Have you ever wondered why success still leaves you feeling disconnected and how to truly hear your inner voice?
In a world obsessed with hustle and external achievement, many high performers feel the inner tug toward something deeper, yet struggle to trust it. This episode dives into the art of accessing and honoring your inner guidance, especially during life's most uncertain transitions.
- Discover how acceptance, not resistance, can open the door to spiritual clarity and practical transformation.
- Learn how to differentiate between the voice of your intuition and the noise of fear and ego.
- Find out how reconnecting with joy and self-awareness can guide high-achievers to meaningful career and life choices.
Listen now to learn how to trade burnout for inner wisdom and make aligned, confident decisions from a place of calm and trust.
˚
KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:
02:36 - Erica's Spiritual Turning Point: Being Fired on Maternity Leave
07:10 - Cultivating Acceptance and Overcoming Resistance
10:32 - Distinguishing Intuition from Ego
15:49 - Reconnecting with Spiritual Guidance
21:59 - Balancing Career Ambition with Personal Fulfillment
26:39 - Contact Information and Social Media Platforms
27:40 - Personal Development and Life Advice
29:07 - Closing Remarks and Final Wisdom
˚
MEMORABLE QUOTE:
"Do what you love and trust that it's enough."
˚
VALUABLE RESOURCES:
Erica's website: https://www.ericaballard.co/
˚
To explore coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor
˚
🎙️ Want to be a guest?
Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery
˚
Personal development interviews exploring key principles of personal development, self improvement, self mastery, personal growth, self-discipline, and personal improvement — all supporting a life of purpose and fulfilment.
˚
Personal development podcast offering self-mastery and actionable wisdom for self help and living with purpose and fulfilment.
A self improvement podcast with inspirational and actionable insights to help you cultivate emotional intelligence, build confidence, and embrace your purpose. Discover practical tools and success habits for motivation, personal growth, self mastery, mindset shifts, growth mindset, self-discipline, meditation, wellness, spirituality, personal mastery, self growth, and personal improvement. Personal development interviews and mindset podcast content empowering entrepreneurs, leaders, and seekers to nurture mental health, commit to self-improvement, and create meaningful success and lasting happiness.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Agi Keramidas (00:00):
Seven signs you're ignoring your inner
guidance and how to fix it formore peace and purpose. Welcome
to personal development mastery,the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and gain
(00:20):
clarity so you can thrive in afulfilling, purposeful life. I
am your host, Agi Keramidas, andthis is episode 526 join us
every Monday for an insightfulconversation with a guest, and
each Thursday for a shorterepisode where I reflect and
share with you if you arelooking to reconnect with your
(00:45):
intuition and make decisionsrooted in trust rather than
fear, this conversation exploreshow acceptance, presence and
self awareness open the door totrue inner guidance. By
listening today, you're going todiscover how acceptance, not
resistance, opens the door toinner guidance and spiritual
(01:08):
clarity, and you will learn howto differentiate between the
voice of intuition and the noiseof fear and ego. If you are a
high achiever feelingdisconnected from your purpose
or uncertain about your nextstep, then this episode is for
(01:30):
you before we dive in. If youresonate with the topics on the
podcast and find yourself in atransition, I offer one to one
mentoring and coaching. It is aspace to gain clarity, reconnect
with what truly matters and moveforward with purpose. If you are
curious about what that couldlook like for you, just reach
(01:53):
out using the link in the shownotes. Now let's get started
today. It is my real pleasure tospeak with Erica. Ballard Erica,
you are a spiritual teacher,mindfulness facilitator and mom
of two who brings groundedwisdom to the often abstract
world of intuition and healing.
You are passionate about makingspirituality practical and
(02:17):
accessible, and you areespecially driven to help high
achieving women reconnect withtheir inner guidance and build
lives rooted in trust, nothustle. Eric, I'm delighted to
have you with me today.
Erica Ballard (02:36):
Thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Agi Keramidas (02:41):
Erica, I'm looking forward to exploring
with you today, among otherthings, but how to tap into our
inner guidance, that theintuition or the inner guidance,
and perhaps even moreimportantly, how to trust that
guidance when we receive it. Sobefore we go there, tell us I
(03:08):
read your story, and there is amoment when you got fired from
your job while you were inmaternity leave, and you
describe that moment asspiritual turning point. So I
want you to take us back there.
And my question is, what, whatdid that experience reveal for
you? And was there anything thatwas stripped away by this? You
(03:29):
know, the term spiritual turningpoint is very, very interesting.
Erica Ballard (03:39):
Yeah, so I had the pleasure of being fired on
maternity leave.
Andwhat was interesting for me was
and the reason I described it asa spiritual turning point is it
was my second kid. For anyonewho's ever had a baby, you know
that those first three to fourmonths are exhausting, and I
would make the argument, they'reeven more exhausting when you
(04:02):
have a second kid who doesn'tcare that you have another kid.
You know what I mean, like? So Iwas really, really tired, but I
am exhausted and all sleepdeprived, all the things, but I
was a happiest I had ever been.
There was something in me thatwas like, This is great. I'm
going to move on my ownschedule. I picked up. I
prioritised and picked upreadings. I meditated every day,
(04:25):
without fail, no matter whattime I came up, I wasn't pushing
myself, I wasn't running, and Iwas like, wow, oh my god, I'm so
happy right now. This is almostconcerning, right? Because I
didn't expect to feel thisgreat, which was the direct
contrast of how I was feeling atmy job at the time. And so when
(04:48):
I got fired, I was not happy. Ican I can be very honest about
that, but there was something inme that just knew that the only
way to continue to feel how. Wasfeeling involved, me not being
there, and so I didn't see this.
And this was really big for meas this like hurdle or obstacle
to overcome. It was somethingthat happened, and I could
(05:11):
accept it. I didn't fight it. Ididn't go immediately into
problem solving. I got to dothis in the my positive mind.
