Special Guest Expert - Gina Nicole Ballard: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Gina Nicole Ballard: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Dainel Aaron:
What does it take to create a vibrant, thriving life? First, the sad news is that Thoreau was right most people are leading quiet lives of desperation, lacking in meaning, fulfillment, and vitality. But we choose more. We choose to create extraordinary lives and the art of vibrant living. Show entertains you with inspiration, empowerment and education to create your life into a masterpiece. It's time. Let's vibe up. Aloha y'all. Welcome to the show. I am Daniel Aaron, your host. This is the Art of Vibrant Living show. And we got an awesome show a fantastic guest. And in case it's not obvious, the art of vibrant living implies you have the birthright. Maybe even the destiny, maybe even the obligation to live a vibrant, thriving life to make your life a masterpiece. It does not tend to happen by default. It takes intention, it takes some work, and it takes a bit of education. Here's my request. Suggestion I implore you, please enjoy the show. Be entertained. Yes, and commit that when you hear something that makes sense to you and you go, yeah, I could do that. That would that would benefit my life, that you commit to putting it into action in your life ASAP. Maybe today, maybe right after the show. Here's the thing, y'all. Vibrancy is so important. Not just for you, for the entire world. There's too much of the world right now that's just kind of getting by. So if you are wanting more in your life, if you want to thrive more, if you want to increase your income, the quality of your relationships, your health, then please also reach out. I would love to connect with you and learn how I can support you. You can send me an email Daniel at Daniel aaron.com and today on the show. Very exciting. Jena Nicole is a well she's she's an author. She's a spiritual mentor, a feng shui expert versed in the world of esoteric art, in science, yet also very grounded and wise practical. So I'm super thrilled that we've got her with us. And Jena, thank you for joining.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, thank you for having me. It's great to be here.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, it's a it's a it's a treat. And you've got so much cool experience, um, of a of a broad nature. So before I dive in with my 486 questions that I have for you, because I know I got a lot to learn today, would you tell our audience a little bit about how you got into this stuff?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, so many of our stories when it comes to purpose, they have to do with sort of like your, your hard moments, your Saturn return moments, if you will. And that was the case for me. So I was, you know, really not well feeling dis eased in my body and couldn't find, um, couldn't find a solution, couldn't find an answer. Medications wouldn't work. All of the things. And I was working, um, with a acupuncturist actually at the time who kind of gave me some feng shui tips. And then my healing really started. So it sparked something in me, um, that caused me to, you know, learn more, do more. And from there, it was just like a waterfall effect of like I wanted to do more, I did. I delve in for myself and learned all the things, and then I just kept going and eventually helping other people. Um, yeah. I had to leave like a pretty, pretty well paid job, which was scary and took a scary leap. And then I continued to just follow the fear. And, um, that's something that I'm really big at. I think that we need to follow the fear prompts instead of let us take them over and that just, you know, kept leaping, kept following every. Breadcrumb and didn't leave any stone left unturned. And the prim. That's really. That's really how I got here. Yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, cool. Um, thank you. And I appreciate your honesty and vulnerability with that. And let's, uh, let's be clear, in a way, you said you had to leave that job. Well, you didn't really have to necessarily. Right? Because most people, you know, stay way, way, way too long in places they know they it's maybe not serving them or serving the world. And yeah, of course we we got a hint into that. You said follow the fear. And this seems to be something like a mantra or a way of being. So I'll play Angel's advocate for a moment and say, but wait, isn't the fear telling us there's danger? Shouldn't we stay away from the fear? What are you talking about?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, I mean, fear is really helpful, right? Like, that's it's a good point. Like, we we do need some fear. It keeps us safe. It keeps us our roots chakra strong at times. But, um, you know, one example. It was very scary to leave that high paying job, but that high paying job also really kept me. It kept my nervous system like this. It kept me in fight, flight, freeze. Um, it was really hard to leave the salary. I left this career. Really. I was doing very well for my age. Um, and I left it to literally make almost less than a third of what I was being paid, so that's a lot. And I was living in the Bay Area of California at the time, very expensive. And I left to work at an acupuncture college, actually, so that I could afford, you know, getting receiving a lot more acupuncture as I was learning. Um, and then, you know, my body really started to heal, my nervous system started to unwind, and I was like, okay, well, what's next? What's a job that I could, you know, have a lot of space to create the life that I would like to create. And, um, yet something that would require a bit of a leap. Well, at the time, I was actually very afraid of flying. I was, like, petrified of flying. So I thought, well, maybe I could be a flight attendant because that schedule is amazing. I could conquer my fear. And so that's why I did. So I literally followed the fear. I, um, feng shui, had my apartment at the time to call in a flight attendant position, and a month later I was in a training at Virgin America. Um, and I was flying, which was great. I was, um, you know, had a lot of time and opportunity. I work half the month and was off half the month, and I could do this work, I could study. I was started to do, um, angel card readings and do more feng shui for people. Um, and that's. Yeah. So that's an example of following the following. My fear that was, you know, in a healthy way. I think fear tells us to take action. And so what what could I do with my fear of flying? Right. How could I get over? I was like, well, learn about it and just do it. So that's what I did. Yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
That's beautiful. And what a great example. And of course, I was being a little silly in my angels advocate role there for a moment. Um, and the way I think of it is, is like, well, we all have these two parts. Well, at least two parts, you know, usually more, but the one part, the biological survival oriented part. And, you know, for that part, it's always looking for fear. Right? But the the soul part, the invincible, the eternal part, the problem is that so much of what the survival part thinks of is thinks is dangerous. Really? Isn't that dangerous? Like flying is a great example, right? You know, some of us could get really scared. But the truth is, if you look at it empirically and statistically, it's not very dangerous. Um, so. And what would you say? And I'm leading the witness here very intentionally, but what happens, what are the advantages when we follow the fear?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
So, you know, as I mentioned, I learned I learned a lot more. I learned about flying. I learned how turbulence was really healthy. I learned about the dynamics of aviation. And, you know, um, having the role of flight attendant, that's who's there for primarily safety and learning about safety features. It really helped to stop my monkey mind that alone, just learning more, gathering more information helped to calm some of my anxiety. So I think that that was, you know, that's important. And then actually doing it. So I think by the time I was actually flying, I just wasn't even it wasn't even a thing like turbulence didn't bother me. You know. It just wasn't a thing. Um, somebody once asked me, you know, well, was that because maybe you had more control over, you know, you had a sense of control over what was happening or you had control knowing that you had easier access to an exit door. And, you know, I, I think thought that was a great question and I had to ponder it, but I really think it was like the knowledge base, you know, just really looking at what the fear is. And when I take action around it and I learn and I gather information, you know, I think it was it was more of that, like I just wasn't there. There's nothing left that was, you know, David and Goliath. Like it just wasn't what it seemed my whole life, you know?

