By: Alex Wright

In Lies of Money: Who Are You Being?, author and transformational guide Dr. Lisa Cooney explores a universal source of stress and self-judgment: our relationship with money. Rather than offering a traditional financial roadmap or budgeting and investing strategies, Cooney approaches the topic from an entirely different angle — one rooted in awareness, empowerment, and the understanding that money struggles often reflect deeper emotional and nervous-system patterns.

From the first pages, Cooney makes it clear who she’s speaking to: anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by debt, stuck in financial struggle, or trapped in the belief that abundance isn’t possible for them. She dedicates the book “to all of you feeling like the debt or financial worry you are in is a big black hole that you will never climb out of,” validating the emotional weight many readers carry. Yet, woven throughout is a clear reminder that another reality is possible.

A Different Approach to Money: Who Are You Being?

Cooney’s central question — Who are you being with money? — reframes financial struggle as a matter of identity and internal patterning rather than income level or budgeting tactics. In her words, “money is profoundly emotional. It’s tied to our nervous system, our sense of safety, and the stories we absorbed long before we ever earned a single dollar.”

This perspective leads her to highlight the lies many people unconsciously internalize about money — beliefs such as:

•  “I’m not good with money.”
•  “Money is stressful.”
• -“Debt defines me.”
•  “I’ll never get ahead.”

Cooney identifies one lie as particularly harmful: “the belief that money equals worth.” She explains that when people fuse money and worthiness, they often chase validation, make fear-driven financial choices, or sabotage themselves when progress begins.

Breaking the Black Hole Myth

One of the strongest metaphors in the book is the “big black hole” — that sensation that financial distress is bottomless and inescapable. Cooney emphasizes that this reaction isn’t a flaw; it’s a familiar survival pattern rooted in the nervous system. She notes that many people instinctively freeze, fawn, hustle, or collapse around money because of early conditioning or inherited beliefs.

Her work helps readers challenge these assumptions, step back from overwhelm, and begin shifting the emotional imprint driving their financial behavior. This movement from collapse to possibility is one of the book’s central themes.

Choosing You: A Core Principle

If there is one message Cooney returns to again and again, it is the importance of choosing yourself.

“Choose You,” she writes, isn’t a slogan — it’s the foundation for financial transformation. Choosing yourself means recognizing your agency, acknowledging your desires without shame, and imagining a future beyond survival mode.

Cooney explains that individuals can create what they desire — whether financial stability, increased income, investments, or the experiences that bring joy and expansion — once they stop operating from inherited fear and begin responding from clarity and self-trust.

Tools for Changing Your Financial Reality

Throughout the book, Cooney offers reflective tools and practices designed to help readers rewrite their internal narrative around money. One accessible is The Money Truth Check-In, which she describes as a simple ritual that begins with noticing a fear or judgment and asking: “Is this true… or a lie I inherited?” By naming the source of the belief and replacing it with a grounded truth, readers can interrupt automatic survival responses and create a more conscious relationship with money.

Her approach blends mindset work with nervous-system awareness, helping readers distinguish between genuine financial challenges and emotional reactions rooted in old patterns.

Beyond Money: Creating a Life That Works

While finances are the focus, Cooney broadens the conversation to include emotional well-being, identity, and self-worth. She explores how financial patterns often mirror deeper psychological layers — from early experiences of safety and belonging to attachment dynamics and fears around visibility or value.

In this way, Lies of Money becomes more than a book about finances. It is a guide for shifting long-held internal structures and stepping into a more empowered life. The same insights that change a money story can influence relationships, career choices, and personal freedom.

A Compassionate Call to Freedom

Ultimately, Lies of Money: Who Are You Being? offers readers a compassionate and grounded path toward financial and emotional sovereignty. Cooney hopes that six months after finishing the book, readers “are living from a fundamentally different internal landscape,” able to recognize their survival patterns and choose empowered action rather than inherited fear.

By illuminating the psychological and nervous-system layers beneath money struggles, Cooney encourages readers to transform not just their finances but their relationship with themselves.

To explore Lisa Cooney’s transformative approach and begin shifting your own relationship with money, check out The Lies of Money: Who Are You Being? on Amazon.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice, nor does it replace professional financial advice, investment advice, or any other type of advice. You should seek the advice of a qualified financial advisor or other professional before making any financial decisions.