And then I get I was just like,oh, this happened. And from
there, I was able to take thespace to watch my actions, watch
my thoughts, watch my words,watch all these things unfold,
and then watch how I wasprovided for in ways that I
(05:35):
could not have even expected.
And I got to experience so much.
And so the reason I say it's aturning point is because instead
of my problem solver, solvermind turning on and saying, Ah,
gotta go. Oh man, go apply. Dothis, I just said, Okay, so
what's next? And that allowed meto see that all the stuff that
(05:56):
had been doing was working. Andit allowed to see me, show me
where my work still needed tobe, and now I'm here talking to
you about it. And so it seems itworked out okay. But in a fire,
right? Like in a fire, it turnedout okay. And so that's why I
describe it as such it was. Iwas able to really walk my talk
(06:19):
in a way I didn't expect to beable to.
Agi Keramidas (06:25):
That's fascinating. What I want to stay
a bit longer. You said that,rather than going into problem
solving mode, and as many of usor would in a case like this,
you went into you accepted it.
That's what you said. So did youfind that easy? Did you find
(06:49):
that difficult to accept it? Wasit a natural thing to accept it?
And is there perhaps somethingfor someone listening that maybe
acceptance does not come soeasily to them, and is pointers.
So I asked many questions at thesame time.
Erica Ballard (07:10):
Okay, I love it.
So there, there is tworesponses. So one, I do think
you said natural. So I'm gonnago with that. I do think it's
natural to accept. I think thatpreconditioning, pre pressure,
pre programming, it's verynatural to accept what's
happening in front of you. Iwatch it with my children all
(07:32):
the time. Someone grabssomething on their hands.
Someone want, like, doesn't wantto play with them. They aren't
like, oh my god, they're justlike, Oh, man. And then they
feel their feels, and then theyget up and go, like, there
isn't, like, this massivedialogue happening within their
head about why that happened.
What trauma did my mom give me?
Like, where did this stem from?
(07:55):
Right? Like, it's like, oh, thisthing that I didn't like
happened happened, and I'll go,and it's the same thing when Joy
happens. Oh, this is cool,right? And, and so I would say
it's, it's natural to accept,and it's not that easy, right?
As you grow up, because there isprogramming, there are thoughts.
And so at the time I had beenstudying, I've been really deep
(08:18):
into studying Yogananda and selfrealisation. And so I was medit.
I mean, I meditated a lotpreviously, but I was a really
long meditations, and I wasreally super chill because I
wasn't rushing or forcing and soit was a lot easier in that
state, because that's a morenatural state, right to accept
it. But dot, dot, dot. But whenI started to think about the
(08:43):
livelihood of my family, when Istarted to think about what I
was going to do next, my mindwould start to spin. And I found
myself in a situation where Iwas experiencing the same
pushing and forcing, but Ididn't like previously and in
other jobs and positions andcareers, and so I had to watch
(09:04):
that and start to peel apart whyit was happening and the reasons
why I continued to let ithappen. Because I believe, my
belief is that we call onexperiences. I don't think like
the universe is testing us. Idon't think there's like this
massive punishment that happens.
This is me. I think. What Ithink is we have experiences
(09:25):
because we want to havedifferent experiences, and so
the contrast exists to move usin the direction that we want to
go. So I do believe it'snatural. And I believe that
because we have been a humanhaving or a spirit having a very
human experience. It's reallydifficult to to shut down your
(09:46):
mind when you believe money,prestige, achievement gets you
happiness, joy, safety, etc,yeah.
Agi Keramidas (10:02):
Yeah, that's great. And tell me the second
part of my question was someonewho has a little bit of trouble
with accepting. There is moreresistance, shall we say? Is
there something perhapspractical or something that one
can do to cultivate thattendency for acceptance the
(10:23):
natural day. I agree with youthat it is natural, but you
know, many of us have lost thisnatural ability.
Erica Ballard (10:32):
I love that you're like, if someone you mean
like all of us, like, if someoneout there, you mean all of us,
even though doing the work, and
Agi Keramidas (10:45):
it's a question that relates,
Erica Ballard (10:50):
yes. So I have a mentor. His name is Mitch, and I
love him. And he calls itProblem Solver brain. He says,
When, your problem solver brainkicks on, when? And you'll know
it because you start tocontrast. Your mind spins.
There's two there's usually twostates that happen. One, you can
either watch, if you've beendoing the work enough, you can
start to watch your mind startto spin, and if you're there,
(11:12):
stop. And he calls it, and Ilove it. Name your thought
process. Name your thoughtpractice. Just name your
thoughts. Okay, my brain'sspinning. I don't like it. I
don't want it to be this way.
Okay, I'm gonna name my thought.
I have to do this. I have to dothis thought. If I don't do
this, I'm gonna die. I'm gonnadie thought, right? And you just
watch it. And you with noagenda, you just watch your
(11:36):
thoughts, because what happensis that they stop. Because the
only reason that you're you'rebeing sent thoughts is your
problem solver is like, we'vegot to fix this. And so your
brain is trained to send rightthose thoughts to you so that
you can move into action. Butwhen you watch them, you're
disrupting the pattern. And soit'll send everything to you,
all of your fears, and you'regoing to watch and if you can
(11:59):
watch them instead of move onthem. Your brain gets tired,
your problem server gets tired,and they stop yelling, because
what they're really doing iswasting energy, and your brain
doesn't waste energy. And sothey eventually cease. You
become quite calm, and you dropinto that natural part of you,
that true nature, right? Likethis, the part of you that's
(12:21):
connected to source, divinity,whatever you know, whatever you
call your consciousness, andthen you can hear real guidance
on what to do, instead of thespinning. So that's the first
one for that someone. And then,and then the second is,
sometimes we cannot stop atthoughts. Sometimes we we're in
it, right? And like we'realready taking action, and then
(12:44):
we're pissed at the action wetake, and then, like our whole
body is stressed out, and weknow that. What we know is we
don't want to feel this way,yeah, like I'm angry and I don't
want to feel this way. When youdo that, he's saying that you
stop, but you honour it. Insteadof saying I shouldn't feel this
way. I don't want to let mereach for a better feeling. You
(13:05):
just close your eyes and yousit. Where is this in my body?
