“Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow.”
I've always liked that, and like the tie it has to this article.
Money is a Lot Like Water
We’ve allowed this culture of money to shut down our heart, close off access to our soul, and drive us such that we behave in ways that undermine and erode the very center and core of our most human values. I believe it’s possible to transform our relationship with money and the culture of money that we’ve created in a way that resources continue to flow, that prosperity continues to be available, and that all of us can be served, nurtured and empowered to more fully express who we are as the human family.
I learned a lot about money from a woman named Gertrude.
I met her in a church basement in Harlem. I was doing a small fundraising event for The Hunger Project. I had come from Minneapolis where I had met with an executive of a large food company. The food company had an image problem and felt that making a donation to The Hunger Project and being seen to support the end of hunger might help clean up its image. The executive I met with had given me a check for $50,000 -- but he gave me the donation basically to get me to go away, to assuage his guilt about some public mistakes the company had made and to have the company look good in the eyes of the public. I could tell in the interaction we had that he had no real interest in connecting with resource-poor people or in making any kind of a difference in the work to end world hunger. The money was given from guilt, and the guilt was passed along with the money. I now felt guilty receiving it. I had received the money and the guilt. And both he and I were unfulfilled.
I had the $50,000 check in my briefcase, which sat behind me on a table in the basement of the Harlem church. There were 75 people gathered before me. All of them were black. It was raining and there were leaks all over the room we were in. There were buckets strategically placed all around us catching the dripping water and there was a constant background noise of the rain outside and the dripping from the leaking walls and ceiling. I looked out at the audience and I knew that the people sitting there did not have much to give. I spoke to them about The Hunger Project’s work in Africa, as I thought it would be the most relevant to their own lives and their heritage. When it came time to ask for donations, my palms were sweating and I began to perspire all over wondering if it was the right thing to do. I went ahead and made the request, and the room was absolutely silent.
After what seemed like a long, long time, a woman named Gertrude stood up. She was sitting on the aisle in the second row from the back. She was in her late sixties or early seventies. She had gray hair and when she stood up she was tall, thin, erect and proud.
She said to me, “I ain’t got no checkbook. I ain’t got no credit cards. To me, money is a lot like water. For some folks it rushes through their life like a raging river, but the money comes through my life like a small trickle. But I want to pass it on in a way that does the best good for the most folks. I see that as my right and as my responsibility. It’s also my joy. I have $50 in my purse that I earned from doing a white woman’s wash and I want to give it to you.”
She walked up the aisle and gave me her precious $50 and at that moment I saw the power of money in a new way.
I knew that the $50 that I received from Gertrude would buy more for the end of hunger than the $50,000 check in my briefcase. I knew that that $50 was money that came from the soul and not from some bank account. I saw that the power of money can be seen in the way we use it and the integrity with which we direct it into the world. Gertrude taught me a great lesson and I never forgot it.
As Gertrude tells us, we can look at money like water. It flows all over the planet and everywhere it goes it’s useful, it makes things happen and it’s passed along. We could say that water doesn’t belong to any of us or it belongs to all of us. When water is flowing and moving it cleanses, it purifies, it makes things green, it creates growth, it nurtures. But when water starts to slow down, is held back and starts to be still, it can be toxic and stagnant to those who hold it. All of this can be true of money.
It’s possible to have money flow in a way that serves our highest ideals and commitments rather than accumulate it so that we can gain power, authority and special privileges over others. Money can bear the mark of he or she who passed it on and in many ways can be voice, expression and commitment.
Lynne Twist is the founder of Pachamama Alliance, and author of Soul of Money (from which the above story is excerpted).
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What does looking at money like water mean to you? Can you share a personal experience of a time you felt money flow in a way that served your highest ideals? What practice helps you engage with money in a mindful manner?
Add Your Reflection
34 Past Reflections
On Feb 21, 2024 Diksha Pilania wrote :
"Money is like water"- I really love this analogy. I have experienced this first hand in my own interactions with the underserved communities. Coming from a privileged place, i find it my responsibility to acknowledge this privilege and use it to the best of the benefit of the underserved. After i left India and moved to states, i realized the power of having money and the change it can bring. When my 1 meal started to equal a whole stationery kit for a kid in India, i realised the power of taking a step back in my spending and keeping it aside for it to flow in the right direction. Since that shift in my brain, this calculation of money for pleasure v/s money for need always takes place. And i am really grateful to have this privilege of being in 2 very diff. countries in terms of development and using my power in a manner that supports my community :)
Post Your Reply
On Feb 15, 2024 Madhuri wrote :
There is not much fun to water without flow! Stagnant pools of water just breed insects and have to be poured out. Flow makes everything, water, money, care, love, contribution....a useful resource. It gives a sense of abundance coming from the faith that I have and shall receive enough!! Wow.
