COMING OUT OF THE TRANCE, Pt. 1: Scarcity, Paradox, and Transcending

What if “transcendence” isn’t about escaping the world—but waking up from its deceptive trance?

Today I’m joined by someone I've known for years and deeply respect, Leisa Peterson.  She’s a financial intuitive, a wealth coach, and author of The Money Catalyst and The Mindful Millionaire.  Leisa’s journey is marked by an unwavering commitment to personal growth. She’s dedicated to transforming millions of lives through heightened financial consciousness, holding the conviction that abundance is an attainable reality for all.

Recognized by Forbes as one of the pioneering “10 Women Driving Growth in Wealth Management and Investing,” Leisa spearheads “The Mindful Millionaire” and “Art of Abundance” podcasts, the Mindful Millionaire Youtube channel, and she also writes a compelling Substack blog called Equal Stake that speaks straight to the moment we’re in now. In fact, we dive straight into a post of hers, titled, "They want us fighting each other forever. "

In this first episode, we name what’s been quietly shaping so much of our stress and division: a scarcity-based trance that keeps people reactive and exhausted. We talk about paradox—how to hold fear and still move forward, how to seek unity without losing boundaries, and what “transcendence” actually means in real life.

Leisa Peterson talks with Colleen Akiko about the larger pattern behind our culture’s distress: a scarcity-based trance that keeps people reactive, divided, and exhausted.

Colleen: I feel so delighted to have Leisa Peterson with me. We’ve known each other for years, and I’m so grateful you’re here with us. I resonate so much with what you’ve been writing this past year, and I couldn’t not invite you to come share.

I don’t want to get too goopy about how much I admire you, but I felt prompted to reach out right away after I read a recent post — I don’t even remember the title — but it started with: “They want us fighting each other forever.” You wrote about becoming aware of patterns and looking at the structure of what’s happening. There are so many quotable lines in what you wrote.

It feels like a hurricane right now. I guess we dive in, swirl around, and find our footing. And sometimes when we talk about it, we realize: this is what’s happening — but this is not who I am. What a relief.

Leisa: So true. Thank you so much, Colleen, for having me — and thank you to everyone listening.

I think being in community, connecting with each other, is really important — even when we don’t have words or we don’t know what to say. I don’t always talk about this with people because I don’t know where to start, and we don’t always know where someone’s coming from. I don’t want to add to anyone’s suffering or burden.

So maybe it’s healthy for others to listen to this conversation, because we’re both saying: it’s okay. It’s safe to have this conversation. It’s safe to go there.

How do we become more educated about what’s happening? And even more important: how do we take good care of ourselves while we’re learning about it?

As you know, I started my business twelve years ago when I was living in Truckee. It came out of a desire to help people understand the conversations that weren’t happening around money — conversations I knew needed to happen. I’d been in financial services for more than two decades, and I wanted to help people feel more empowered around money and all that it means in the society we live in.

What’s interesting is: all that I learned over those years still didn’t quite give me permission to open the conversation I started writing about about a year and a half ago — the things we’re going to be talking about today. It was scary to open it up because I worried I might upset people or make them uncomfortable.

But inside myself, I knew I couldn’t hold back. I’ve been writing on Substack for over a year now, and it’s coming from this place of: do the research, get educated about what’s going on, don’t be reactive — learn how to be responsive inside a situation that I could feel in my heart was wrong.

Not because I have all the answers. Not because I know what we’re “supposed” to do. But because I’m deeply interested in: how do we become more educated about what’s happening? And even more important: how do we take good care of ourselves while we’re learning about it?

Colleen: I love how holistic your approach is. And the very principles you started with around money apply to everything. That’s an “acid test,” isn’t it? If something is true, it doesn’t only apply to one corner of life.

You’ve traveled from one awkward spot to another in these conversations. Honestly, when I first started reading your posts about what was happening in our country — and in leadership — I was surprised at first. But then I thought, well of course. It’s the same principles, just seen from another angle.

Could you share those basic principles to get us started?

Leisa: Yes. The lens I look through is scarcity — and what’s actually happening in a society that is one of the wealthiest in the world.

On average, per capita, we have a lot of wealth — and yet we live in a culture where there’s never enough. Throughout my life, including my own situation growing up, it felt like there was never enough, and I was scared about being okay. My parents didn’t have college educations. They were working class. They weren’t well educated about money, so they got into debt — and I became the kid who would answer the phone and tell bill collectors, “They’re not here.”

That was my foundation. So I probably paid more attention to these issues — even after I got a college degree, my MBA, and worked in higher-paying finance roles. I’ve always watched how people live, and I kept wondering: why is there such massive poverty in the United States? Why is this happening?

This isn’t simply about how hard someone works. It’s deeply rooted in the formation of the United States — patterns of control and manipulation that benefit the “haves,” the ones who have the most.

For a long time, I believed the narrative: people just need to work harder. And even though I knew racism was a problem, I didn’t understand the deeper ways it operates — because these things aren’t regularly taught. In my MBA program, they didn’t talk about economic disparities. Unless you go down that rabbit hole, you don’t learn what’s going on — especially if you live in your own bubble, like I did, in an upper-middle-class bubble.

The more I learned through research, books, conversations, and paying attention, the more I realized: this isn’t simply about how hard someone works. It’s deeply rooted in the formation of the United States — patterns of control and manipulation that benefit the “haves,” the ones who have the most.