Dainel Aaron:
Yeah, well, it makes great sense. And, you know, it's funny. We had a comment. I'm curious to see your perspective on this. Um, Brian chimed in and says, fear tells us to take action. Um, I got a thought on that, but I want to hear your thought first.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, no, I think that's my like. Absolutely. And that's what I was really leaning into. You know, it tells us to take action and get more information. And I was like, well, that, you know, well, how can I take action on my fear of flying? I could either just book a whole bunch of travel and continue to do it, or I could go into the action of learning and, you know, so I really do. I, um, just if you're, you know, it would be scary to put your body in front of a bus, but you, you would move like the fear would tell you to move out of the way. Like that should not be there, you know, so I yeah. Like that's what it was. That's. Yeah. So I always look at that um, I also do human design and this is a little bit out there, but like the the spleen channel gives us a lot of information about fear. And so it really points to it's one place in human design, if you're familiar that points to what your fears are and you do them anyway, you don't listen. You do them anyway. And then, you know, it's like the one place that it's it's not really it's not aligned like you find them, you identify them and you do it anyway. Um, yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
Yeah. Well that's beautiful. And what I was thinking in terms of Brian's comment, fear tells us to take action. Um, I think, well, I guess it depends. For me, it depends on who are we defining as us. Right. Because again, if we've got different parts of us, the truest part, the highest self, what I call the supreme self when we get fear, yes, that it tells that part. Okay, it's time to step up. But on another level, the fear tells the survival part like, oh, hold back, don't do anything. Um, and part of my experience is, and I'm curious if it if this lands for you is every time I feel a fear and then do the thing that I'm afraid of anyway, or face it somehow there's like an immediate rush of energy, right? And because the fear my holding back from whatever it was because of the fear, like just kind of squashes my energy. And so when I and sometimes I don't even have to do the thing, it's just when I go like, okay, I'm I'm not going to have that hold me back as soon as I make the decision. It's like, I don't even have to do it anymore because I faced it. Does that make sense?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, definitely. For sure. I mean, it's and you say that, you know, you say that you can feel that rush of energy. Like for me, that's very real. It is. It is energy. It's energy. It's emotion in motion. It's energy. And you know that moving through your body, moving through your chakra centers, it's clearing, it's moving. It's literally getting stuff and flow. That's how I see that, you know. Yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
That's great. All right, well, I want to go back to something you said before, which is super cool, because you said at that point when you said, all right, I'm going to face my fear of flying and you know what's going to go straight into it and become a flight attendant so that you rearranged your apartment. You Feng swayed it to call in a, uh, flight attendant job. Right. And I, I remember learning about feng shui when I first moved to Omega Institute 1996, and that was like such a revelation to me, this concept and I, I grew up in a home that was like the quintessential opposite of feng shui. It was like clutter, mess, nastiness and, you know, and I didn't know any better, but it drove me crazy. Probably quite literally.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Um, probably literally. Yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
You know, and then later, as I went into learning about body and health and fasting and cleansing and yoga, I started to realize, wow, how important is our physical environment and how much it's a one. It's a representation of what's going on on the inside, physically and mentally and spiritually and emotionally too, is it's a way that affects how we feel. Right? And now this to me is incredibly obvious, a little bit less obvious to my 16 year old daughter, but we're working on that. Um, I'm curious, though, because clearly you've gone very far in this art and science. How for someone who's not familiar with it, what how would you explain what what it is and why it's important?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, this is a great question. Um, I my approach is something that's called the the cosmic trinity. And that is, um, you know, it's a trinity of you could say, um, dynamics that are divided into three parts. It's human luck, which is the mind, heavenly luck, which is going to be your connection with spirit, and then earth luck, which is your body and home. And I always say that we take a mind, body, spirit and home approach because everything is interlinked. Actually, um, I have a mentorship container and every month we go into something new and this month we're looking at how the Bagua map. So I studied BTB Feng Shui. There's many different schools of feng shui, and I always say that there are no rules yet in feng Shui, the only thing that you can do to really confuse things and confuse yourself is to mix the schools. I never advise mixing the schools unless you're working with a practitioner that can do so in a way that is easeful and make sense, like it's just it gets very complicated when you start mixing the schools like there's compass, Flying Star, BTB. I study BTB, Feng shui. I learned from, um, Professor Edgar Tsung in San Francisco, spent many weekends with him, um, in my 20s. And so that's it's using the Bagua map. And, you know, the Bagua map is like a tic tac toe grid that's placed over your home, stretched over your home. It can be a little confusing if your home is not the perfect square or rectangle which most are not. Right. So then there's like missing sectors, extended sectors. You kind of, you know, it can be it can be layered, but it's not that complicated. It's not scary. It's easy to do. You could also use your intuition to find it. But what we're looking at this month in the mentorship container is how those different parts of the home actually now link to not only areas like career, relationship, health and family wealth and abundance, but also the body, the lungs, the heart, the eyes, the liver, parts of the body. And um, mother, father, daughter, you know, oldest daughter, youngest daughter, middle daughter, oldest son, etc..

