The Empowerment Equation: Cracking The Code With Author Laura Brennan Ballet

In this conversation, I am joined by Laura Brennan Ballet, author of "The Science of Empowerment", and we are talking about her book and the principles it covers for unlocking personal growth, potential and brilliance.

Topics include mindfulness, overcoming limiting beliefs, developing self-awareness, harnessing positive energy, accountability, critical thinking, elevating individual and collective consciousness, transformation from stagnation, her empowerment formula and principles like willingness, resilience, authenticity and purpose.

We discuss applying these concepts for sustainable positive change.

You can connect with Laura Brennan Ballet here: https://thescienceofempowerment.com/

Transcript

PMD: 0:27

Today I'm truly honored to have Laura Brennan Ballet, the luminary behind the science of empowerment, grace this virtual stage. Her journey is a testament to transformative power and movement and mindfulness and from a young age, Laura has been entranced by the language of the body mastering the art of expression through dance, but her passion extends far beyond the stage. It's a beacon guiding others towards self discovery and empowerment. And through her writing and decades of dedication Laura has cultivated a unique perspective on the connection between mind, Body and spirit and her work reflects a deep understanding of the human experience and a commitment to helping others unlock their fullest potential. As a coach, Laura has witnessed firsthand the profound impact of aligning physical feats with mental fortitude. She believes that true empowerment lies in harnessing the strength of the mind to propel us forward in our journey towards self realization. So join us today as we delve into Laura's insights, gleaned from a lifetime of exploration and a dedication to guiding others toward their own path of empowerment. Laura, welcome to the Transcendent Minds podcast.

LBB: 1:48

Thank you for having me, we've been excited for this for a while. So it's a pleasure. It's an honor to be with you. Thank you.

PMD: 1:55

I love the book and thank you once again for sending me a copy. I love the science of empowerment. And, empowerment begins with self awareness and belief in one's own worth and capabilities. Like a seed buried beneath the surface, our true potential lies dormant until the right conditions allow it to sprout and flourish and by putting into practice these principles that you talk about in your book and quieting our inner critic and challenging and limiting beliefs, we can begin to clear away the mental and emotional barriers that have kept as small. Just as a seedling needs nurturing, soil, water and sunlight to grow, we must create an environment that fosters resilience, courage and unwavering commitment to our goals. So my question to you is, what role does self esteem and self acceptance play in the journey towards empowerment and how can we work on improving these areas?

LBB: 3:00

Yeah, of course. Great question. And what I love, and as you were reading that, I was thinking about the beginning of the book, the first chapter, regardless of your present right condition. So many of us do not have the water, the sun, the proper soil. We don't live in an environment where we are being nurtured so that hidden genius is underneath and sometimes that self esteem or that resilience or that awareness isn't there and that perfect timing or that right opening doesn't come and we need to really cultivate that for ourselves, which can be a daunting challenge I understand, but I have come across so many people and I'm sure you have. And for the listening audience, we all know what that feels like when we see someone and they have this natural talent or this natural ability, and we feel less than, but if we give ourselves a moment. And one of my favorite sayings now is to suspend the doubt and just go for it because we live in that structure of doubt so often, and that's what keeps us buried and less able to bloom and sprout right and grow. So I think, self esteem and an awareness to maybe why we don't have it, why we're not connecting to it. I think sometimes that can almost magnify the limited thinking. And so what I would suggest is maybe honor the thought process, try to worry less of why it is in place and move forward anyways. Be fearless, be brave, be courageous, even though your environment may not be suited for that mindset, that energy. But give it a try because this is where we find that parts of ourselves are really ready to expand and to explore and to discover that we are more than that present condition. And I think that's where self esteem and really feeling good about ourselves and gaining confidence comes through that awareness.

PMD: 5:20

Can we just delve into the five principles and the formula because I I found that quite fascinating in terms of, because I know awareness was one of the first principles and in the realm of human experience, awareness is the beacon that illuminates our existence. It's the conscious recognition of our place within this vast tapestry of life and as well as the acknowledgement of our impact on the world around us. And I think awareness transcends mere observation. It's an active engagement with reality and one that can shape our perceptions, shape our agency and in turn our actions. How do you cultivate a heightened sense of awareness in your daily life? And can you expand a little bit more on this particular principle you highlight in your book?

LBB: 6:19

Yeah, I love this. And as you said, it's more than just an observance, right? To be aware of something. Okay, now what do we do when we are noticing that awareness? Where is it coming from? I always think about awareness as a really cool vehicle. To get in and start to travel around, right? Navigate inside. What is this vehicle of awareness? Why am I tuning in or tapping into it? What's that nudge that I'm feeling there? Something very unique about the J three equals E formula is my brother Christopher created this formula. A very long time ago, he was working mindset material before it was the in thing to do as a former USA gymnastics coach. And yes, he has worked with a lot of Olympians, and he started to formulate it in our neuromuscular training facility, and I started looking at it, and I wanted to know what would it be like if we used this formula for everyday people not just athletes, not humans that are already primed for greatness who somehow know how to tap into that ability physically, mentally. What about regular people like me? Moms and dads and sisters and brothers and church leaders or people that are really trying to make a difference in the world, but just get up every day. How do we bring awareness into their life so that they actually can take action to empower that awareness? So I think this first principle why it is there in that position. It is understanding that however, awareness is coming across your path into view. It is a marker, a mechanism, right? It's an indicator for you and I'm going to use this analogy because I'm a car girl hop in that vehicle and take it for a spin. Where is it bringing you trust that your instinct, your consciousness, God force, universal energy, however you want to look at it. It knows where to go and also to enjoy the scenery of that ride, that exploration, the high and the low, the negative and the positive. But awareness is not just to be aware of something. For me, it is to actually empower. The awareness to then get you to the second principle, which is willingness, because even if you are aware of something, but you are unwilling to do something about that awareness. Then you're just stuck in the awareness zone and it really isn't being aware. It just is and so it doesn't activate anything that will help you elevate and empower. And as you so beautifully talk about, and I do too, we've been in the book, this is about collective elevation. It really is about tuning into self awareness so that you can be that beacon of change, of transformation for others. But unless you truly take that journey within yourself, for me, there's a very disingenuous exchange of energy out in the world. You've got to know what it is to be aware and then to be willing to do something about what you are now aware of.

