Doug Lynam

10/08/2026

A client called me two days after her mother had a stroke. Her mother was alive but couldn't speak, and the hospital needed answers her daughter didn't have. Where was the will? Who held power of attorney? What did her mother actually want?

Most families never have this conversation until a crisis forces it. It doesn't have to happen that way.

I wrote a warm, practical guide to talking with aging parents about money, medical wishes, and what they want to leave behind, in unhurried pieces over months instead of fragments under fluorescent light.

Start this week. Pick one quiet hour.

Asking Your Aging Parents About Money Before It's Too Late

15/07/2026

My father ran a chemical company from an office with a private balcony and a boardroom bigger than my first house. He also told me, regularly, that he was broke.

In middle school, I had one pair of sneakers, holes worn through the sides, stained green from mowing lawns. When I asked for new ones, he told me to ask my mother, since she had all his money in alimony.

He wasn't lying. He believed it. He grew up scouring alleys for soda bottles worth a nickel each, and he never stopped being that hungry boy, no matter what the balance sheet said.

I swore I'd never become him. So I became a monk instead. It turns out that running from money and chasing it are the same fear wearing different clothes.

This new article is about my father, a brother I call Br. Pious, and how long it took me to see they were the same man running in opposite directions.

Money fears run in families. It can also stop.

11/07/2026

I just sat down with Shreya on the Sacred Harmony podcast for one of my favorite kinds of conversations.

Here is the thing most people never hear: your money struggles probably are not about budgeting or willpower. They are about the emotional patterns and quiet fears running underneath. As a former monk turned financial advisor, I have spent years watching how our relationship with money reflects deeper wounds we carry.

We talked about how the Enneagram can uncover the hidden fears driving stress, avoidance, and overspending, and why breaking the shame around finances is the real starting point.

Not more spreadsheets. More compassion.

If money has ever left you feeling anxious, ashamed, or just stuck, I think this episode will meet you where you are.

Give it a listen: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ufd2AZBV8L1dr7S1qcUY?si=1023f3ee53094499

02/07/2026

I spent nearly two decades as a monk. I owned nothing.

Now I manage money for a living.

I know how that sounds. But the monastery taught me the one thing most financial advice skips right over: your relationship with money is mostly emotional, not mathematical.

We plan around spreadsheets. We spend around fear, shame, guilt, and old family stories we never signed up for.

That is why more income rarely fixes the problem. Awareness does.
I sat down with Amy Phariss on the Things Aging podcast and got into all of it. Why smart people sabotage themselves. What the monastery got right about wealth. And how to build a life where money serves you instead of the other way around.

Short clip below. 🎧

If a piece of it lands, tell me which part in the comments.

25/06/2026

You can't skip to the action. You have to do the work first.

New episode of Monsters & Lighthouses is live. 🎙️

This one is where Darin Newbold and I stop talking about naming your money monster and start talking about actually taming it. The hard truth: jumping straight to "just tell me what to do" usually reinforces the exact patterns that got you stuck. Real change moves through three practices in order: Contemplation, Compassion, and Action, looping back on itself like a Mobius band.

We get into:

-The five-step framework from Taming Your Money Monster: Nine Paths To Money Mastery With The Enneagram
-Why you genuinely can't do this alone (you can't see your own blind spots)
-A Lord of the Rings tangent about why every hero needs accountability partners
-Darin owns his Type 7 oil and gas investment disaster

If knowing better hasn't been enough to change how you handle money, this episode explains why.
🎧 Watch/listen here:

E006 - FROM MONSTER TO MASTER: THE FIVE STEPSYOU CAN'T SKIP TO TH...

18/05/2026

We’re live.

The 3rd Enneagram Summit for the Helping Profession has officially started, and today’s sessions are now available. It runs all week.

It's virtual and FREE!

If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time—but today’s sessions are only available for 24 hours.

This is your chance to start exploring:
-How the Enneagram supports real transformation
-New ways to understand behavior and emotional responses
-Practical tools you can apply immediately

👇 Link to Join and to watch today’s sessions: https://www.enneagramsummits.com/helping2026/?sa=sa02701806484ffd03f322a1ea7ce822e1cba23adb

Even one session can shift how you approach your work.

Doug

* Have conceptual ideas of other psychological frameworks, but are unaware of the healing power of blending them with the Enneagram

11/05/2026

I’m excited to share that I’ll be speaking at the 3rd Enneagram Summit for the Helping Profession. I'll be talking about how your personality style shapes your relationship to money and money trauma.

This free, online event brings together over 20 practitioners using the Enneagram in real-world settings—therapy, coaching, healing, and beyond.

We’ll be exploring how the Enneagram applies to stress, relationships, identity, and growth, along with how it integrates with somatic work, neuroscience, and other frameworks.

If you’re in a helping role and want tools you can actually use, this is worth your time.

👉 Register Here:

* Have conceptual ideas of other psychological frameworks, but are unaware of the healing power of blending them with the Enneagram