Gina Nicole Ballard:
So all of these different sectors, squares, um, of a space link to different aspects of all of the things body, mind, um, organs. Right. And so and it's a thing I actually wrote this little guy, it's called house speak. It's just very thin little book. And it connects every part of your home to, you know, an area of your life. And it it's never it's never not helpful. I don't want to say like it's never wrong again. I don't think I'm saying never. I don't, you know, right and wrong. We don't have to go there. But it's it's always really supportive, you know, to look at. And I get it all the time. I got it so much like people asking, well, what does it mean if or what does it mean if? And so I finally just put together a resource guide that was like, here, your refrigerators down. Here's some possible meanings. Your toilet's giving you problem. Here's some possible meaning. Right. So, um, yeah, I mean, I think that once you start to look, you can't unlook. It's like, you know what I mean? Because it just gives you so much good information. Um, and it can be so helpful in that sense that why not just use the added resource, you know, so that's kind of that's my like, approach on feng shui. Um, and usually decluttering is where. It starts for a lot of people, right? We don't realize the amount of stuff and the things we have. Um, and clutter is real. The effects of clutter is real. You know, I've seen it time and again.

Dainel Aaron:
Yeah. Beautiful. Okay, well, so there's a, uh, old hermetic principle that everybody knows has heard in some way, as within. So without, as above, so below. Right. And that points to an important thing that I think is very pertinent here. And so but let's go a little deeper then because this is, this is fascinating and I think really useful for people. Clutter is real. The impact of it is real. I immediately think of one of my best friends from from way back when I was a kid. And and if you're listening to Ted, I love you as I say this, and his house is just so filled with stuff like I go in and after like five minutes, I'm like, I gotta get out of here. Like, it's just like my nervous system starts getting shaky with it. Um, you know, and, and I have other friends whose homes are, like, super zen and sparse, and I've always, you know, been very conscious about the way I create my home. So, you know, I have an intuitive sense of it, but I don't know, scientifically or, you know, there's so much information you have so clutter. It's real. The impact is real. What's the impact? What happens.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah. You know, I think it's if you can imagine and this we could go really deep on this. Right. Because I could say okay, well let's look at like the most cluttered area in your home. Where does that fall? I live in California now, but for the past several years, my husband and I, my my family and I were in Saint Louis, and it was a very common for people's basements. Basements. That was a big thing. My basement or the garage. But like my basement is cluttered. Everybody just puts stuff in the basement. We'll think about a basement. What is a basement? Um, really significant or what is that? You know, with the symbolism of that, it could be unconscious thoughts. It could be unconscious patterns, beliefs. Um, right. So it's I mean, it tells a story. It's not just about the stuff. Um, because the stuff in general, we. Yeah, it's like we don't want or need the added stuff. We don't want or need the added clutter. It signifies right stuff, just energy that we don't need, which just densifies our life. And we need an open road. We need space, right, to allow for opportunity and abundance and prosperity, which is not money. I'm talking about, you know, abundance and flow to to overflow our lives. And when you have clutter, there's, there's blocks. So if you can imagine that your front door was the mouth of a dam, right? And you had water that entered through the dam, you would want the water to move through with ease, with, with, with love, with grace and peace and flow. Not banging into things and clutter causes the banging and the waves and the crashing and the spark. And you want it to be flow. You want it to be lovely and easeful and you know. So that's kind of how I, how I look at it. Um, but then if we go deeper, it's like, okay, well, where's the clutter? Is it, you know, where is it? Is it in the basement? Unconscious thoughts? Is it, you know, the bathroom. There's a lot to do with self-care. Uh, bedroom. A lot to do with relationships in your life, you know? So there's I can I can take it even deeper. Like, I like to really. And then like the bhagwa map linking to the body. Right. So what's happening with that certain organ that it's linked to in the house? So it tells this whole story. It's like a, um, it's like a reflective art. It's like reflective artwork that's showing you kind of what's going on, a depiction of what's happening in your life.