What is happening? Like, findit, accept it. Be with it. Let
it scream. Let whatever, pickit. Maybe it comes up in a
colour I don't know, like, justbe with it and let it all out.
And then you're going to get toyour name, your thought
practice, like, as soon as youfeel it right, and like you
(13:28):
don't let it overtake you,you're going to get then
eventually to the name, yourthought, where you're going to
start to see the stuff. And ifyou sit with it long enough,
you're going to hear the truth.
And when you hear the truth,then you work with that. And I
would say just from a practicalstandpoint, because I love to
know how long these things takewhen you start this is probably
like a 1520 minute ordeal, maybeeven 30 when you get good at it,
(13:53):
it can be anywhere from 30Seconds to five minutes. But
what's really important is youdo the exercise, because the
only way to get good at it is todo it. And I tell my clients
like, what's 20 minutes for therest of your day?
Agi Keramidas (14:21):
Practising self awareness and being in the
present moment in order to, youknow, realise and stop and to
honour whatever is happeningthat is an ongoing practice. You
know, to cultivate this ability,I will, I will use the term
ability to be able to to observeon that. So thank you for the
(14:46):
for this, it's useful. Erica, Iwould like to go back to the
intuition, our internalguidance. Many people. You and
again, maybe what you saidearlier might also apply that
every single one of us. But letme say many people cannot easily
(15:11):
distinguish between the voice ofintuition, if I can use the
phrase voice and the ego. Mind,or the, you know, our rational
mind, or anything that iscompletely the opposite of it. I
(15:32):
would like to hear your thoughtsabout perhaps the major
difference between those two, soone can be able to discern when
there is, you know, a difficultyto do that? Yeah,
Erica Ballard (15:49):
that's a really good question, and here's my
answer, because Ihave one. Is the part of you
that knows, your intuition, yourinner being, the God within
whatever you call it, it'salways love. The step might be
hard, right? It might be settinga boundary, right? It might be
(16:11):
saying something you don't wantto say. It might be doing
something scary, but the feelingbehind it is love. And the when
you think about the aftermath,it's joy and peace, right? And
free. That's how you know it'syour your intuition. You know
it's your ego. That's the worldI'll use, right? You know it's
(16:33):
your ego or your practical mind,when there's fear behind it and
there's shoulds so when you'relike, I got to do this because,
or if I don't do this, this willhappen, right? That's your ego.
And when you are able to hearit's subtle, though, right?
Like, because it can feel reallysubtle. But when you start to
(16:55):
play with it, sit with it andhear it, which is why those name
your thought practices. And thelike body practice is really
helpful, is you'll start toreally understand what they
sound like and feel like whenyou do it. But yeah, at the at
the root, one's loving, and atthe end of it, you'll feel free
and joyful. The other is ashould, and it's fearful,
(17:16):
really, really fearful. I I
Agi Keramidas (17:23):
like that that is very practical and very actually
easy to descend. So that'sexactly what I was looking for.
So thanks for this, Erica. Let'sthere is one more category of
(17:45):
people. Actually, they haveanother one in my mind, but I
will, let's cover everyone,since they're coming up in my
mind, let's ask something foreveryone. And the person that
comes to mind now is someone whofeels disconnected from their,
you know, spiritual guidance, ortheir higher self, or perhaps
(18:05):
they have been much moreconnected in the past, and now
it doesn't feel like it is thesame. What would you tell her,
in this case?
Erica Ballard (18:18):
That's so many of us, right? So I think it's a
wonderful question. And I wouldsay it's like a muscle, you
build it. And I know it soundslike the hard part about what I
share sometimes is it's sosimple, like, Duh, it's a
muscle. You're disconnected.
Well, you gotta go. You gottago, build it. But what that
looks like isn't how doers, I'llsay that high achievers and
(18:42):
doers typically try to go aboutI'm gonna sit in a 20 minute
meditation. I'm gonna hear it,and it's like you're here,
because that's what you havebeen doing. And what we need
from you is to spend a minute ortwo a day just trying to hear
it, just and not even trying,just saying, I'm talking to it,
(19:04):
and I'm going to do my best. Andthe other piece, I would say, is
to set the intention. If youreally want to hear it, set the
intention. Okay, inner being,okay, consciousness, okay. God.
Show up. Help me hear it. Makeit clear, because I feel very
disconnected. And sometimes thatcomes in as a sign, sometimes it
(19:25):
comes in as a knowing, andyou're going to start to be able
to pull this out. Some peoplehear things, some people see
things, you know, but you askfor help from the part of you
that you want to connect with.
And then the other piece is youget to know it, but not in a
bulldozing way. So this makes mereally uncomfortable, except
(19:46):
that that's, you don't love itinitially and then build it.
Because it's like, you know, youtalk about the nervous system,
right? It's like, you got tobuild the capacity for it. If
it's uncomfortable, you can'tpush past it, because when you
try to push past your turn.
Know, we all know what happens.
It's the same thing, like, don'ttake the route that's got you
feeling awful and apply it tosomething that's supposed to
(20:08):
make you feel good, and thenexpect to make you feel good.
Like a minute or two a day, setthe intention and then watch it
build, because it will. Becausethis part of you wants to be
known. It just needs the space.
Agi Keramidas (20:23):
Thank you. Since you mentioned the high achievers
earlier, let's discuss aboutthem also, and what I would like
in particular, the element thatI would like to see the
connection with is for a highachiever that them their main
(20:49):
focus, or his main focus, iseither advancing career, or
perhaps even more, transitioningcareer, where it is Very common
with people who listen to mypodcast, and while they are in
this space, perhaps the thoughtof spending more time in
(21:14):
spiritual matters, I will say itlike very broadly, might not
strike the relevance. And I'msaying spiritual matters. We
were talking about intuition.