Post Your Reply
On Mar 12, 2023 Hareshwar wrote :
One day while in my senior high school, I was walking with a classmate in my sleepy little town. We stopped at a coconut water seller's stand on the roadside to quench our thirst. Bargaining over the price with such humble little sellers is quite commonplace in India. Having finished our organic drink, Anticipating the inevitable bargaining in the offing, the seller quoted a rather inflated price but surprisingly enough, my friend paid the amount in inexplicable haste despite my protest. On resuming our walk, he said, "Look, while teaching Pascal’s principle our science teacher said: water always flows down seeking its own level. Money is like water; it should always flow down: from the rich to those who are less rich. I said to my friend, ‘But you are also quite poor.’ He quipped in the same vein: …money should flow from the poor to the poorer.
Post Your Reply
On Mar 12, 2023 themcastillo wrote :
I was shopping at a grocery store with my two girls that were age 6 and 7. when we came out of the grocery store a homeless man approached us and offered to work cleaning our yard or whatever. I was so touched by him, I shared I didnt have work but volunteered at a place where he may find some work. He allowed me to give him the information. I gave him cash and noticed he had a dog. Asked him if I could get his dog some food and he said yes. I have done this several time with my daughters when we have either turned around to the grocery store to buy food for a homeless person , to making sandwiches and driving around town to deliver. Lastly, we started to volunteer at a food bank... to me providing food to others is a way to care and being hope to others. Lastly, I have made it a practice the last 5 years to donate any extra food to church or non for profit pantries. It has delighted us when we see others pick up what we have brought in with such happiness. Providing food, water, hea... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Mar 11, 2023 Paul Fillinger wrote :
money has always been a problem for me. As a depression baby we leaned to be very frugal. Money has never rushed through me. It's not been a friend only a necessity, a necessary evil. Nipun gave a wonderful overview of what the service is all about; very inspirational. I wanted to hear more from Waldinger as to observations from 8 decades of interviews. Money is a tough subject for me.
Post Your Reply
On Mar 9, 2023 Michael wrote :
I was in Montreal, attending the Jazz Festival with friends. One friend invited his childhood friend to join us, as his treat. This man, I initially saw, as struggling through life due to a lack of financial security. We were walking on the streets of Montreal when we passed homeless people, without pause he reached into his pocket and put $5 into a cup. Knowing he had limited resources, I enquired and he gave me a lesson I will never forget. He told me that I was one tragedy away from being there myself who was I to judge. He did not see them as lacking anything, they were there providing him the opportunity to be a human being. Just sharing this with you brings a warmth to my chest as this interaction opened my heart and a lesson never to be forgotten.
Post Your Reply
On Aug 7, 2022 wrote :
This is so proud...money is like water?!...and water is flowing energy!
Post Your Reply
On Feb 22, 2022 wrote :
Looking at money like water is a mind-blowing thought. So liberating. It is telling me to look at money as a nourisher and not as something that fulfills my requirements of living. It also suggests that I must allow it to flow and not hold on to it.
I've experienced money flow into my life at times when the need was high and the avenues non-existent. Yet I received. But I haven't been able to process my thought about money in a way that is calming and liberating.
I have not yet engaged with money mindfully - except a few times. This is something I have wanted to do for the longest time but I let my mind tell me stories that make me hold back.
I am so grateful to have heard Lynne speak about money in a way that is non judgmental. She is inviting me to understand money and make my relationship with it a happy one.
I've experienced money flow into my life at times when the need was high and the avenues non-existent. Yet I received. But I haven't been able to process my thought about money in a way that is calming and liberating.
I have not yet engaged with money mindfully - except a few times. This is something I have wanted to do for the longest time but I let my mind tell me stories that make me hold back.
I am so grateful to have heard Lynne speak about money in a way that is non judgmental. She is inviting me to understand money and make my relationship with it a happy one.
Post Your Reply
On Feb 18, 2022 Mary wrote :
I had an old lady knock on my door looking for work. I was 17 and had a tiny flat. I didn't have money myself and I didn't need a cleaner. I offered her tea instead and promised to ask my church if we could help her raise her grandchildren having lost their parents to AIDS. My Church was able to support her with a regular sum which she collected regularly and we would eat together and she would tell me about her life. She gave me so much more than I could have given her. She became my surrogate grandmother and I feel so sad we lost contact when I moved home after I had an accident. I had put her in touch with a locsl church as a place to go for help .
Post Your Reply
On Feb 4, 2022 darla wrote :
When my hands are not open to give, they are also not open to receive.
Post Your Reply
On Feb 4, 2022 Elizabeth Downs wrote :
I like to think of money as a resource which when I spend and buy items or services the money multiplies and grows. I visualize good growth as this process takes place.