Dainel Aaron:
Yeah. That's fascinating. Very cool. And that's a great, um, image for it of the, the, the front door being the mouth and the water coming in. And because I've certainly heard, I guess most people have heard like feng shui is about the flow of energy in the house. And that can be a little mysterious for people in ways. But the water makes a lot of sense. So let me get your take on this. I learned a couple of years ago an expression as I heard it from Chinese medicine, which says getting some strange noise, um, that a house fire where nobody is hurt is considered a blessing. Um, and I'll tell you why that became impertinent. But I want to hear from you first is, have you heard that? Is it what sense do you make of it from your perspective?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
I've never heard that. But I love you know, the element of fire is. So there's this purification, there's transmutation, there's. Right. So, like when you look at I can see the perspective of like, it really can take away everything that does not serve, you know, on some, some aspects. There's also inflammation, right. Like there's also that. And we don't want that necessarily. Um but yeah it can it can purify, it can cleanse. It can take away. It's the nature's way of just saying, let's just remove what's not needed, right? Um, so. Yeah. And, and as long as everybody's safe and as long as there is no harm, um, there's no harm done. I mean, what is it, a line? Is the stuff aligned, or is it just. Is it just Spirit's way of helping you to align? Right. This is happening for me, not to me. I try to say that with everything. With everything in life, this is happening for me and with me. Not to me. Um, yeah. So that's. Yeah, it's interesting.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, okay. Cool. So that's great. It makes total sense to me and I that when I learned the phrase, it was because I had been for years living in Bali and, uh, lived there for 13 years, and I accumulated a lot of stuff, I mean, and to the point that I remember the last time we moved house, we it took like not one truck, but two trucks, you know, and not not one moving crew, but two moving crews. We have built up so much stuff and strange circumstances. Long story. Um, it turned out, though, that my daughter and I found out, oh, actually, we're not going home. So overnight, we lost, lost our home and all our stuff. And so we were literally on a trip. We had two suitcases and that was it. And, you know, um, honestly, my first response was not, oh, what a great blessing. My first response was like, all our stuff and our dog. That was the worst part of it. Um, however, and it wasn't a house fire, though, as I settled in and, you know, like you practicing. Okay, this is happening for me. How is this happening for me? What are the gifts in this? Right? You know, physician, heal thyself. You know, uh, preacher, listen to what you have to say. So as I started to understand more, then I came to see. Wow. You know, what a great blessing. And on some level, all that physical stuff that I had there was representative of my past right away. It was freeing me up to create the frame differently. So does that make sense?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Uh, yeah. Yeah. And it is awful. I mean, and, you know, like with, um, the fires that that happened in Maui, like, that was awful. I mean, that's awful. And there were a lot of hurt people and there were a lot of, you know, so there's. Yeah. It's like the, you know, there's the spectrum, right? So like from a more philosophical perspective, I think I think of my teacher when you're saying this like, I can I can definitely see the perspective and the meaning behind that. Um. At the same time it you know, there were human. And so there's, you know, there's aspects of these tragedies that can still be really they're really hard to cope with. And it can be hard. It can be difficult to say this is happening for me. Right. Like, especially when all of, um, the misfortune happened in Maui, like, I would have never said to anyone like, oh, this is happening for you like that. That was absolutely awful. So I think it's, you know, it also is every situation is so different. Um, and I want to just honor that, that aspect. Right. But, um, I could absolutely see my teacher saying something like that, you know, like school. Um, yeah. In a, in a higher perspective, trying to connect, um, the higher with higher consciousness and.

Dainel Aaron:
Absolutely. I mean, the fact that it's a blessing doesn't mean that we're going to feel that or realize it in the moment. And it's worth it's worthwhile honoring the human experience, even while we strive to come to a greater, a greater perspective. I remember when nine over 11 happened. I was in New York that day, and I was right close to and I saw the whole thing happen. A few days later, I was with Ram Dass, who's one of my favorite teachers and who lived on Maui for many years, and somebody interviewed him saying, you know, what do you think about this tragedy? And I remember his response was so stark and controversial at the time, what he said, there's no tragedy here, you know, because from the spiritual perspective, there's nothing is wrong. And I was like. That's that's high level truth for sure, you know, and he was a very compassionate guy. So he had the rapport to be able to say something like that. But and I'm 100% with you, I'm very cautious about. Anyone's experiences, real and honorable, worthy of honor. So I would also, especially here on Maui where I live, I'd never say that to anyone. Um, so let's go to the next level, though, because I know what so many people want to hear and what they want to know about Feng shui. And you must get this all the time, is, what do I do to bring in the money? How do I get rich by, you know, putting flowers in my house and changing where the sofa goes?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, there's. I know money is such a thing. Money, relationships, health or like the three things that I that people want to know about the most. And, um, you know, it's so like remember mind, body, spirit and home. Right. Like, so I think that that's so important and also the, the method that I work with, the school that I work with, there's intention setting and I always will honor. Professor Lin Yun brought BTV, um, to the States and he always he has um, like a special kind of thing. And we don't ever talk about that publicly, you know, through these. But what I will say is there's an intention process that goes with the placement. So it's not just, you know, it's not just like you move these things. Sometimes you move these things. You change your life like there could, you know, but the intention has to be aligned. The intention has to be there. So I want to preface, I want to preface what I'm about to say with that, because intention matters and it is a mind, body, spirit and home approach. Um, so, you know, if your mind is in non abundant thinking, you can't just, you know, put a lucky frog in your wealth sector and like call it a day there, you know where you can and you can see what happens. But um, you know, the wealth prosperity, abundance sector and where money lives. Um, in the Bagua map, it's the back left sector in B2B feng shui. It's from the front door. And so, you know, first you would want to make sure we talked about that water. Right? That's coming into your door. Well, make sure that the water can even get to your door. Right. Like I mean, it's the friend test. I always say do the friend test, invite a friend over. That has never been. And if they can find your home easily, Energy's finding you easily, right? But do the Yeah do the friend test. Um, so that's the first thing. Pay attention to the front door. How is energy finding you? Is there a clear pathway to the door? Then when you get to the door, is water crashing to try to get to the back left corner of your home?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Energy naturally likes to move left to right when we're looking at feng shui, typically speaking. So then you would want to kind of go follow that flow to the back left corner of your home. What is there. So there's five elements. So we're you know in feng shui we work with water, wood, fire, earth and metal. And there's a constructive and destructive cycle. So the sector sector four of wealth is working with wood. It's of the wood element. And what feeds wood, what helps a tree to grow is water. So you want, um, a balance of all five elements, but you want to kind of keep it water, wood heavy. I will also say that when I'm working with feng shui with someone, I look at their personal element. So that's something that I do via their birth information. Um, we don't have to necessarily do that, but it's helpful to do that because we're able to feng shui a space much more, um, appropriately, maybe more specifically, we can get, you know, a little bit deeper by knowing your element because that, you know, it, it can be helpful. Right? But intention also trumps, um, so you would really want to amplify that space, that back left sector of your home, you know, would think plants, greens, blues. People think blue, bright blue is a water color. It's actually wood. Bright blue is wood in BTB. And then you can also think like water colors. Think of the water at the bottom of a lake. Deep navy blacks, deep grays, light grays, metal. Um, and you want it. You want the space to be reflective of all of the elements, really. But you want it to be wood and water heavy. Um, and then you'd also want to look for, um, you know, pointing arrows, which would be like sharp corners coming into the space. You would, you know, do you have stairs? That's rushing energy. So there's all these other things to consider too. I like to kind of be a bad girl when it comes to this and challenge the rules. Um, you know, we moved into a home most recently. Um, and there's a lot of feng shui no-nos.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
And I was a little bit delighted about that. I was, you know, I was looking forward to that because I wanted to, like, really go in and like, work with that and be like, you know, I want it to be the example of these can be feng shui. Fears, you know, right? Follow the fear. These can be things that um, are known as are scary to just prove like, no, there's nothing that can't be remedied. Um, you know, and I moved into to a home with some pretty big feng shui. No nos. Seriously, like, huge that people would be like, you're a practitioner, and you chose to live here. Yeah. Like, well.