And it humbled me. Because twelve years of helping people with their relationship with money — in all fairness — didn’t change systemic issues. I helped individuals, yes, but I didn’t change the underlying machinery. And instead of things getting better, it’s been getting worse and worse.

I’ve wanted to look at all of this through spiritual understanding ... how do we transcend? ... Transcend means to come out of a trance.

And I want to say something clearly: someone could hear what I just said and assume I must be living in deep suffering because I’m empathetic to others. That’s true — I am empathetic — and at the same time, for the past twenty-six years, I’ve been on a deeply spiritual journey of awakening.

I’ve studied every major religion. I’ve sat at the feet of incredible teachers — some who are no longer alive — and it feels like I was supposed to meet them before they passed. That wisdom showed me a completely different way of living than a conventional model.

So I’m both. I understand capitalism. I don’t think money itself is “bad.” Making money, saving, investing — those aren’t the enemy.

But I’ve wanted to look at all of this through spiritual understanding. That’s where the most interesting revelations have come. My writing is practical, but it’s also deeply spiritual. I’m looking at: how do we transcend?

And we hear that word, but we don’t always know what it means. Transcend means to come out of a trance.

And what I hope is happening — and will happen for more people — is we come out of a trance around capitalism. We come out of the trance that says there isn’t enough for everyone to have food, to not live in extreme poverty — not just here, but around the world.

I think it’s time to come out of a trance that we’ve been trained in, but that isn’t actually the truth of life.

What I hope is happening — and will happen for more people — is we come out of a trance around capitalism. We come out of the trance that says there isn’t enough for everyone to have food, to not live in extreme poverty — not just here, but around the world.

Colleen: Mm-hmm. I was thinking of something I believe is from Sandra Bloom — that real problems are denied, and therefore conflicts can’t be resolved.

I wonder if your twenty-six years of spiritual teaching served to dissolve the screaming illusions of our day — the stories that demand our attention. They’re blaring, and lately they feel foul. Part of us wants to cower away from them.

But when we’re rooted in what’s real — what’s unaffected by the noise — we can stay humble, because we know it’s all gift. And yet the illusions can scream in our face, and they still aren’t what’s real.

Without at least a glimpse of awakening, it can feel like we’re cornered. I read part of a The New York Times piece recently about people feeling shellshocked — literally shellshocked.

When we’re in that knowing place — when we’ve transcended what’s false — we can recognize: this is a scary movie. And part of me is grateful I’ll walk out of the theater eventually, because it’s doing a number on my nervous system.

There’s so much day-to-day trauma. We’re tripping over it emotionally, but we don’t always know what we’re tripping over — what’s happening around us, what’s being activated inside us, or both.

Right now it can feel like there’s a scarcity of peace, truth, wellbeing. And when we’re in that knowing place — when we’ve transcended what’s false — we can recognize: this is a scary movie. And part of me is grateful I’ll walk out of the theater eventually, because it’s doing a number on my nervous system.

I printed one of your posts and highlighted it all over. I’d love to shoot out some quotes and let you unpack them, because there’s so much here.

Leisa: Before you do, let me add one thing, because I think it gives context.

I’m white, and I’m speaking from a white woman’s perspective. In the United States, many of us haven’t been forced to live in paradox at the level we’re being asked to now.

Paradox is the “both/and.” Not either/or.

...feel fear and still move forward — not telling ourselves fear is wrong, but letting it inform us. If I wasn’t afraid, I might not take action. So: fear and action. Both.

I wrote a post today about the idea that we’re in training. Everyone is in training right now. We’re going to be living in a future world that isn’t the same as the past, and we need to understand paradox in many situations — and feel comfortable enough not to be frozen by paradox.

That’s a high level of consciousness: to feel fear and still move forward — not telling ourselves fear is wrong, but letting it inform us. If I wasn’t afraid, I might not take action. So: fear and action. Both. And it’s okay.

A lot of what I write, I think, people sit with for a while — because it’s hard to get our heads around: what do we do next?

So — bring your questions.

Colleen: Thank you. And yes, we could do podcasts on all your posts. They’re meaty.

You talk about paradox like: I believe in unity, and I also believe in boundaries. That dance feels real. And to even engage the dance, I feel like I have to take off the heavy coat and boots — all the weight that drags me down — so I can stay fluid enough to move through the valley we’re in.

It’s the dance of being an eternal being with physical feet walking through the mud. How do I not get stuck?

Unity doesn’t mean every box needs to be checked. We need a hierarchy: what are the top issues we’re working toward? What do we want?

Leisa: Right. And that unity and boundaries piece is huge. In the past I thought “like-minded” meant: we agree on a lot of boxes, so of course we enjoy each other.

But that can be a blessing and a curse, because if we’re trying to come together — with hundreds of millions of people — we’re never going to come to perfect agreement.

Unity doesn’t mean every box needs to be checked. We need a hierarchy: what are the top issues we’re working toward? What do we want?

And then we have boundaries — like: it’s okay that we don’t agree on everything. We can’t even always find agreement with our partners, much less strangers.

We need to learn how to work together. Any change we want on the planet won’t be one person. This is the time of large groups learning how to work together.

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Thank you and stay tuned for Part 2 with Leisa Peterson. Find more about Leisa at wealthclinic.com, And discover more resources and your invitation to the Bowl of Light Café at SongRise.live. Remember: as Leisa reminded us, “Love is who we are at the core, but it takes nurturing over time.”