Let's, let's keep it simple andreturn to the inner guidance. So
my question is, how, what do youthink it is the connection
(21:34):
between the way we show up inour career, or the way that we
will transition in career, andthat spiritual element that
allowing our intuition to comeup and trust it and follow it. I
hope my question makes sense. Ithink
Erica Ballard (21:59):
it does so. I think it's like, Why? Why this?
If we're trying to changecareers, right, if we're trying
to, like, build a differentlife, right?
Agi Keramidas (22:06):
Yes, yes, yes.
Thank you for simplifying.
Erica Ballard (22:12):
Trained journalist I got is it's the
most practical thing to do. Itwe I mean, it really is, because
the reason so many of us want totransition is because transition
is because we want to enjoy ourlife. And do you know how you
figure out, how you enjoy yourlife? You figure out what lights
you up, what makes you feelalive, right? What brings that
(22:33):
love about that we talked about?
And you do that by tapping in.
There's a Venn diagram that Ihave in my head that I will try
to share out let's see if I canarticulate this. So what so well
known to Venn diagram is if youdon't google it, I'm sure you
do, though, if you're listeningto this podcast. So in one
circle is ambition, right? Andthen the other circle is
enjoying your life. Most of uslive in the ambition circle, but
(22:57):
we want to live in between. Wewant to know how to be ambitious
and enjoy our lives, that's thegoal. But we keep thinking that
our job, that our career, isgoing to bring us enjoyment, and
that's where we get in trouble,because x doesn't always equal
y, right? So if you want toenjoy your life, spoiler, you
(23:23):
have to enjoy your life. And soyou do that by finding things at
not finding things, rememberingwhat lights you up. So did you
like to go outside into nature?
Did you my daughter, loves toplay outside. All right. Do you
love playing outside. Did youlove it? Go outside, start to
allow yourself to do that andfeel it, and then you're gonna
(23:47):
start to, or maybe like tolisten to music. This was my
thing. I loved listening tomusic, and I just stopped, like,
What? What? So stupid. Truly, Ican look back at myself with so
much love and be like, That wasdumb, right? Go listen to music,
go to a concert. Because whatit's gonna do is it's gonna
light you up. You're gonna say,Oh, this feels good. And when
(24:08):
you start to do that, you you'relike, oh, my gosh, I'm starting
to enjoy my life. Oh, this iswhat it feels like to enjoy my
life. Oh, this is the feeling oflove. Oh, this is the feeling of
happiness when I'm going to myjob, when I'm going to go after
ambition. I want to feel thisway. I want it to feel like
this, but you have to learn howthat feels. And so many of us,
(24:30):
we we keep jumping from job tojob to job right, thinking we're
going to learn how to feel thatway. But I'm like, But sis or a
guy or they right, you're thecommon denominator of not
feeling good. So thatmeans that you have to learn how
to feel that way. And when youdo that, when you get the
(24:52):
feeling, when you learn how tohold it, then you can use it to
pull you forward, instead ofconstantly. Chasing it does that
make sense?
Agi Keramidas (25:02):
It does make sense. Of course, it makes
sense. When you allow into yourI will use my own understanding
what you said. You will allowyour own perception to expand to
such an extent so that this canhappen. Lights you up, you said,
(25:23):
and enjoy your life. I wasthinking, and I will, I will ask
that, because it came up whenyou were saying that with the
Venn diagram and the twocircles. I suppose it would be
possible for the two circles topretty much merge, if you manage
to have this kind of work thatlights you up, that you feel you
(25:45):
know, in that you're enjoyinglife, then there is no
difference, isn't it?
Erica Ballard (25:50):
That's the goal, right? Awesome. That's the goal.
But we have to stop chasing whatwe think will bring us
enjoyment, and we have to startletting it. We have to start
being the things that we believesomeone who enjoys their life
are happy, free, fulfilled,peaceful, right? We've got to be
(26:13):
those things so that we stopchasing them.
Agi Keramidas (26:19):
Fantastic. Thank you very much. That was very
insightful. Erica, before westart wrapping up this
fascinating conversation, wherewould you like to direct our
listeners that would like tolearn more about you?
Erica Ballard (26:39):
Oh, thank you. So I am on the internet quite a
bit. So Erica ballard.co you canfind me on Instagram and Tiktok,
because I am almost 40 and onTiktok, Erica Ballard
underscore, and I'm also very,very active on LinkedIn. So a
lot of people that I work withand who find me, they find me on
(26:59):
LinkedIn, and I'm there as
Agi Keramidas (27:01):
well. That's great. Excellent. Thank you,
Erica, I have also two quickquestions that I have been
asking my guests since the verybeginning of the podcast, 500
episodes ago, so they and I willshare that also as a personal
reflection now, because Ihaven't said that in a while,
(27:24):
and I would like to hear it thatover time, I have collected some
incredibly insightful answers tothese two Simple questions. So
no pressure. There no pressure.
Erica, sure.
Erica Ballard (27:40):
It's like no no
Agi Keramidas (27:44):
pressure. Erica, sorry, I didn't mean it to come
to come up like that. Butanyway, it's my, you know, my
quick fire questions. You know,the first one is, what does
personal development mean foryou.
Erica Ballard (28:04):
So for me, when I think about personal
development, I think about, howdo I get home to myself? That's
what I think about.
Agi Keramidas (28:19):
And hypothetically, if you could go
back in time and meet your 18year old self, what's one piece
of advice you would give her
Erica Ballard (28:29):
to do what you love? I will tell you I had a
very supportive father who youwant to do art, you want to
travel the world, you want tolisten to listen to music, you
want to what do you want to do?