Dainel Aaron:
Can you give us an example of for those that don't know what you're talking, what does that mean a no no.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah. So for example I have three that are actually huge. So there's um when you walk in our door you see stairs. That's a feng shui. No, no. That's like, you know, I mean, I literally had a teacher that was like, don't ever buy a house. When you walk in, you see stairs right away because it's rushing energy, rushing chi, all of your energy goes away. We bought a house with, um, a fireplace in kind of in prosperity. Also in health. Huge. No, no, don't do that. Too much inflammation. Don't do that. Um, there is a pool in the back left sector of the of the property, but it also runs over fame and reputation. Huge. No, no. Right. Water is putting out the fire of fame and reputation. But it's but it's also, you know, and it's draining wealth and I mean all of these things that I'm like, I don't want people to live in fear of feng shui. Like, I want to do this and be able to, um, use it as a teacher and a lesson. And it's not like I'm going in with this ego of like, watch me. But it was, you know, we really worked with spirit to manifest. This was the house that presented and that called to our family that we all loved. And so I knew I had to, like, lean in intuitively and was like, no, yeah, go do like do this. This is going to be good. And we love where we live. We love our home. We love our neighborhood. The school district, um, we we love it. Like it was so welcoming. And, um, we've been here for what we got here in July, so we've been here a little bit. And, um, it's been really fun. I mean, it's been really fun. I still haven't dialed in all of the remedies, but, you know, it's a work in progress. I think I'm. And I always feng shui, like, I always, I never stop. Um, so I just hope that people don't fear it. I think it's feared too often. You know.

Dainel Aaron:
People just don't. Yeah. Thank you. I so appreciate that you spoke about that. One of the one of the mantras I use a lot for myself and also with clients is given what is what do you want to create? And the way I look at it is we are infinitely powerful creators, like the human ability, the way spirit intersects with human means. We literally can create whatever we want, right? We are the universe. We are infinity. So that means we can create anything. So I love that. And you know, and it's I love that you said that about the stairs, too, because I have a home that I love. And it's, uh, you walk up the front door and it's one stairs down one stairs up, right. And, uh, and go ahead.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah. Awful feng shui. No, no. Right. Like that would be in a feng shui book of like, oh, this is bad. Well, no, it's not like you just you figure it out like it's, you know, you figure it out and that and everything has a solution.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, and that's I think, you know, that's the two principles that I get from what you said is, is one, the reminder that we can create anything we can take any circumstances. And yeah, I mean, in feng shui is a great to me, in this case, a great metaphor because, hey, who are your parents? Where did you grow up? Right? What you know, what were your challenges and your advantages as a kid? Everybody's got a different story. Everybody's got a different background. And it's not that those things aren't real, it's just that that's what happened. Who you can become is infinite, right? And the home seems like a great metaphor for that. Right. And the other principle that you brought home really nicely is there's always a way to figure it out. Right? And of course, for me personally, like I must need to learn that lesson like 8 million times because, you know, it happens on a daily basis where I'm like, oh, no. And then, you know, and then it takes me what, whether 10s or ten hours to go, oh, okay. Of course there's a way to work with that. There's a solution for it. So beautiful. Now let's, um, rewind a little bit because we spoke a little bit before the show and you just mentioned about your family and, and something you said earlier really caught my attention, which is that you've been in the, uh, foster parent system fostering children. And that part of the success you've had in that has to do with the way you've arranged your home. Um, so, yeah. Can you say I do believe that.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah. So we decided, you know, that we are, um, we want to help the kids that want to be helped. And we, you know, for whatever reason, we just feel called, uh, to teens, to teenagers. And, um, it was interesting. Where we were in Saint Louis, I had more than one caseworker that would come into our home. And that was the feedback that we would hear was just like, God, we walk into your home and kids, like are instantly at peace. Or, you know, like there was one kiddo in particular that I'm remembering. And he, um, was on the spectrum, a total love. But he just couldn't ever calm like his nervous system was always going and he couldn't ever push. And literally, like he had come a couple of times and he would just calm, like he'd walk into our house. And when we were showing our house, you know, we had uh, um, we have like in door cameras or whatever. So we were listening to some of the feedback and, um, one of the women walking him was like, God, it's like a spa in here. I feel like I'm in like a spa, like, about to get a massage, you know, because we did create that. And, I mean, the truth is, we didn't like, of course, we cleaned up clutter and got stuff out when we were showing the house, but it really was shown as we kept it, like we didn't do too much to, um, you know, shift it like a lot of people will rearrange furniture and get, you know, we really didn't do much. We didn't have to because it was it was just very peaceful and in flow. And so we found that that there was a difference in, you know, when kiddos would come in, they would find peace just a little bit easier. We would, you know, be able to have, um, conversations. We created a space for open communication and conversation. Now, it is not to say that we did not have challenges because we did. We of course did. If you know these kiddos are so precious, yet they, you know, there's a lot of kids and we did respite. So we had a lot of kids in and out.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Um, and meaning that we provided care like on weekends and stuff. So for anybody that's ever called to like consider fostering respite is a really great way to tune in to see if that's, you know, something that you would ever want to do. Because for kids in the foster care system, they can't just go and like stay anywhere for a weekend if you are, you know, need a break or, um, have. Higher plans. Um, that's a really great thing to do. So that's a maybe just a small just something that I'm called to share for anybody because there's so much help that's needed. But we'd get these, you know, we'd get these kids that would come in and they would just have a different experience than what we were told than what we were shown like it was, you know, they they would just show up and they would it was almost like we would just see their best version of themselves, you know? Um, and, and yeah, like I even have another foster parent, um, that we're still pretty close that we, we shared a lot of kids. They lived up the street. And she'll still send me messages and be like, how did you how did you get such and such to do that? Like, how did you get her to have that conversation? Gosh, I noticed this. Like, how did that happen? Like, how did you know? And I'm like, I just. You know, it's like I just intention and placement. Like, I really think that the home matters and we do. Absolutely. Even if they're just staying for one night, like we hold the kiddos accountable for taking care of their space and not leaving clutter. And I teach them about that, you know, and it's also like my, um, son who was adopted, like, he will come in and he'll be like, I need something with essential oil. Do you have for this? Or, you know, he's learning how to use the pendulum and, um, he's, you know, meditated with us and, you know, so it it's like once they, they understand that there's a power for them to shift their own big emotions. Um, they're kind of into it, too, at times.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Most of the time. Like, that's what I've found, you know? So the feedback was kind of fun to watch this. Fun to see.