PMD: 9:55

Beautiful. I love the car analogy as well. Reminded me when I went to the States and I love the Eagles and I had a Mustang and it was convertible and I was driving down Ventura Highway and I had that song playing. It was just marvelous. I just loved it. So

LBB: 10:14

USA, yeah, it was just amazing.

PMD: 10:17

I absolutely loved it. I even oh, I have to show you this. Yes. Lemme see. I even went into one of these. Old stores and got some this is how nerdy I am. I got some old. Oh, I love it

LBB: 10:33

Licensed plates. Yeah

PMD: 10:36

and Yeah yeah, we've got the thrift store or something, but he had Yeah, it's chaotic store. Lots of things. The guy was so knowledgeable and he was telling me about all these plates. but I love that. And I'm a car guy too.

LBB: 10:49

Quick side note. I have a Mustang six speed.

PMD: 10:52

Oh, do you not

LBB: 10:54

convertible? Cause I'm in new England

PMD: 10:56

and

LBB: 10:58

I love it. I love it. Yeah, just,

PMD: 11:01

Just something. I know it sounds romantic. There's something about the wind in your hair, even if it's cold, a little bit crispy and it's just fabulous. There's just nothing like it's like when I go on a boat and I go across the ocean and I'm on the deck and it's just incredible. I find it so healing.

LBB: 11:20

And these are great metaphors for people to connect with whatever it may be, and it could be a car and it could be the boat or it could be out in the garden. But look at this with a new awareness, a new heightened perspective of what is my environment. How am I in it or am I really out of it and observing and how can I build right this beautiful bridge to close that gap and really live in the awareness so that I then can transform it into something on purpose.

PMD: 11:59

That's beautiful. And when you spoke earlier, I think that's one of the things I saw in your book was that it's not just about me although there is that part of it because we have to do the work on ourselves first. The very tired old analogy of if you're on an airplane, you put your own mask on first. But it's also about what you're birthing into the collective, right? And that's something that I see your book is doing in terms of the content, the context of it, and the container of it and how that, to my mind, it's, without getting too esoteric, is divinely tethered. I think that there are many aspects to it that I'm seeing in terms of willingness, which is the second principle. Because I see that as the fertile ground from which the seeds of change sprout, it's that readiness to act, the courage to step beyond the familiar and also the resolve to pursue one's aspirations. And I think this principle for me and probably for many others challenges the inertia of comfort zones and confronts the whispers. that go, it's too hard. Right? What role has willingness played in your personal and professional growth and how do you overcome the fear based thoughts that hinder willingness?

LBB: 13:34

Yeah, so I love this because really behind the willingness principle is knowing that you're willing to do something without being forced to do it. And that for me is really where the power lies, right? If we're being forced, we know within the human condition, we have a built in system. You're going to force me. I'm going to rebel. I don't know why it is that way, right? Me, for some reason, I'm an outlier. I always took that as a challenge. Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna put this on me. I've got it. And I would rise to that occasion. Now that probably had some rebellious energy in it as well, but I didn't shy away from it. And I have a very unique acronym for fear. This kind of came to me when I was writing the book because I don't want to live in the vicinity of fear. I don't want to live next door to it, and I certainly don't want to live in the building of it. So I started to think, what is it? I don't really get too frightened. I'm going to use that word. I'm not really in fear of too much. And I realized it was, I always feel forever empowered and resourceful. And for me, that's how I look at it because especially now with all of the knowledge we have available at our fingertips, but I always could go to my mother or a grandparent or a teacher, whoever it may be, or just a friend and create a conversation around a thought process of, geez, I'm a little nervous. Like I remember being 10 years old and I was the lead in a play and even though, yes, I was quite secure when I was a little kid and I could get up and do it, I still was scared. I had butterflies. I was nervous. I would get flustered on my lines, whatever it may..Have been. But I remember my parents talking to me and they really imparted this. You can go on, you don't have to go on, but what if you go on, try it, see what comes out of it I never had I never had this like real hard stop, so I think for people, this willingness, and moving past the fear, always is do your best and remind yourself. All thought is a program. It just is. We don't have to get into quantum. We don't have to get into neuroscience. We don't have to go anywhere. Real simple conversation. Everything we're thinking is a thought process and it came from someone else's thinking process and it was absolutely installed in our memory bank, zero to seven, right? It's almost like we're in this hypnotic state. We see mostly our parents, our grandparents, school. We start to gather in information with no awareness to where it's settling in the mind or the body, certainly not in the spirit, the soul, the consciousness. And we become what I've coined walking algorithms of someone else's thought process. Now, what are we willing to do about that knowledge? Knowing that so much of what I'm thinking about in this moment is really based on something that's already gone. It's already done. So there's this elapsed time. And so I'm still in the present moment connecting to something that I can't do anything about, including fear, right? If it's already gone, I'm already feeling it. It means the experience is already connected in. Now what now, what can I do? So now I start to think about, and we go back to suspend all doubt. Yeah, if you are in fear, if you feel unwilling, if you are a bit unaware, suspend it and tap into that part of possibility, dream, vision, intention. Now what happens, right? Try that little bravery badge on become as Laura Katana Oh, we talk about this, that courageous leader within, how do we activate that part of us that knows differently than what's at face value, i. e. the current condition. So if I'm in fear, I'm unwilling, or I just have limited thinking, how can I now navigate my thinking process to be more reflective of what I'd like to experience in the next moment, less of the drag of the moment that's already history. So again, this brings us right into the present of awareness, the presence of awareness, the now of it. So we can actually begin to design the next moment and the next moment and when you start to really understand this mastery of thought process, which I call written energy or Thought, energy, this is where we get to have some fun with life and empowering, empowering our choices.

