The Stories We Carry: Healing Our Relationship with Money

This reflection is inspired by Caravanserai’s September Webinar, lead by Felina Danalis, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Trauma of Money Certified coach, “The Trauma of Money: Why Entrepreneurs Struggle and How to Break Free.” Watch here.

Felina Danalis is a Palm Springs-based entrepreneur whose practice helps individuals and mission-driven organizations master resilience to stress, anxiety, and trauma so they can create greater impact—and experience more ease and abundance—in their lives and work. You can learn more about Felina’s work at www.felinadanalis.com and www.palmspringssomatics.com.

Every week at Caravanserai, we’re reminded that business is never just business. Behind every idea, sale, or sleepless night, there’s a story — one shaped by family, memory, and survival.

There’s the daughter who watched her parents stretch every dollar. The son who became the first in his family to open a business. The mother who turned her kitchen into a bakery, determined to show her children that courage creates opportunity.

For many of us, money isn’t only about math — it’s about meaning. It remembers what our bodies remember: the fear of not having enough, the shame of asking for help, the tension of believing that wanting more makes us ungrateful. Even when life improves, those memories whisper:

“You don’t deserve more.”
“You’ll lose it if you get it.”
“You’re not ready.”

We see it every day. Entrepreneurs thriving on paper yet uneasy with abundance. A consultant who undercharges out of guilt. A baker who feels disloyal to her roots when she earns more than her parents ever did. These are not business problems — they’re emotional echoes.

In our webinar, Felina Danalis, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Certified Trauma of Money Coach, helped us give language to these invisible patterns. She reminded us that for many — especially first-generation entrepreneurs — money has always been tied to survival, not safety. And because of that, success can feel unsafe.

Healing, Felina said, begins with noticing. With breathing. With remembering that safety is not something we buy — it’s something we practice. Sometimes that means celebrating small wins:

“I finally paid myself.”
“I said no to unpaid work.”
“I looked at my bank account without flinching.”

Each small act becomes a declaration: I am safe. I am enough. I deserve this.

At Caravanserai, we’ve learned that entrepreneurship is a deeply personal journey. It’s not just about access to capital — it’s about the capacity to receive it. It’s not just about strategy — it’s about self-worth. Because if we don’t believe we’re worthy of abundance, we’ll always find ways to push it away.

For first-generation business owners, immigrants, and those raised in scarcity, this work is revolutionary. Learning to rest without guilt. To celebrate without apology. To build not just for survival, but for joy — that’s where transformation happens.

We often talk about entrepreneurship as a path to dignity and independence. But dignity also means being able to say no, to pause, to take a breath without fear that everything will disappear. It means understanding that we can honor where we came from without being trapped by it.

When entrepreneurs begin to heal their relationship with money, everything shifts. They stop apologizing for their success. They start building ventures rooted in worth, not wounds. They begin modeling a new narrative — one where ambition and compassion coexist, where rest is allowed, and where thriving doesn’t mean betraying your past.

At its heart, The Trauma of Money reminded us that empowerment isn’t only external. It’s deeply internal — the quiet knowing that we are enough, that we’ve done enough, that it’s safe to want more.

Every healed story ripples outward — through families, employees, and communities. When one entrepreneur reclaims their worth, they open the door for others to do the same.

And that’s the kind of change that lasts — not just in business, but in life.