Dainel Aaron:
That's that's awesome, I love it. You know what reminds me? There's a a documented phenomena that happens in the education world. It's called the Pygmalion effect. And it was discovered, I think, if I remember right, by accident, because some educational experts came into a school and they told a group of teachers, these certain students over here, they are extra bright, right, higher intelligence. And and then they left. And so and then they came back the, you know, the the researchers that were posing as educational experts, they came back later and guess what had happened? Those students had excelled far beyond the other children. They had no educational advantages, no higher intelligence, nothing was different about them. So that the conclusion is, well, it was the teachers seeing them as being brighter. And so what does that mean? Does that mean they they gave them more attention or more resources or they just held them to a higher possibility? So when you talk about intention and the home, to me that feels like it's very much related to that. Um, and, you know, and part of what I hear is something that that is touching for me is like, I see them as their highest possibility, see them as capable of calming down or being self resourceful or whatever it is. Does that does that make sense to you? Yeah.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
And giving them a space that reflects that back to them, like some of these residentials and like the places they live or stay or get put it like it's like, I mean, it literally can look like a prison at times, you know? So it's like, wow, when you can give a kid a room that it's like, yeah, let's choose your colors. Let's talk about what those colors mean. Let's talk about why we don't use white sheets in feng shui. Let's write. And it's like you give them a room where they feel enriched. That's who they're going to want to be, right? They're going to want to step more into that. And versus like, just like having like, there you go. Right. But like make them a part of creating the environment and holding them accountable for really paying attention to their space. Um, yeah. It's like they, you know, it's like they're it's like they're trying on a new outfit or you're, you know, it's like giving them that space. If you wake up to clutter and just a super low vibration space every day, like, of course you're not going to be able to show up to be your best self. I wouldn't, I wouldn't.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, and part of what I hear you teaching there is self responsibility. And I imagine for so many of these kids coming into a venue or a location where they don't have any say in it, they're just, this is what you got. You should be glad you got this. Well, there's not much agency in that, right? It's it's it's a lot harder to step out of the victim role and into being at. Cause when you're not able to influence your surroundings or you feel like you're not able to influence your surroundings.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
100% agree. Yeah. I mean that I do have a bigger vision of it because I also lead retreats a few times a year and I have a bigger vision one day of having, you know, a place to lead and for just beautiful, equal, balanced, like super lovely feng shui space for, you know, women and men to go to learn to transform. Um, but then also to have it as an opportunity for, you know, kids in the system or disadvantaged children to come in and actually experience a higher vibration in a, in a home and maybe even have some jobs and maybe do some weekends retreat, you know, and having like a subtle energy medicine program set up for them because a lot of, um, times, I think just experiencing a place that is enriched like that just it does so much for their, um, their resonance, for their frequency, you know, it just it really helps to uplift them. Um, yeah. And that, that peace, that calm, that flow, it just naturally it, it it helps the nervous system, you know, so well.