PMD: 18:47

That's beautiful. There's so much in this book that I want to talk about. I think we need about three hours but yeah, and I think the whole thing with fear is that many of us try to push the river. Rather than the line with the current when we align with the current then lets us flow with it, but then we can steer it, we can navigate it in our own way. And I'm really big on accountability, which is the third principle, and I see that as one of the cornerstones of integrity and the foundation of trust. Because it's a commitment. It's being a commitment to owning my actions and my consequences, where I can foster a proactive approach to life's challenges, because I think when we hold ourselves accountable, we not only inspire confidence in others, but also empower ourselves to lead by example.

LBB: 19:56

Absolutely.

PMD: 19:57

What are some common misconceptions about accountability that you've encountered?

LBB: 20:04

Yeah, sometimes people think that if you take accountability that somehow you're a bad person or that you're wrong or you've done something right incorrectly and then there's blame and there's shame and there's guilt all wrapped around that. But for me, self accountability is another empowerment move. This is about looking at maybe not all the beauty and the genius of who we are. It's also taking into account those areas of our life that maybe we didn't show up quite as our highest and best self and by taking accountability, we now begin to almost soften the judgment of it, which begins to empower us away from looking at accountability as that's something again that I did that I shouldn't have done. It's okay. It was done. Now looking at it, holding, as you said, holding that commitment to my action from this point on, this is where we become empowered and really thinking about, for me, I write about this and I. live my life this way. I always look at the consequence before the experience. I think this is a very empowering tool or technique to not only look into but really become familiar with. When you start to think before I speak, when you start to think before I act, we already are elevating this accountability, not only for my personal experience in this interaction, but for the servitude of the other person. So if I'm being less selfish, if I'm being less judgmental, if I'm being less concerned with me, but I'm aware of myself in this interaction, but how can it be empower, elevate, serve, gift compassion to the interaction, whether it's one on one or one to many. Now we think about our accountability in our experiences. What are we setting up? What are we actually adding in to the collective? Again, one to one or one to many, so that the both of us come away feeling differently than if we just left accountability to the wind. Without it, there's no responsibility to what we're placing into the human condition into every interaction. We're just whatever. As long as I get what I need, I'm good. And there's no accountability in that because for me, accountability is an energetic exchange. I really do believe that I feel it's in place to reflect back to us that personal commitment of integrity of value underneath it. And more impactful is when we are accountable, we get to ask ourselves, how am I in service to this experience and then you want to behave differently. You want to speak differently. You want to bring knowledge and elevation into that experience. It's just no longer self serving for me when you are accountable. Again, that experience and it can be whether you're in church, whether you're in school, whether you're talking politics, whether we're, having heated discussions over many things. If you think of it from that perspective of I am accountable to how this person feels when they walk away from me. Now, how am I going to handle this? And I think it just shifts for many people, if you are so willing to be aware, your energy has causation on that other person's energy.

PMD: 24:18

That's what I call doing the holy work and some people may think that's religious. It is in one sense, but not institutionalized. Religion comes from the word, which means to tie, to bind. So I am bound by universal by universal subpoena that accountability and I'm not always great at it, but I build that muscle, every single day. I'm not infallible myself, but I try to build that because I recognize that blame and avoidance and truth and responsibility and accountability live on the same line. It's just which camp do you want to be in? It's a choice. And that's one of the things we're given is choice is the gift of choice to say I could be in blame and avoidance and blame the economy and blame my mother or whatever it is, or I can step into truth and responsibility and accountability. And like you alluded to Laura, it's also how we leave a conversation. To me, I'm very careful as to how I actually leave a conversation because I want to be accountable, not just to me, but to the energetic signature of that conversation.

LBB: 25:37

Yeah, exactly. And every conversation isn't always going to be, as we were talking before, cotton candy, it isn't always going to come up daisies. But for me a lot, I will say, I love you and some people are like how can you love me? But yes, I love your humanness. I love your soul, your spirit. Somehow we've created to be here in the same timeframe, right? We're experiencing things together and for me, that represents a love of, and as you said, it doesn't have to, or it could be a religious, connection, or it could be a universal connection, or it can just be whatever it is for you. But I think the frequency and the vibration of that word love and leaving that feeling of it for one another. Now, you don't randomly go up to a stranger and I love you. I understand that. But I think it's so important. And as you were saying before, too, All of us, have a vulnerability and are up against challenges every day and swimming against or with the current. I swim up against it so many times. I let people know it's just my nature. I'm like, I can do this and I can push through it. And then somebody will remind me it's okay. Yeah. Turn around and go downstream. It's okay. All of us really do have these moments that even if we are coaches or we're authors or we're creatives in our own world, let alone out creating impact. We also go through these fears and these limited thought processes or sometimes accountability may feel fearful, like I don't want to own that. But again, this is to me where the alchemy of the universe steps in. It is that space that if you have a little bit of that courage, a little bit of that brave energy and you go in there, even if you go in and you back out. You go back in a little further, you come back out. This is where you really start to navigate the internal work that is needed so you can have positive effect on the global family itself. It really does, I know people talk the hero's journey and all of that, but it really is an inside job. It will always be an inside job. Everything on the outside is a marker, an indicator, a driver, a vehicle, whatever fits your lexicon. Tune in, tap into that and start to do what is required of you. And that is to live into your full potential. And you can do that beautifully when you look at these five principles and you have some awareness around the energies, right? Negative, positive, neutral energies, and how that can begin to support you moving through the formula so that you begin to create an empowered life.

