Compassion and Money — An Unlikely Pairing

Author: Bianca Moeschinger

August 2025

Compassion and money are rarely spoken of in the same breath. Yet they are deeply linked. Money moves like energy, and compassion is what gives that energy its shape, direction, and meaning. Without compassion, money can become a god of survival. With it, money becomes part of the cycle that restores safety, support, and human connection.

Compassion is the superpower of healing. It grows like nature — through seasons and lived experience. It bridges logic and feeling, dissolves judgment, and reminds us that separation is only an illusion.

Compassion is not pity, nor is it sympathy. It carries the wisdom of perspective — empathy woven together with hope and faith. It steadies the hand we extend to another and reminds us that growth comes not from bypassing challenge, but from moving through it.

Survival, Money, and Safety

In survival, money becomes our singular focus. We cling to it as if it is the only god we can trust — food, shelter, control. For many of us in stable societies, not facing war or famine, this survival mindset still whispers underneath how we live. We tell ourselves that money is the answer, yet beneath it what we need is not money alone. What restores us is safety and support — in the body, in our emotions, in our mind — and then the quiet belief that we are worthy, that we carry worth, that we can create something of worth.

Safety is not just a roof. It is felt in the body — in a meal at the right time, in a breath that flows, in feet that connect with the earth, in the presence of a caring hand. These anchors steady the nervous system and bring us back to ourselves. From that place, reality becomes clearer, our voice returns, and possibility opens.

Money given to someone still in survival may bring relief, yes, but without the inner and outer structures to hold it, the cycle repeats. Which begs the question: how much money is ever enough? Even abundance slips away if resilience, regulation, and value creation are not in place.

Most of us are born with worth reflected back to us — valued through childhood until we can take what we have become and fly. For some, that worth was missing from the start and so we strive endlessly to prove it. For others, it was there early but later lost through choices or chance. Life has a way of throwing curly tales, and it is compassion that helps us meet them with perspective and courage.

What is often needed is not more money, but care. The steady care of hands that have walked the path — grounded, regulated, compassionate, and wise. Hands that don’t give too much or too little, but hold space while we face ourselves and grow into capacity we never imagined.

We may expect this from family. Sometimes it comes. Often it doesn’t. Instead it arrives through an unexpected ally — a stranger, a one-off encounter, a lover, a friend, a professional, the unseen teacher. Someone we never thought would be there, who recognises our journey and, without judgment, offers what is needed for the next step.

The Cycle of Energy

One way to see this is that what happens inside is reflected outside — our physiology setting the rhythm for how we exchange energy in the world.

Life moves in cycles — hold energy, use energy, add more energy. The body knows this rhythm, and so does the world around us.

Every breath, every cell, expands and contracts in rhythm. We rest, we move, we restore. This same pattern plays out in our work, our relationships, and our relationship with money. When expansion happens too quickly without support, we overstretch. When contraction dominates, we collapse. To live well is to feel this cycle and find balance within it.

Reflective practice: Pause and notice your breath. Inhale for four counts, exhale for eight. As you breathe, ask yourself: What simple anchors help me feel safe today? Perhaps it is food, a walk outside, or the presence of someone who cares. Let this awareness settle into your body.

This rhythm of expansion and retraction is written through us. At the cellular level: breath in, breath out; cells opening, closing; muscles lengthening, shortening. First we notice it in ourselves — how we inhale, exhale, act, react. Then, as awareness grows, we see it ripple into our relationships, our interactions, our patterns of adapting. Too much expansion without support and we overstretch. Too much contraction and we collapse. These patterns echo in posture, digestion, emotions, relationships — even in how we treat money. Because in essence, money is energy too.

Externally the same law applies. We use energy by serving, creating, offering our skills. In return, value is created. That exchange builds the bridge back to money, safety, stability.

As inside stabilises (breath, digestion, rest), outside follows (service, creation, exchange) — the same rhythm, another scale.

From micro to macro, the principle holds. For most of us in relatively stable societies, not facing the edges of war or famine, the pattern still applies. Meet your basic needs. Expand capacity. Offer value. The cycle grows with you.

Journal prompt: Notice expansion and contraction first in your breath, then in your behaviour. Then ask: where do I see the same in my relationships, in my choices? Where do I need safety today so I can offer value tomorrow? What one small value can I offer this week?

Compassion in the Cycle

Compassion makes the cycle human. It holds respect and equality inside the exchange. Compassion is not pity, not drowning in another’s sorrow. It is the soft tissue between expansion and contraction — letting us grow without tearing, retreat without collapse.

It is not money that heals. It is the rebuilding of safety, the fostering of resilience, and the recognition of our shared humanity.

Money may pass between us, but it is compassion that ensures the exchange is human. It is compassion that keeps dignity alive, that reminds us we are not so different from one another. When compassion underpins the flow of energy, it brings respect, balance, and lasting change.

Compassion ensures the flow leads us toward equality, respect, and lasting change. 

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