Dainel Aaron:
So I, I would be negligent then if I didn't follow up. I can just hear people saying to me later on, you had Gina Nicole on your show and you didn't ask her that. So you said two things really like, uh, tantalizing there. One is you teach the children about the effects of clutter, right. Um, so how do you do that? What do you tell them?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
So, you know, unfortunately, it has to kind of start as sort of a this is our home and this is the way that we do things like, this is the way that we show up and we all contribute and we. You have a thing in our in our home, we sort of say it's God games and grades that always come first and in a part of, you know, really like connecting with God, with spirit, whatever you want to call it, especially with kids, because you're always going to have different belief systems that we have to honor. Um, and that's a part of just really showing up, like responsibly and respectfully. And that is a part of being in, um, you know, I do teach a lot about frequency. So being in a high frequency place and a high vibe place, and when you're in clutter, how do you feel like when this gets, you know, and so usually it'll happen like one messy bedroom and it's like, let's talk about how like how do you feel waking up to this? Like, do you walk in this room and just feel like, uh, you know, and then it's like, okay, let's clean it up and let's like, I know for my, um, son, like, he really needed, like, labels and things organized to really, like, help him. And he's like, oh, like, now he's like, so on it. And he takes care of his room. And it's funny, like one of the people that he was in connection with formerly, you know, she's like, how did you do that? Like, how did you get him to do that? And that was that. It was a process. It starts like, you know, crazy and chaotic, and then it goes back to like, this is a part of being in our home. This is a part of, you know, keeping a high frequency. And then, you know, how does this make you feel like when you wake up to this, like, really? Not in a shameful way, but like really a reflection process and like, let's clean some of this up. I'll help you. How does this feel? Let's feel amazing. And now you can get everything done and you know where everything is. And then they never really want to go back to that, you know? Um, and it's true. I mean, like, I just have always been, um, really successful with that approach of just really keeping them a part of the process and like talking about how it literally feels in their body. Um, it's, you know, and for all of us, I think that that's a good, you know, and of course, it is a boundary in our home. Like it's just something that we hold as a, um, it's a bottom line. It's a part of their contribution and something they're responsible for.

Dainel Aaron:
Yeah. That's great. I mean, it seems very simple and practical. You know, I told you earlier, like when I was a kid, I lived in just utter chaos. And, you know, I didn't know any different. I just I also knew it didn't feel good. So as soon as I got out on my own, I was like, at the very least, I'm going to keep things orderly. But then in my early 20s, almost by accident, divine providence, I moved into this community house, which I was really nervous about. At first I was like, oh, this is going to be a bunch of hippies with, you know, the sink filled up with spaghetti stained dishes and all. But I got there and I was like, whoa! They had created this place and is such a sanctuary. And I remember there was one woman that lived there in particular, and, and I became like her apprentice. And she just said over and over again, like, this is how we do things. Everything has its home. This is how, you know. And and then later when I became a parent, I realized, like, that's what's what animals in every species do with their young is they say in some way, this is how we do it, right? You know, mama, mama dogs say to their puppies, no, no, we don't do that. We do this, you know, and they communicate in different ways. Um, but this is how.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
We do it. Yeah.

Dainel Aaron:
This is this is how we do it. Yeah. And I mean, and everybody's doing that, whether they're doing it intentionally or not. Um, and that brings us back to what you said about just the intentionality being so important, like seeing the home as not only a reflection of us, but as a container that's either going to facilitate us living well or us living poorly. Then the question becomes, what's our intention? What do we want to create here?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
So yeah, and. That it goes back to that a lot. I also think with I'm going to add that breath like wheat breath is really important. We, you know, breath work. But breath is really important in our home. Like it's like if something gets heated, you know, it's like, okay, we gotta breathe, bring air into your body. And it's that same it's that same thing, right? It's like you can't bring air into this room. You can't move it. It's it's the same thing. So we make that connection a lot too. So if there's something that's frustrating or there's it's like, okay, well let's breathe. Or if you don't feel like your body wants to breathe, go clean up. And then we'll come back to the conversation, you know.

Dainel Aaron:
Well. And what do you say? Or have you encountered it where you say, how does it feel to live in this clutter? And, and, you know, and someone respond like, I'm fine, I don't notice anything.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, I will say, like, we have definitely had that. And then it's like, okay, well let's just clean it up and do it anyway. And now I want to know how you feel in this. And it's like, oh yeah, okay. Better like because there's no denying, you know, like they never live in that. They never stay there. Um, yeah. And I will you know, it's like what comes first, the chicken or the egg when you have anyone that is so full of trauma and I will say, like being in the foster care system alone, regardless of what got you there, that's traumatic. Just being in the system is traumatic. So when you have any sort of trauma, it makes sense that you would, you know from a feng shui perspective, you would naturally sort of go to and feel, um, maybe comforted or at one with an environment that is reflective of that, lots of chaos and, you know, whatever that is. But there's a there's an unwinding and a loosening that can happen. Right? Like, because the body and the home are so connected, that can happen when you and I think that there is no denying that there just isn't like especially when, you know, for somebody that has incurred trauma, like being in foster care, it happened so quick. And then there's this like ease that can be like, oh, huh. And I'm sure it's really confusing too, right? Because it's like, whatever got you there. And depending on, you know, you could go to a place that doesn't feel good. But if you do go to a place that's like, whoa, like maybe. Maybe this is safe. Maybe I'm safe and you're testing, you know? But. But the natural tendency for somebody with a nervous system that's fight flight freeze is going to be to be in a messy situation. But there can be an unwinding if you can work with both, you know. Does that make sense what I'm saying?