PMD: 28:37

And it's so important what you're highlighting because we have to have, and even on the, on these podcasts, we have to address. difficulties. We have to address challenges. Not from a standpoint of saying, Oh, this is so hard. I can't do it, but to be compassionate in our conversations, but not to be fearful of exploring what may be differences between us or between what we're amplifying, but rather than exploiting that so that, I make you look bad. So I couldn't look good or you lose and I, when you get into that duality, it's more about exploring as distinct from exploiting. So when we explore these things, even though we may come at it with different language and lenses of perception, We have to address the challenges, especially in the science of empowerment, and I'm glad it's called the science of empowerment because In every chapter I've read, there is such great foundational backing and support for it in a very practical manner that you can humanize it into application now, right? It's not something you have to cogitate about or, chant or meditate on it. You can actually humanize it into application right now.

LBB: 30:03

Yes. You can actually become a change agent for yourself. Yes. For your family, for your coworkers, for your community, your church. It is such an applicable, beautiful, simplistic way of empowering yourself if you look at it with that lens. If you are aware that I have that ability in me I am willing to look at this I am accountable for how I view this information.. Someone could read the book and be like, this is too advanced. I can't do this.Or someone could say, you know what, let me just take this formula. Let me just run it right here. We live this formula. I use it with my children. I use it with the teams that I work with. The people I collaborate with, they may not know I'm running through awareness, willingness, accountability, critical thinking, energy, how I'm recalibrating negative or positive energy between us, but I'm always working it. And it literally is something you can do. Like that and it will begin to change the dynamics of what is happening in your current condition.

PMD: 31:12

And you're changing your neurology or physiology. When you build that density and you keep building it and you keep building it. And I think for many people, it's like going to the gym. You may look at a bar and it's got 20 kilos on each side. It's not that you cannot lift that bar. It's just you're not strong enough yet. That's where the practice has to come in. That's where the action, the willingness has to be there.

LBB: 31:42

And think about how we spend our moments. We practice over and over again, the same routine, the same pattern, the same belief, the same perspective. We never challenge that. I'm still doing the same thing I've done for months, years, decades, I'm still experiencing the same interaction, maybe different faces, different places. What's going on here? Awareness. It's me. I'm the common denominator. What am I willing to do about it? Flex some muscle. Begin to create new neuronal pathways in the brain, even if you don't understand neuroplasticity, super cool. Don't worry about it. Just know by thinking differently, meeting new material, bringing in new knowledge, right? Creating what I call that internal living library. Building up that resilience. You've already got things. Synapses are firing. You're beginning to change and change is beautiful. It's empowering. It's elevating. It's why we're here. I write about this in the science of empowerment. I speak about this all over the world. I am a firm believer that coded within our DNA is the absolute sheer genius of the universe. It is in this DNA. Tune into it. Tap into it. Explore. Discover. It doesn't matter what it is. Do it for yourself so that your energy field, your vibration, your level of positive intelligence has something to offer wherever you may go. It doesn't have to be big and bold and, world changing. It could be the way you change being a mother, a father, a partner, a brother, a sister, a friend. Maybe as a boss, a leader in your organization, you read this book and I have someone that did this, ran one of our largest insurance companies in the country, read it, bought 30, made his team read it, stuff started to change. Literally, it can happen that quickly. Challenges do not have to be difficult, right and difficulties can be now seen through the lens of a challenge. We can overcome challenges. We really can. Difficulties puts an energy of too arduous, can't do it. So immediately as anytime you use the word difficult, just put in challenge. That's challenging. Okay. Let me see through awareness. What do I need to overcome that challenge? These five things. Out of these five things, pick two that you're willing to now enact. Okay. Accountability. No one's going to do that for me. I can only do it, which moves us now into the fourth principle, critical thinking.

PMD: 34:37

Yeah and just to say that it's not to be dictated to by absolutes, turning the noun into a verb so that there is action involved, because a challenge, when you perceive a challenge, if you say to yourself, that's hard. then that tells you don't have the resources to meet that challenge. And when you don't have the resources, because you think you don't have the resources by the very narrative that you're espousing, it creates internal pressure. And that pressure has got to go somewhere. Whereas in contrast to that, if you look at the challenge from these principles, then you perceive it not as a threat, but as a challenge, and therefore you have the willingness to find the resources that you need to meet that challenge, which then allows you to disperse that pressure. So you're not in fight, flight, fix, freeze. You're more in a sympathetic, vagal ventral tone. And so that makes a huge difference.

LBB: 35:48

And it's fun, right? Exactly. This can be fun. And I'm not saying tragedies and loss and hardships. I'm not saying take something like that and just recalibrate it and become positive. Of course not. I'm saying when we're speaking here in the context of empowering lives and elevating perspectives and really tapping into that highest and best part of ourself. What a beautiful opportunity to explore this while we're in this human condition, we have these amazing brains. We have these creative spirits. We have these compassionate hearts. We've got everything at our fingertips. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself, become willing to really design a life that just as full of whatever it is that you want to experience.