Post Your Reply
On Aug 24, 2021 Abijith N G wrote :
This article struck me hard, all I feelis, "The important ingredient for cash flows islove, and compassion!".
Post Your Reply
On Aug 21, 2021 Annie McIntosh wrote :
I like the concept of money being a resource with movement, alive, fresh and circulating instead of dirty paper bills that greedily exchange hands on the stock market!
Post Your Reply
On Aug 19, 2021 Kerry Snyder wrote :
Thank you Lynne, this is a beautiful way to conceive of money.
Money feels like holy water to me in moments of impulsive generosity, like when someone says they like something I have and I suddenly know it is for them.
Gratitude meditation or journaling do well to make me mindful of the abundance of money.
Cup your hands. Bring a cup. Share your cup. Nourish life. Keep it clean. Wash away your worries, pains, and ills. When plenty, bale out, bail out. When it dries up, suck it up, move on. Like water, still money becomes poison. Always let it flow.
Money feels like holy water to me in moments of impulsive generosity, like when someone says they like something I have and I suddenly know it is for them.
Gratitude meditation or journaling do well to make me mindful of the abundance of money.
Cup your hands. Bring a cup. Share your cup. Nourish life. Keep it clean. Wash away your worries, pains, and ills. When plenty, bale out, bail out. When it dries up, suck it up, move on. Like water, still money becomes poison. Always let it flow.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 9, 2015 rebecca wrote :
I remember selling personal items and donating some proceeds to charity and I was very happy and it felt like giving a hug to the world.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 8, 2015 Dilip Shah wrote :
I think this comparison of money to water is very true. In many respects, money and water are alike as Gertrude points out. Both are resources and very valuable when used right. Both can be dangerous just as well when they are not used right.
Another such resource that comes to mind is time. It can also be used well or otherwise. Big difference however, is that unlike money and water, time can not be contained, in any way or form. Time moves on no matter what. So, if we use money like time, it can not be stopped from being used. So, it can not be allowed to be stagnant and it might eventually end up being used for greater good, even if it might start out otherwise. In today's world, many say "time is money". So, I wonder what if we reverse this and say money is time, meaning let us work hard so it can not become stagnant. If preferably much of it or even some of it can be used for greater good, it will still be better than it being stagnant.
&n... [View Full Comment]
1 reply: Purna | Post Your Reply
On Jul 8, 2015 Sundi wrote :
wow, I thought sure the writer was going to say something like "I knew then that the $50K in my pocket would go a long way toward repairing that church and thus improve the lives of Gertrude's community."
1 reply: David | Post Your Reply
On Jul 8, 2015 bhavesh wrote :
Great lesson, true Money is like water and it should flow rather then stagnant.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 Indigo Ocean wrote :
I am in such deep agreement with this. I like to think of it as a village in which we all get to contribute what we are good at and receive what we need from what others are good at, whether creating goods or sharing services. Money is meant to be a convenient transactional system for that exchange. But the problem with money is that you can horde it in a way you can't horde apples.
You know those apples are no good to you if you don't go ahead and exchange them, because they have a shelf life. And though depreciation can chip away at the value of money over time, it doesn't "decay" nearly as quickly as say apples. And the fear of depreciation actually drives even wealthy people to horde even more, among other problem behaviors born of a distorted relationship with money.
Similarly, those who could do so much more good in the world, including adding one more happy, relaxed person (themselves) instead fight an inner battle with money, and so cut themselves off from the flow of abundanc... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
Money, like any other thing such as nuclear energy, is a reality of life and living. It is not what we have but how we use it.People do charity for a variety of reasons. The best is doing it from our heart and feeling the fullness of giving.It is like a selfless service or loving someone unconditionally. This is spirituality at its best. However, there are going to be people who do acts of compassion and kindness, small and big, with a mixed or selfish motivation.Should we feel guilty for giving money or food or clothes or other things with selfish motivation and or should we feel guilty for receiving it? I donate my skills,knowledge , time and things as gifts with no ulterior motives.And when I do it, giving feels like receiving. This is what I call my heart acts. But when the ego comes into picture, what is also for me, it taints the act of doing.I am a human being and there are times when I have acted like this. It is not the money, time or knowledge that we ... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 drew wrote :
Really? A surprisingly generous old black woman who takes in white folks' laundry? Your "Magical Negro" storyline is condescending, racist, and tired.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 Rev. David Cole wrote :
As a retired minister of the U M Church as well as a successful business man that works daily in the stock market, I want to establish a group that uses money to generate income called the T L V (the Lord's Vineyard) where every dollar generated belongs to our creator and helps through charitable giving to teach others and donate to those charities a growing percent of the profit to help people at any level of society to manage their money, possessions, valuables as if (which is true) as all belonging to God and are our trust to manage as stewards of all we treat as our own but really belong to God. As a minister that has officiated many funerals, I have never see a house, a farm, a car or a savings account disappear from this earth when someone departs this life. Our entire economic system treats money as something to be received, spent on whatever we want and we are left impoverished by our lack of responsible stewardship of all of God's creation and as a result we... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 Mamta wrote :
I have heard that Masaru Emoto used to teach that the water we consume, the water that flows out through our drains - if we bless it, express gratitude for it, this water that goes around the planet, through the water cycle raises the vibration of all the water. More of us who do this, better place the world we live in will be. It felt wonderful to be reminded that I can do this with money too.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 7, 2015 Susan wrote :
The article was powerful to change my belief about money.