And I still said I'm gonna gochase the corporate ladder, you
know, or I'm still gonna go trythat. I wish I would have said,
(28:54):
Girl, you like art. Go draw, gopaint. Like, go do that. That's
what I wish I would told her,
Agi Keramidas (29:07):
Eric, I want to thank you very much for this
conversation, and I will, I willsay now that those intentions
that you had said earlier and Iagreed on, I believe they have
been fulfilled Absolutely. Sothank you very much. I want to
wish you all the very best withyour your life, your family and
(29:30):
your mission, and I will leaveit to you for your parting
wisdom to our listener of thisconversation,
Erica Ballard (29:42):
I'm like again, no pressure. See, you have a
great life. Tell us what youwant us to know.
I would say, Hmm, you know theword, the thing that came
through is trust, love, trustit. It'll get. You really far,
(30:02):
really far if you do, thank
Agi Keramidas (30:06):
you for listening to this conversation with Erica
Ballard. I hope it has given youa fresh perspective on the power
of slowing down, listeningwithin and trusting the love
that guides you. If you havefound value in this episode,
consider supporting the show byvisiting personal development
(30:28):
mastery podcast.com/support youwill also find the link in the
episode description. Iappreciate you until next time,
keep growing and keep showing upas your authentic self stand
out. Don't fit in you.
Seven signs you're ignoring your inner
guidance and how to fix it formore peace and purpose. Welcome
to personal development mastery,the podcast that helps
intelligent, busy professionalsdevelop self mastery and gain
(00:20):
clarity so you can thrive in afulfilling, purposeful life. I
am your host, Agi Keramidas, andthis is episode 526 join us
every Monday for an insightfulconversation with a guest, and
each Thursday for a shorterepisode where I reflect and
share with you if you arelooking to reconnect with your
(00:45):
intuition and make decisionsrooted in trust rather than
fear, this conversation exploreshow acceptance, presence and
self awareness open the door totrue inner guidance. By
listening today, you're going todiscover how acceptance, not
resistance, opens the door toinner guidance and spiritual
(01:08):
clarity, and you will learn howto differentiate between the
voice of intuition and the noiseof fear and ego. If you are a
high achiever feelingdisconnected from your purpose
or uncertain about your nextstep, then this episode is for
(01:30):
you before we dive in. If youresonate with the topics on the
podcast and find yourself in atransition, I offer one to one
mentoring and coaching. It is aspace to gain clarity, reconnect
with what truly matters and moveforward with purpose. If you are
curious about what that couldlook like for you, just reach
(01:53):
out using the link in the shownotes. Now let's get started
today. It is my real pleasure tospeak with Erica. Ballard Erica,
you are a spiritual teacher,mindfulness facilitator and mom
of two who brings groundedwisdom to the often abstract
world of intuition and healing.
You are passionate about makingspirituality practical and
(02:17):
accessible, and you areespecially driven to help high
achieving women reconnect withtheir inner guidance and build
lives rooted in trust, nothustle. Eric, I'm delighted to
have you with me today.
Erica Ballard (02:36):
Thank you so much for having me. I really
appreciate it.
Agi Keramidas (02:41):
Erica, I'm looking forward to exploring
with you today, among otherthings, but how to tap into our
inner guidance, that theintuition or the inner guidance,
and perhaps even moreimportantly, how to trust that
guidance when we receive it. Sobefore we go there, tell us I
(03:08):
read your story, and there is amoment when you got fired from
your job while you were inmaternity leave, and you
describe that moment asspiritual turning point. So I
want you to take us back there.
And my question is, what, whatdid that experience reveal for
you? And was there anything thatwas stripped away by this? You
(03:29):
know, the term spiritual turningpoint is very, very interesting.
Erica Ballard (03:39):
Yeah, so I had the pleasure of being fired on
maternity leave.
Andwhat was interesting for me was
and the reason I described it asa spiritual turning point is it
was my second kid. For anyonewho's ever had a baby, you know
that those first three to fourmonths are exhausting, and I
would make the argument, they'reeven more exhausting when you
(04:02):
have a second kid who doesn'tcare that you have another kid.
You know what I mean, like? So Iwas really, really tired, but I
am exhausted and all sleepdeprived, all the things, but I
was a happiest I had ever been.
There was something in me thatwas like, This is great. I'm
going to move on my ownschedule. I picked up. I
prioritised and picked upreadings. I meditated every day,
(04:25):
without fail, no matter whattime I came up, I wasn't pushing
myself, I wasn't running, and Iwas like, wow, oh my god, I'm so
happy right now. This is almostconcerning, right? Because I
didn't expect to feel thisgreat, which was the direct
contrast of how I was feeling atmy job at the time. And so when
(04:48):
I got fired, I was not happy. Ican I can be very honest about
that, but there was something inme that just knew that the only
way to continue to feel how. Wasfeeling involved, me not being
there, and so I didn't see this.
And this was really big for meas this like hurdle or obstacle
to overcome. It was somethingthat happened, and I could
(05:11):
accept it. I didn't fight it. Ididn't go immediately into
problem solving. I got to dothis in the my positive mind.
And then I get I was just like,oh, this happened. And from
there, I was able to take thespace to watch my actions, watch
my thoughts, watch my words,watch all these things unfold,
and then watch how I wasprovided for in ways that I
(05:35):
could not have even expected.
And I got to experience so much.
And so the reason I say it's aturning point is because instead
of my problem solver, solvermind turning on and saying, Ah,
gotta go. Oh man, go apply. Dothis, I just said, Okay, so
what's next? And that allowed meto see that all the stuff that
(05:56):
had been doing was working. Andit allowed to see me, show me
where my work still needed tobe, and now I'm here talking to
you about it. And so it seems itworked out okay. But in a fire,
right? Like in a fire, it turnedout okay. And so that's why I
describe it as such it was. Iwas able to really walk my talk
(06:19):
in a way I didn't expect to beable to.
Agi Keramidas (06:25):
That's fascinating. What I want to stay
a bit longer. You said that,rather than going into problem
solving mode, and as many of usor would in a case like this,
you went into you accepted it.
That's what you said. So did youfind that easy? Did you find
(06:49):
that difficult to accept it? Wasit a natural thing to accept it?