PMD: 36:42

Nothing happens without friction. You think of how a pearl is made. Yeah. The grit of the sand, there's got to be that friction. You want to make a baby. There's got to be that friction. Nothing. These things that come through our life canal, like the birth canal, there is friction that goes on for something new to appear. So it's not always an easy ride. You have to go into the rough and tumble of things, but that's predictable. But if you operate via these principles, then you have a much, much better opportunity and a chance to be able to remedy whatever you need to remedy. It doesn't matter what the situation is. Are you in blame or avoidance? Or are you in truth and accountability? And in terms of critical thinking because I see that as the compass that really guides us through the maze of misinformation and bias. It's really the disciplined appreciation of reason and evidence and free from the distortions of emotion. And by harmonizing the analytical and creative hemispheres of our brain, then critical thinking enables us to make decisions that are both informed and balanced. So my question that comes up for me here is what techniques can people use to develop their critical thinking skills?

LBB: 38:16

Yeah, I love this principle because for most of us we just don't exercise this principle, right? We are emotional. creatures. We are highly reactive creatures and so many coaching programs and podcasts and conversations all around the world. I just was listening to something unique at Harvard about this like a formula to happiness and how these emotions really on my words, they're in the wake of the boat, right? They're always behind us and yet they have such power. In the moment, we're never responding from our future healed, elevated, empowered self. We are always reacting from a lifetime ago or something that happened 10 minutes ago and then that just adds to it. I love this principle because it doesn't tell you to ignore your emotions. It tells you to not be influenced so much by them that you lose the ability to think with an intellectual lens. And again, this is all about tapping into our personalized potential. You don't have to think the way I think, but if you think to the very best of your ability, you're going to show up differently than if you're thinking from emotional debris, if I come into my interaction with you and I am dragging 15 suitcases of experiences. Oh, dear Lord, we don't even have, we don't have a chance. But if I come in and I understand that within those suitcases, there is a lifetime of, and we fill in that blank, neglect, abandonment, alcoholism, abuse, all of it. We all know that's already in that condition, but I'm just going to put it down for a minute. And I'm just going to pack very lightly. I'm going to bring my heart. I'm going to bring my soul. I'm going to bring an openness, and I'm going to come into this experience with what can I give, and maybe just a little bit, what can I take away that I now can begin to put into a brand new suitcase. So that everywhere I go, I'm bringing in something deeper, something impactful, something empowering, something on purpose. So that when, again, I keep saying this, but when I leave that interaction, it is less emotionally charged from past experiences. And it is more I'll say infused with emotion, but not emotionality that is in the negative realm. It is more emotionally charged through the lens of critical thinking. So again, I'm not influenced from emotion, but I am maybe closing the gap, merging those energies so that my emotionality is honored and I have some reverence for why I feel the way I feel, but I'm now a bit more intellectualized. I now get to see what differentiates reacting to now becoming responsive. And there's a power in that empowers our daily experiences.

PMD: 41:52

It's making me think about, how we make decisions, when we evaluate and make an intelligent, informed decision, if we can use critical thinking to do that, I know there's a chapter in your book then, It's going to be much more of a balance. I think Dr. Ian McGilchrist talks about this from his book about the two hemispheres. But, we use that in decision making and not like you say, just from an emotionally charged gravitational pull of the weight, but more from, understanding that your left brain is going to be mathematics, but your right brain is going to be music, right? So it's being able to come at those things from both aspects and that will requires energy and energy is the other principle, the fifth principle, which is the essence of our being the invisible force that animates our actions and interactions. So it's, for me, it's the vibrational signature. That we leave on the world and it's capable of influencing our environment and those within it. And I think recognizing and harnessing this energy is key to living a life of purpose and positivity. It's in everything. It's in everything. It's in everything. What practices have you found effective in transforming negative energy into a positive force?

LBB: 43:26

Yeah. First, I give myself some grace, understanding that if I'm in a negative expression, I'm thinking negatively. I'm feeling negativity. It's coming at me or I'm giving it out, right? I'm reacting. I'm not on top of my game. Whatever that is, my awareness kicks always. What am I aware of in this moment? I'm being negative. I'm talking it, walking it, thinking it, feeling it. I'm pushing out the vibration of it. Okay. What am I willing to do about it? It could be a meditation. It could be a walk. It could be going to the gym. It could be making a cup of tea. It could be journaling. It could be reaching out to a friend. It could be and fill that in. Now let me neutralize. Let me neutralize. Now I'm accountable for how I continue my energetic output. Turn in, right, critical thinking. Don't drag the emotionality with me. That's going to pull me back into that negative mindset, which really has nothing to do with who I am in this present moment. Certainly doesn't have anything to do with who I'd like to become a more elevated, more intelligent, more compassionate human being in the next moment. Okay. But that critical thinking call I'm choosing in this moment to now go into a more positive mindset, a more positive vibration. I've honored my negativity. I've neutralized it through different practices. My main practice is I run right through the formula and it just brings me right back to the present moment. And how do I want to conduct my business? right now. Am I tuning into the divinity? Am I tapping into my potential? Am I learning how to regulate my response system? Am I exercising the power that was given to us in this human condition, the brilliance of the mind and how I think in order to feel that experience. And the minute I move through that is less than a minute, I'm already positive. I can diffuse almost any negative situation because truly in my heart, I don't want to feel negativity. I don't want to give out negativity. Now, all of us cannot go from negative to positive. at all. Sometimes it takes a very long time and lots of therapy and coaching and meditation and diet and nutrition and knowledge and all of that. Beautiful. Just be aware that you are now beginning to neutralize the negativity just through that awareness. Continue every day to be willing to take in new programs, new information, right? New exercises, right? Now you're accountable for how you're starting to show up for yourself. First and foremost, most important relationship in the world. yourself. Now I'm less emotional. I'm thinking with more positive intelligence, i. e. critical thought. Now I can move on. Now I can start to feel I'm a little bit more neutral than usual. Now neutrality to positivity. That's not too far of a jump anymore, is it? We all know what happiness feels like security, compassion, love connectivity. Now I can exercise positive energy. That's how I moved through it. And if I may add in I write about this and talk about this everywhere. What I love about empowering the state of neutrality is always remind yourself that you are in the power seat of choice. You can slide back down to that negative realm, or you can uplift into that positive realm. It's an exploration. It's a discovery. It's a coming upon the self actualized knowing that I am in the power seat of choice at all interactions, at all turns and corners. I am and how I choose to empower or disempower each moment of my life. That's on me.

