about your next step. You know I I'm just sending you so much love and happy mind energy to all the people who are listening and watching and then enjoy life. You know, know, things are a little tricky out there, but you can find happy feeling in your heart 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 at the 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, the podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or were inspired by it or something resonated with you, do me a favor and share this episode with a friend, someone that you think might enjoy this episode as well. That's the ultimate compliment and the best way to make this podcast ripple out into the world of others, and also you can leave us a review up to five stars wherever you're listening to the podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you at the next episode. I appreciate you.