Thank you.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 6, 2015 Rosalind Bond wrote :
As I read this I find so many opinions that are personal looking around a room where everyone is black ............ I did some washing for a white woman.....neither of these things were necessary to mention.....your dislike of people with money shines through much stronger than your charitable nature........please don't project your thoughts onto a situation and expect back up. It won't come from me. Yes some people have more money than others but money is never the problem how the person behaves with or without it is more important. The sooner we cease to separate our experience through race the better for me.... we are human beings all of which came our of Africa at some time so all faces in all rooms are actually black to some degree...........seek to help others with a positive view of life.........love each other...........charity has not worked in the way it was meant to because nothing appears to be changing and that's not because you can't get enough money out of people ... [View Full Comment]
1 reply: Annie | Post Your Reply
On Jul 6, 2015 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :
Wow. Powerful. I have looked at other aspects of life like water; the ebb and flow of energy, the ebb and flow of our work, the ebb and flow of our emotions. Thank you for adding the view of money this way, it makes perfect and beautiful sense. As someone who sold her home and most of her possessions and uses her money as often as possible to serve others (no matter how little money it may be) I 100% resonated with this post. I have also been on the receiving end of funds for literacy and Storytelling projects throughout the world; serving others through sharing their own traditional or true stories to break stereotypes. The money most easily received has always been from people like Gertrude, those who give from their hearts. This post reminds me to always give/receive from the heart and soul, never from guilt. Hugs to the writer, thank you for sharing a very important reminder for us all. <3
Post Your Reply
On Jul 6, 2015 Abhishek wrote :
Wow! This is a powerful story.
Particularly in times when we are plugged into the monetary system, I find myself divided about money. On one end is prosperity and abundance - of being content with what is, and allowing for abundance to flow
On the other is seeing the lack that many people experience, and feeling a sense of discomfort with how our labour gets valued differently, and my brothers and sisters at the other end of the bargain get so much lesser for theirs.....isn't me buying into this system also buying into its flaws?
Incidentially, I picked The Soul of Money by Lynne only yesterday...am hoping to rediscover my relationship with money....
Post Your Reply
On Jul 5, 2015 Jo wrote :
As God's Spirit hovers over the waters of earth in early Genesis, God's Spirit ought (ideally) hover over each dollar we so tightly hold.
Let go I can hear Him say . . . Amen.
Post Your Reply
On Jul 5, 2015 david doane wrote :
I like the author's analogy that money is like water. Both are resources that can do great good and great harm. Money, like water, can flow gently and be used to nurture and foster life. Money and water can move so fast that they cause damage and destruction. Too much money, like too much water, can destroy and kill lives. I've heard that winning the lottery has been blamed for ruining the lives of many winners to the point that they wish they had never won the money. Money and water can be held back, hoarded, and become stagnant and toxic, being used for no productive purpose by anyone. Water and money have beauty when they stay in their proper channels and are used productively. People have gone to war for money and people may soon be going to war over water. When I contribute money to a cause that I feel positive about, I feel good for using the money in a way that served my highest ideals. What helps me engage with money ... [View Full Comment]
Post Your Reply
On Jul 3, 2015 susan schaller wrote :
Thank you, Gertrude. I'm in N.C. right next to S.C. where people were killed while they thought they were safe in a church. I've been to several groups who want to talk about ending racism. Mostly white folk up here in the mountains, and I hear guilt, anger and sadness. People want to end racism, but don't really see the connection to them. I see it in me when I hold on to money and other illusions of security. When I let go of money, my idea of safety and comfort, cross the street, sit with others, the poor, the disenfranchised, and the hurting, I give up some privilege I was born into. And, I discover as our friend in the article did, that human to human, from the heart, giving will change our hearts, transforming fear and anger, the root of hate into compassion, empathy - love. Gertrude knew the value of money - it's worthless in your pocket or bank. Stagnant, like water, it will begin to rot, attracting the mosquitos of fear and greed. Ope... [View Full Comment]