PMD: 47:42

I love that. How are you doing for time? I'm good. I'm good. We can hang. Great. Can we just talk about some of the chapters? Yeah. So I just like to look at the first chapter about individualism. And I was making some notes when I was reading through it. And what I realized is that, and this is not really a blanket statement. There could be different views about this, but I'd like to say in the context of this conversation, we all start life as a blank slate, a fresh canvas waiting to be painted upon by the world around us. For an early age, there's all these external forces that begin shaping our identities, the conditioning, the parents, the teachers, the peers, societal norms, layer upon layer. Their expectations and influences cover our true selves. Much like a sculptor adding clay to a formless mound. And if we remain passive and we let these outside molds define us, we risk living in inauthentic existence. We become this walking conversation that isn't us. It's just a shell of our potential. And just as a butterfly must break free from its cocoon to take flight, we have to shed the veils imposed upon us to unleash our individuality and soar a new heights of empowerment and self actualization. What are some examples of how do external influences shape our identities from childhood, and how can we become more aware of these forces?

LBB: 49:35

Yeah, so if I'm talking about this a lot with clients for me, the energetic structure of forgiveness comes in a lot because when we're starting to do this inner work, it really is based from that childhood. We are almost in a hypnotic state right from about zero to seven and everything that comes in hypnotizes us. We don't really have the brain capacity or the awareness to differentiate that is someone else's issue that they are now injecting into my field. It really just becomes who we become. And I think when we start to really become aware that I want to exercise my individuality, I want to know what does that feel like to not be this walking algorithm of everything else around me and it isn't even just to say, who am I? And again, in that esoteric way of looking at it, right? Who am I and what would I die for? And what mountain do I stand on? But it really is about, again, I'm going to use this word, having fun, exploring who you now can choose to become. You are the architect of your thought process now. When you start to tap into that awareness, you hold that power, you hold that stroke of the brush or whatever metaphor you want to put to it. Again, you look back and understand that all of those people, for the most part, did the very best they could. They were less equipped than you are now. You are now becoming skilled. You are gaining knowledge. You are looking at new insights to who and how you can become someone different. And that doesn't mean you forget all of who you have been, but so many of us in our adulthood really do want to shed the old and become something much more liberated and much more again actualized. And we do this by letting go of the stories that captive to the aspects of the personality that we believe is who we are. We are not. They are stories. They are experiences. They were indicators of maybe issues or challenges that somewhere down the road we are strong, we get to look at that and now we get to do differently than maybe the grandparents or the parents or the leader in the church or everything around the world, the politicians, the school systems, etc. Again, this goes back to accountability, we can look at those touch points and hold them in shame and guilt and blame, or we can become a self accountable human being. and begin to redesign, re engineer our present and our future self. And we do this on an individual basis.

PMD: 52:50

That's beautiful because it also reminds me of the fact that, and I see this very much in in the threads of your book, is that one of the perceptions I had is that as well as the individualistic development that one can take on for oneself, the ripple effect that could happen to the collective, we can also recorrect what the last generation could not get to at that time, because it wasn't in the permission, perception for them to do so at that time. Whereas now there's a different permission. There's a different perception so that we can become much more empowered. And in terms of in chapter two, you talk about, I love some of the titles there, energetic connectivity.

LBB: 53:43

Yeah.

PMD: 53:43

And I do love the titles in this book. We often operate on autopilot, we're trapped in these conditioned patterns of thinking and behaving that limit our growth and to break, I call it breaking in to break out, to break in and to break free we must cultivate awareness, first principle, and an awakening that allows us to recognize these ingrained or deeply ingrained patterns for what they are, which are really illusions obscuring up our true potential and because the narrative in this chapter likens patterns to illusions, how can we discern between patterns that no longer serve us and those that are essential, those that are essential parts of who we are?