Dainel Aaron:
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it goes back. Chicken or the egg. Which end do you start with? It's both relevant. Um, and I'm aware, Gina, that time is flying on. And I could ask you another 400 questions, though. Let me pause for a minute and ask you what you know. What haven't I asked you about? Or is there anything that you would love to share about that? Um, yeah, that we haven't covered yet. And, and I noticed we've got a few people who have chimed in to say hi to you throughout our conversation here. So, yeah, in our last couple minutes, you know, what else might you like to share?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Um, you know, I just I never have an agenda. I have an agenda. Um, you know, because this is a, uh, we're in this, like, amazing, beautiful full moon. I just had, um, you know, as I was sharing with you earlier, I just had a call about the full moon in, um. Leo, I'm a Leo. I'm a Leo, right. A Leo sun is my sun sign. Um, it's just such a this is such an empowering time. It's also like, a pretty dramatic time. And there's a lot going on. Like this weekend, I think is going to bring some energy that rubs up against. But, um, in general, this day, I just feel like there's so much about, um, purpose and just shining your light. And, you know, that's really what I feel like. That's really what my work is all about, is just helping people to truly embody who they were born to be and shine their light. And, you know, just do them. And what a great time to do that. Like it's the the Leo full moon, it's today. So however you're going to do that to um, you know, we can set that intention here together to maybe feng shui your career sector. I'm actually sitting in my career sector. That's another thing a lot of people said, um, you know, they couldn't believe that I did my office, like, my office is blacked out. It's my little, um, divine feminine womb cave. I really love it. But the ceilings black. The walls are all black. Um, black is a really good color for, um, career. And I just think that it's a great time to pay attention to purpose and career. And, um, I really love the Marianne Williamson quote that she shared. Um, that if you're not yet pissing people off, you're not yet doing the right thing. You know, like, if I and I want to just, like, share that piece, it's coming to me because of this full moon and where we're at. Um, yeah. And if there's, you know, anything, anything that we talked about that inspired anyone? Um, I think today's a really beautiful day to to dig deep into that inner fire.

Dainel Aaron:
Hallelujah. Nicely said. So, on that note, then what's the best way for people to connect with you if they're so inspired?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Yeah, I mean I have my websites Gina, Nicole, Dot net. I have, um, lots of online programing. Um, there's a programs page. So, you know, it just depends. Like I connect with people in one on ones. I have two retreats coming up this year. Um, yeah, I'm on Instagram. Gina Nicole B I'm obviously on Facebook. This is streaming there. Um, and yeah, I love I love to connect over anything. Feng shui, subtle energy medicine, foster care. Um, copywriting, I love to I'm a connector. I love to connect. So those are, um. Yeah. Gina. Nicole. Net is probably. That's my website that has all of my info.

Dainel Aaron:
Perfect. And for anyone who's listening, whether live or by rebroadcast and not viewing, that's g I n a n I c o l e dot net and great. Yes. Well, I'm sure you'll have a lot of people wanting to connect with you about all those things. And I love the diversity and broadness of your interests and expertise. So it's, I think time for us to for me to ask you the big final question, which is an impossible question because you've got so much experience, so much wisdom. And I'm going to ask you to ridiculously narrow it down so it's impossible. But that also means you can't go wrong, right? So is that okay? May I ask you?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Sure.

Dainel Aaron:
All right. So given all that, you know, if you if you had to boil it down to one thing and you were to say one piece of advice or information to our audience to help them to create a vibrant, thriving life, what's the one thing?

Gina Nicole Ballard:
You know what's coming to me right now, so I'm just going with it. Um, and it's it is where my journey really started after feng shui, and I'm Italian and tarot started in, you know, there's a, there's a connection with, um, tarot in Italy is to, to tune into that, you know, because tarot was created from the 52, um, playing cards and there's a whole story within those. And, um, we have a birth tarot card, and it's there for us for daily guidance. And it really helps to, to keep us on track. And there's nothing new Age about it is very old and is very safe. And it is not demonic. It's, you know, just don't keep asking the same questions. But I would say that, like, I don't know why that's coming to me, but that's coming to me is to, you know, for your own intuition, to create your own spirit vocabulary is to get to know that, to be friendly with it. It's an awesome tool. It's where it's one of the things that really, really helped me expand.

Dainel Aaron:
That's fantastic. I love that, and it's funny for me because 28 years ago, I actually worked for a while traveling around Spain reading tarot cards and astrology in a psychic fair with a bunch of chain smoking gypsies. Right? Um, that's another story for another time. However, um, it's come up several times just in the last few days for me about the tarot, and I love that you point out it's not new agey, it's it's very old. And what I've shared with people about it is what it is, is fundamental human archetypes, right, that we all have in us, we all experience. And one thing we know for sure, again, old age. The game is about self-mastery. Right at the Oracle of Delphi says, know thyself. And the more we can understand our self and the human journey, the more power and success we have on it. So I love that that's what came to you and you brought that forward.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Very. Yeah. That's what it. That's what came to. Me. That's what. It was. Yeah. Awesome.

Dainel Aaron:
Well, Gina, thank you so much for not just for being with us. I appreciate you taking the time, though, for all the work you've done to face the fear, follow the fear to create yourself into someone who's so heartful and so dedicated to others. You know, whether that's your students or the the world or the children that you work with. It's it's really beautiful and it's such an honor to have you with us. So thank you.

Gina Nicole Ballard:
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that reflection. And thank you for having me.

Dainel Aaron:
Total pleasure. All right. And for y'all, our audience again, live or by rebroadcast. Thank you. Because your interest in creating your life with even more vibrancy, not only does it make your life better, not only is it your birthright. And I say obligation because we've got the technology, your interest and activity, and hopefully you've committed to at least one thing you're going to employ in your house today, in your life that makes the world better. It really matters. So I appreciate you, I love you, I'm grateful for you tuning in. Thank you. Join us again soon. See you later. And in the meantime, please make your life a mast. Mahalo for tuning in to the Art of Vibrant Living show y'all! I'm Daniel Aaron and may you live with great vibrancy.

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