And is there perhaps somethingfor someone listening that maybe
acceptance does not come soeasily to them, and is pointers.
So I asked many questions at thesame time.
Erica Ballard (07:10):
Okay, I love it.
So there, there is tworesponses. So one, I do think
you said natural. So I'm gonnago with that. I do think it's
natural to accept. I think thatpreconditioning, pre pressure,
pre programming, it's verynatural to accept what's
happening in front of you. Iwatch it with my children all
(07:32):
the time. Someone grabssomething on their hands.
Someone want, like, doesn't wantto play with them. They aren't
like, oh my god, they're justlike, Oh, man. And then they
feel their feels, and then theyget up and go, like, there
isn't, like, this massivedialogue happening within their
head about why that happened.
What trauma did my mom give me?
Like, where did this stem from?
(07:55):
Right? Like, it's like, oh, thisthing that I didn't like
happened happened, and I'll go,and it's the same thing when Joy
happens. Oh, this is cool,right? And, and so I would say
it's, it's natural to accept,and it's not that easy, right?
As you grow up, because there isprogramming, there are thoughts.
And so at the time I had beenstudying, I've been really deep
(08:18):
into studying Yogananda and selfrealisation. And so I was medit.
I mean, I meditated a lotpreviously, but I was a really
long meditations, and I wasreally super chill because I
wasn't rushing or forcing and soit was a lot easier in that
state, because that's a morenatural state, right to accept
it. But dot, dot, dot. But whenI started to think about the
(08:43):
livelihood of my family, when Istarted to think about what I
was going to do next, my mindwould start to spin. And I found
myself in a situation where Iwas experiencing the same
pushing and forcing, but Ididn't like previously and in
other jobs and positions andcareers, and so I had to watch
(09:04):
that and start to peel apart whyit was happening and the reasons
why I continued to let ithappen. Because I believe, my
belief is that we call onexperiences. I don't think like
the universe is testing us. Idon't think there's like this
massive punishment that happens.
This is me. I think. What Ithink is we have experiences
(09:25):
because we want to havedifferent experiences, and so
the contrast exists to move usin the direction that we want to
go. So I do believe it'snatural. And I believe that
because we have been a humanhaving or a spirit having a very
human experience. It's reallydifficult to to shut down your
(09:46):
mind when you believe money,prestige, achievement gets you
happiness, joy, safety, etc,yeah.
Agi Keramidas (10:02):
Yeah, that's great. And tell me the second
part of my question was someonewho has a little bit of trouble
with accepting. There is moreresistance, shall we say? Is
there something perhapspractical or something that one
can do to cultivate thattendency for acceptance the
(10:23):
natural day. I agree with youthat it is natural, but you
know, many of us have lost thisnatural ability.
Erica Ballard (10:32):
I love that you're like, if someone you mean
like all of us, like, if someoneout there, you mean all of us,
even though doing the work, and
Agi Keramidas (10:45):
it's a question that relates,
Erica Ballard (10:50):
yes. So I have a mentor. His name is Mitch, and I
love him. And he calls itProblem Solver brain. He says,
When, your problem solver brainkicks on, when? And you'll know
it because you start tocontrast. Your mind spins.
There's two there's usually twostates that happen. One, you can
either watch, if you've beendoing the work enough, you can
start to watch your mind startto spin, and if you're there,
(11:12):
stop. And he calls it, and Ilove it. Name your thought
process. Name your thoughtpractice. Just name your
thoughts. Okay, my brain'sspinning. I don't like it. I
don't want it to be this way.
Okay, I'm gonna name my thought.
I have to do this. I have to dothis thought. If I don't do
this, I'm gonna die. I'm gonnadie thought, right? And you just
watch it. And you with noagenda, you just watch your
(11:36):
thoughts, because what happensis that they stop. Because the
only reason that you're you'rebeing sent thoughts is your
problem solver is like, we'vegot to fix this. And so your
brain is trained to send rightthose thoughts to you so that
you can move into action. Butwhen you watch them, you're
disrupting the pattern. And soit'll send everything to you,
all of your fears, and you'regoing to watch and if you can
(11:59):
watch them instead of move onthem. Your brain gets tired,
your problem server gets tired,and they stop yelling, because
what they're really doing iswasting energy, and your brain
doesn't waste energy. And sothey eventually cease. You
become quite calm, and you dropinto that natural part of you,
that true nature, right? Likethis, the part of you that's
(12:21):
connected to source, divinity,whatever you know, whatever you
call your consciousness, andthen you can hear real guidance
on what to do, instead of thespinning. So that's the first
one for that someone. And then,and then the second is,
sometimes we cannot stop atthoughts. Sometimes we we're in
it, right? And like we'realready taking action, and then
(12:44):
we're pissed at the action wetake, and then, like our whole
body is stressed out, and weknow that. What we know is we
don't want to feel this way,yeah, like I'm angry and I don't
want to feel this way. When youdo that, he's saying that you
stop, but you honour it. Insteadof saying I shouldn't feel this
way. I don't want to let mereach for a better feeling. You
(13:05):
just close your eyes and yousit. Where is this in my body?
What is happening? Like, findit, accept it. Be with it. Let
it scream. Let whatever, pickit. Maybe it comes up in a
colour I don't know, like, justbe with it and let it all out.
And then you're going to get toyour name, your thought
practice, like, as soon as youfeel it right, and like you
(13:28):
don't let it overtake you,you're going to get then
eventually to the name, yourthought, where you're going to
start to see the stuff. And ifyou sit with it long enough,
you're going to hear the truth.
And when you hear the truth,then you work with that. And I
would say just from a practicalstandpoint, because I love to
know how long these things takewhen you start this is probably
like a 1520 minute ordeal, maybeeven 30 when you get good at it,
(13:53):
it can be anywhere from 30Seconds to five minutes. But
what's really important is youdo the exercise, because the
only way to get good at it is todo it. And I tell my clients
like, what's 20 minutes for therest of your day?