LBB: 54:37

Yeah. Again very simple. How do you feel, right? How do you feel? If you are feeling negative, if you are feeling disempowered, if you are feeling sad, alone, isolated, that's a pattern. It's a pattern of thought. It came from some outside influence that you authorized to make you feel a very specific way. If you look at true energetic connection and you look at the energy of the pattern and then start to understand that energy can be transformed to now give you something differently. Have a pattern of and fill in that blank that was based from a perception, which kind of is an illusion because it's still holding power over me and at this point, it's if I was abandoned when I was seven and I'm 27, 20 years have passed, I'm still not abandoned anymore, but I'm holding the story, i. e. the energetic structure of abandonment. Now, how can I begin to exercise more reality into the illusion through understanding that energy connects to energy. I don't want to feel, I don't want to think, I don't want to align with abandonment anymore. I'm going to start thinking differently. I'm going to tap into the energetic current of feeling connected. Feeling loved. How do I do that? Goes back to how do you structure your individuality? So maybe you go to your local church or maybe you go to your local community center. Maybe you start taking a yoga class. You reach out and ask a friend there for, would you like to have a cup of coffee? There's such simple ways to begin to, as you said before, really think about it in the terms of a gym, which we all can exercising the lightweight, the middleweight, the heavyweight. It doesn't go, you don't go in and start jump boxing 18 feet up in the air a basketball player you just jump up in the air and land on your feet. You have to begin somewhere. Energy is in everything. It's in the density of a rock and it's in the floating of a feather and it is in who we are. We're energy, negative, positive or neutral. Negative patterns are delusion, illusion. We have a saying at our gym at JEKL we do not live in delusion. We just don't do it. Everyone knows when you come in, you don't use words. I can't. hard difficult. It's just not allowed in there. We start to formulate a connection to the possibility of energy. How can I look at neutral cause that's fairly calming. I can handle that. How can I now experience positive energy and what do I connect to and how do I connect to it so that it becomes part of who I am? Which is how you always have been. But as you said, in the beginning, we come in what I call slated, we are erased. And then at a very young age, because of course we're tiny, we don't have the ability to deflect. That's your issue. You're an alcoholic and you're abandoning me. And while you're not very kind, we just don't have it. And by the time we start to be able to have some behavioral awareness, We're already screwed in the delusion, illusion department. We really have just become these patterns. So energetic connectivity to me is about understanding you are an energetic being, your mind, your spirit, your consciousness, your soul. However you want to look at it. God force, universal force is all energy. Use that tune into it to create a life that is different from the illusion and the patterns that made you unhappy or insecure or in fear.

PMD: 58:53

Ooh, that was powerful and I love the whole thing in the JEKL gym, that you don't allow those words in because that energy becomes energy. Energy. It's in.

LBB: 59:07

It's in. In vision. Exactly. Yeah. It's how it's an inside job.

PMD: 59:12

It's an inside job. It's always an inside job. Because the beauty of it is that this creates an interruptus into what happens in a nanosecond, which is the perception, the story, and the conclusion. Yeah, people live in that or they have a perception about what happened in their childhood. They have the story of that perception and then they have a conclusion and that keeps running through their neurological system. But that needs an interrupters because they're no longer that person. And that leads me into The third chapter, which is the gift of opportunity. Again, a wonderful title sparks all kinds of things in me, but breaking free from negative patterns is so important and I find myself when we find ourselves sometimes entrapped in a vicious cycle when negative patterns of thinking and behaving become deeply ingrained habits, and these become self limiting tendencies, which, as I spoke about earlier, stem from past traumas, distorted perceptions and here's where it's a noun, an addiction, an addict, you're an addict, an addiction. To drama that protects our fragile egos. But the gift of opportunity lies in recognizing that our false sense of identity is really a diversion from our authentic selves. And when we cultivate the self awareness and a willingness to confront these patterns, We can then begin to peel away the layers and really unveil our untapped potential. In a way, the narrative mentions that drama and ego protection often reinforce negative patterns. How can we develop a greater sense of self worth? and security that allows us to let go of these self sabotaging tendencies.

LBB: 1:01:38

Yeah, I love, I just appreciate and love you so much for reading and journeying through this book the way you have and just absolutely, I didn't doubt it anyways, but the way that you've taken it in and the way that you align with it is just as a writer such a beautiful experience personally for me. So thank you for that. The gift of opportunity was built on a backstory, what we call be the monster. And this is really about the drama and the ego holding you in the cage and the gift of opportunity is you've had the key all along and what we do is we find safety in that drama. I know people that talk about the same story that happened years ago, and it's at the front of everything they talk about, whatever it may be, it doesn't matter. I got divorced 12 years ago, my husband, whatever it may be, by re entering into that zone of that storytelling. It is how the ego keeps you trapped in the cage. It's got you hooked in. You feed off of the drama. You feed off of the story because that allows you to blame outside of yourself. It keeps you so well insulated for taking accountability on the work that needs to be done to forgive and to move on. So what I do, and I love this, and now this is time into coaching, but I just was talking to someone about this the other day and they were really drilling down hard on their story and you could tell they just weren't going to let it go. And I asked, I said, okay, I'm going to give you this space, hold on to that, do what you got to do. Of course, I didn't say it in this terminology but I said, let me ask you something. Are you willing to just experience a moment of empowerment just right here. You don't have to take it with you. I'm not telling you to change your story and rewrite it just for the moment. Are you willing to experience a moment of empowerment and of course they said yes, said beautiful. In this moment of empowered thinking and connecting to the energetic structure of empowerment, can you see yourself? being disassociated from the story at any point in your near future. Don't think what? Yes. Because if I gave them a moment to think the drama and the story and the ego would hook them even more. Yes, I can. Beautiful. Just do that now. Nope. Session's over. Just do that now and we'll talk again and I did reach out later and I left them with no, and they got to feel right. That I'm holding myself in this cage. I'm aligning with all of the drama, all of the patterns that are based on the ego falsifying itself at the expense of my true authentic self. And I will not give that power anymore. It will now begin to course correct itself. And every time that drama wants to tell its story, and every time that pattern wants to resurface, and every time that ego wants to plume its feathers, I'm going to empower myself in that moment, and I'm going to envision, which I really, I have a new book that I want to write called N. I. N. Empowerment, because it really is N. I. N. Empowerment, and now you get to move into the power seat of choice. You neutralize that negative story, disillusion, pattern, ego, all the words we can put and attach to it. Now you get to come into that power seat of choice. And now you can release what I call the monster. You just put your hand out through the cage, the key's been right there, open it up. Let yourself out the door, turn around, lock the door, put the monster away. Somebody else will pick the crate up and do something with them. They go to the monster zoo. I don't know wherever they go and that's it, but it was such a breakthrough for this person. I didn't give them a moment to live in the drama anymore because most people, when they come to me I want them primed and ready for empowerment. And if I notice someone's really struggling with something, there are people much more gifted than I to bring them through that, that trauma, and heal those parts of them because my natural right energy is all about living this life of empowerment. So for me, and that's transparent, I wouldn't go back into that trauma because I've had my own and I don't want to reflect that. I want to reflect the possibility, the elevation opportunity to empower. So I really think for those listening, You hold the key. That's the gift of opportunity. Release yourself from it. The drama and the story and the pattern and the ego absolutely serve no purpose to the time frame that we're in now, which is to activate and accelerate your personal human potential.