Agi Keramidas (14:21):
Practising self awareness and being in the
present moment in order to, youknow, realise and stop and to
honour whatever is happeningthat is an ongoing practice. You
know, to cultivate this ability,I will, I will use the term
ability to be able to to observeon that. So thank you for the
(14:46):
for this, it's useful. Erica, Iwould like to go back to the
intuition, our internalguidance. Many people. You and
again, maybe what you saidearlier might also apply that
every single one of us. But letme say many people cannot easily
(15:11):
distinguish between the voice ofintuition, if I can use the
phrase voice and the ego. Mind,or the, you know, our rational
mind, or anything that iscompletely the opposite of it. I
(15:32):
would like to hear your thoughtsabout perhaps the major
difference between those two, soone can be able to discern when
there is, you know, a difficultyto do that? Yeah,
Erica Ballard (15:49):
that's a really good question, and here's my
answer, because Ihave one. Is the part of you
that knows, your intuition, yourinner being, the God within
whatever you call it, it'salways love. The step might be
hard, right? It might be settinga boundary, right? It might be
(16:11):
saying something you don't wantto say. It might be doing
something scary, but the feelingbehind it is love. And the when
you think about the aftermath,it's joy and peace, right? And
free. That's how you know it'syour your intuition. You know
it's your ego. That's the worldI'll use, right? You know it's
(16:33):
your ego or your practical mind,when there's fear behind it and
there's shoulds so when you'relike, I got to do this because,
or if I don't do this, this willhappen, right? That's your ego.
And when you are able to hearit's subtle, though, right?
Like, because it can feel reallysubtle. But when you start to
(16:55):
play with it, sit with it andhear it, which is why those name
your thought practices. And thelike body practice is really
helpful, is you'll start toreally understand what they
sound like and feel like whenyou do it. But yeah, at the at
the root, one's loving, and atthe end of it, you'll feel free
and joyful. The other is ashould, and it's fearful,
(17:16):
really, really fearful. I I
Agi Keramidas (17:23):
like that that is very practical and very actually
easy to descend. So that'sexactly what I was looking for.
So thanks for this, Erica. Let'sthere is one more category of
(17:45):
people. Actually, they haveanother one in my mind, but I
will, let's cover everyone,since they're coming up in my
mind, let's ask something foreveryone. And the person that
comes to mind now is someone whofeels disconnected from their,
you know, spiritual guidance, ortheir higher self, or perhaps
(18:05):
they have been much moreconnected in the past, and now
it doesn't feel like it is thesame. What would you tell her,
in this case?
Erica Ballard (18:18):
That's so many of us, right? So I think it's a
wonderful question. And I wouldsay it's like a muscle, you
build it. And I know it soundslike the hard part about what I
share sometimes is it's sosimple, like, Duh, it's a
muscle. You're disconnected.
Well, you gotta go. You gottago, build it. But what that
looks like isn't how doers, I'llsay that high achievers and
(18:42):
doers typically try to go aboutI'm gonna sit in a 20 minute
meditation. I'm gonna hear it,and it's like you're here,
because that's what you havebeen doing. And what we need
from you is to spend a minute ortwo a day just trying to hear
it, just and not even trying,just saying, I'm talking to it,
(19:04):
and I'm going to do my best. Andthe other piece, I would say, is
to set the intention. If youreally want to hear it, set the
intention. Okay, inner being,okay, consciousness, okay. God.
Show up. Help me hear it. Makeit clear, because I feel very
disconnected. And sometimes thatcomes in as a sign, sometimes it
(19:25):
comes in as a knowing, andyou're going to start to be able
to pull this out. Some peoplehear things, some people see
things, you know, but you askfor help from the part of you
that you want to connect with.
And then the other piece is youget to know it, but not in a
bulldozing way. So this makes mereally uncomfortable, except
(19:46):
that that's, you don't love itinitially and then build it.
Because it's like, you know, youtalk about the nervous system,
right? It's like, you got tobuild the capacity for it. If
it's uncomfortable, you can'tpush past it, because when you
try to push past your turn.
Know, we all know what happens.
It's the same thing, like, don'ttake the route that's got you
feeling awful and apply it tosomething that's supposed to
(20:08):
make you feel good, and thenexpect to make you feel good.
Like a minute or two a day, setthe intention and then watch it
build, because it will. Becausethis part of you wants to be
known. It just needs the space.
Agi Keramidas (20:23):
Thank you. Since you mentioned the high achievers
earlier, let's discuss aboutthem also, and what I would like
in particular, the element thatI would like to see the
connection with is for a highachiever that them their main
(20:49):
focus, or his main focus, iseither advancing career, or
perhaps even more, transitioningcareer, where it is Very common
with people who listen to mypodcast, and while they are in
this space, perhaps the thoughtof spending more time in
(21:14):
spiritual matters, I will say itlike very broadly, might not
strike the relevance. And I'msaying spiritual matters. We
were talking about intuition.
Let's, let's keep it simple andreturn to the inner guidance. So
my question is, how, what do youthink it is the connection
(21:34):
between the way we show up inour career, or the way that we
will transition in career, andthat spiritual element that
allowing our intuition to comeup and trust it and follow it. I
hope my question makes sense. Ithink
Erica Ballard (21:59):
it does so. I think it's like, Why? Why this?
If we're trying to changecareers, right, if we're trying
to, like, build a differentlife, right?
Agi Keramidas (22:06):
Yes, yes, yes.
Thank you for simplifying.
Erica Ballard (22:12):
Trained journalist I got is it's the
most practical thing to do. Itwe I mean, it really is, because
the reason so many of us want totransition is because transition
is because we want to enjoy ourlife. And do you know how you
figure out, how you enjoy yourlife? You figure out what lights
you up, what makes you feelalive, right? What brings that
(22:33):
love about that we talked about?
And you do that by tapping in.
There's a Venn diagram that Ihave in my head that I will try
to share out let's see if I canarticulate this. So what so well
known to Venn diagram is if youdon't google it, I'm sure you
do, though, if you're listeningto this podcast. So in one
circle is ambition, right? Andthen the other circle is
enjoying your life. Most of uslive in the ambition circle, but
(22:57):
we want to live in between. Wewant to know how to be ambitious
and enjoy our lives, that's thegoal. But we keep thinking that
our job, that our career, isgoing to bring us enjoyment, and
that's where we get in trouble,because x doesn't always equal
y, right? So if you want toenjoy your life, spoiler, you
(23:23):
have to enjoy your life. And soyou do that by finding things at
not finding things, rememberingwhat lights you up. So did you
like to go outside into nature?
Did you my daughter, loves toplay outside. All right. Do you
love playing outside. Did youlove it? Go outside, start to
allow yourself to do that andfeel it, and then you're gonna
(23:47):
start to, or maybe like tolisten to music. This was my
thing. I loved listening tomusic, and I just stopped, like,
What? What? So stupid. Truly, Ican look back at myself with so
much love and be like, That wasdumb, right? Go listen to music,
go to a concert. Because whatit's gonna do is it's gonna
light you up. You're gonna say,Oh, this feels good. And when
(24:08):
you start to do that, you you'relike, oh, my gosh, I'm starting
to enjoy my life. Oh, this iswhat it feels like to enjoy my
life. Oh, this is the feeling oflove. Oh, this is the feeling of
happiness when I'm going to myjob, when I'm going to go after
ambition. I want to feel thisway. I want it to feel like
this, but you have to learn howthat feels. And so many of us,
(24:30):
we we keep jumping from job tojob to job right, thinking we're
going to learn how to feel thatway. But I'm like, But sis or a
guy or they right, you're thecommon denominator of not
feeling good. So thatmeans that you have to learn how
to feel that way. And when youdo that, when you get the
(24:52):
feeling, when you learn how tohold it, then you can use it to
pull you forward, instead ofconstantly. Chasing it does that
make sense?
Agi Keramidas (25:02):
It does make sense. Of course, it makes
sense. When you allow into yourI will use my own understanding
what you said. You will allowyour own perception to expand to
such an extent so that this canhappen. Lights you up, you said,
(25:23):
and enjoy your life. I wasthinking, and I will, I will ask
that, because it came up whenyou were saying that with the
Venn diagram and the twocircles. I suppose it would be
possible for the two circles topretty much merge, if you manage
to have this kind of work thatlights you up, that you feel you
(25:45):
know, in that you're enjoyinglife, then there is no
difference, isn't it?
Erica Ballard (25:50):
That's the goal, right? Awesome. That's the goal.
But we have to stop chasing whatwe think will bring us
enjoyment, and we have to startletting it. We have to start
being the things that we believesomeone who enjoys their life
are happy, free, fulfilled,peaceful, right? We've got to be
(26:13):
those things so that we stopchasing them.
Agi Keramidas (26:19):
Fantastic. Thank you very much. That was very
insightful. Erica, before westart wrapping up this
fascinating conversation, wherewould you like to direct our
listeners that would like tolearn more about you?
Erica Ballard (26:39):
Oh, thank you. So I am on the internet quite a
bit. So Erica ballard.co you canfind me on Instagram and Tiktok,
because I am almost 40 and onTiktok, Erica Ballard
underscore, and I'm also very,very active on LinkedIn. So a
lot of people that I work withand who find me, they find me on
(26:59):
LinkedIn, and I'm there as
Agi Keramidas (27:01):
well. That's great. Excellent. Thank you,
Erica, I have also two quickquestions that I have been
asking my guests since the verybeginning of the podcast, 500
episodes ago, so they and I willshare that also as a personal
reflection now, because Ihaven't said that in a while,
(27:24):
and I would like to hear it thatover time, I have collected some
incredibly insightful answers tothese two Simple questions. So
no pressure. There no pressure.
Erica, sure.
Erica Ballard (27:40):
It's like no no
Agi Keramidas (27:44):
pressure. Erica, sorry, I didn't mean it to come
to come up like that. Butanyway, it's my, you know, my
quick fire questions. You know,the first one is, what does
personal development mean foryou.
Erica Ballard (28:04):
So for me, when I think about personal
development, I think about, howdo I get home to myself? That's
what I think about.
Agi Keramidas (28:19):
And hypothetically, if you could go
back in time and meet your 18year old self, what's one piece
of advice you would give her
Erica Ballard (28:29):
to do what you love? I will tell you I had a
very supportive father who youwant to do art, you want to
travel the world, you want tolisten to listen to music, you
want to what do you want to do?
And I still said I'm gonna gochase the corporate ladder, you
know, or I'm still gonna go trythat. I wish I would have said,
(28:54):
Girl, you like art. Go draw, gopaint. Like, go do that. That's
what I wish I would told her,
Agi Keramidas (29:07):
Eric, I want to thank you very much for this
conversation, and I will, I willsay now that those intentions
that you had said earlier and Iagreed on, I believe they have
been fulfilled Absolutely. Sothank you very much. I want to
wish you all the very best withyour your life, your family and
(29:30):
your mission, and I will leaveit to you for your parting
wisdom to our listener of thisconversation,
Erica Ballard (29:42):
I'm like again, no pressure. See, you have a
great life. Tell us what youwant us to know.
I would say, Hmm, you know theword, the thing that came
through is trust, love, trustit. It'll get. You really far,
(30:02):
really far if you do, thank
Agi Keramidas (30:06):
you for listening to this conversation with Erica
Ballard. I hope it has given youa fresh perspective on the power
of slowing down, listeningwithin and trusting the love
that guides you. If you havefound value in this episode,
consider supporting the show byvisiting personal development
(30:28):
mastery podcast.com/support youwill also find the link in the
episode description. Iappreciate you until next time,
keep growing and keep showing upas your authentic self stand
out. Don't fit in you.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com