PMD: 1:07:17

That's so well said, Laura and it reminds me of when I was reading through this book, I had a dream and the dream was about a mirror. The empowerment work was me looking in the mirror, but not looking at a distorted perception of my being, but realizing that I could grow and I could evolve, I could empower my own evolution. But the other side of the mirror was a universal mirror. And what was going on in the material was also being reflected out into the ethereal. And you talk about this in your book in terms of it being birthed into the collective as well. So that was really interesting in terms of this aspect of it. Within each one of us, and I think you alluded to this earlier, there, there lies a dormant code a blueprint for growth and evolution. And, we often shy away from the hard work that's required to activate this innate potential because we find it easier to tolerate pain and stagnation than to embrace the discomfort of change but if we value the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom and develop the perseverance and the commitment to a sustained effort, I see that we can awaken this slumbering giant within us. Because I think once we let the genie out of the bottle we don't need to put it back in. It won't go back in.

LBB: 1:08:59

Not in the same way, certainly. And you can look at the genie as the ego or the disillusion or the story or the pattern, the walking algorithm, a walking algorithm you've become, you can't. And to tune in and tap into that higher level of thinking to just look at the possibility that I'm an energy being. I'm in the power seat of choice. I can choose energy. I can choose language. I can design my day how I want it to, of course, within respect to the collective. Yes, you can. You absolutely can.

PMD: 1:09:36

The example you gave with the client of empowerment in the moment when we import this positive information, this constructive information, and embody it into our minds, so our minds actually process it, our cognition processes it, so we embody it, we rewire our neural pathways, paving the way for sustainable transformation. And I think that's a really important aspect of this work. But the question that comes up in me is that in what ways can our personal growth and empowerment contribute to larger scale positive change in our communities and the world?

LBB: 1:10:28

Yeah this question, and you know me, but I'm thinking I've got three different examples and I believe around here, especially in the United States, our political arena is littered with energy that is not beneficial to the collective churches. The structure for me looking at the structure of humanness is being a bit distorted at the moment as well. So I really just feel that it is so important if we can on a daily basis to think about ourselves in the way of this question. How does my frequency, my vibration, my essence, fit in to not only where we all are in this moment, but how can I do something to ensure the moments to follow will be better than the moments we are experiencing? And I think when we begin to explore this question and that question could be simplified for different audiences, but it still comes down to how am I contributing? How am I empowering or disempowering the collective field of humanity and most of us don't want to look at this question. It's too big. It's too much responsibility. I've got to get up and go to work and put the dog out and pick up the dry cleaning, but no, that is really right as so many leadership in the world quote, that's human doing not human being. And yes, we'll have to do, we all have to do, but there's a way to be very present in the doing that starts to recalibrate the energies. So even while we're doing, we're upholding social graces, we're learning how to interact with new perceptions projections and perspectives that are being injected into this human condition. We have ways of showing up differently. I just think that, I was asked a question once by a very lovely friend of mine. Why did you not put anything personal in this book? There's nothing about you, your story in you. And I said, oh God, I had such an intense, and such an, oh God, an intense reasoning for that. If I did my job well as a writer, if I did my job, what I'm going to say in an accurate way so that the reader really garnered something about themselves through this book, then I've done a service to the global readership at large me telling the story out into the book, me presenting my drama, my tragedy, my loss. It's beautiful and those stories weave such importance into our human experience. I wanted this to be a book that answered that question that you just asked. How can I take a course? IE read a book. How can I take a course? IE listen to a podcast. How can I really take a course? IE hire a coach and come away with feeling truly that I matter that how I think and how I feel and how I present myself to the world actually brings a moment of goodness into the legacy of Mother Earth. And the only way we can do that is if we believe that we have the ability to awaken to that aspect of our humanity. We naturally then can contribute. Just that knowing starts to shift the narrative of the collective. So I think this is really important to, again, know that the internal journey is really to be in servitude for the collective human experience. And there's ways to do that books, podcast courses, coaches, and just choosing to be a human being of neutral energy and always gearing up towards being a positive force in each interaction, I think will start to help elevate some of the lower frequency that we're all experiencing. So I'm not sure if that quite answered it in the way you were looking for, but that's what authentically came out.

PMD: 1:15:37

I'm never looking for the way it needs to be answered. I think that you're all over this book. I just think it's not the personality of Laura Brennan Ballet. It's the higher self of you. That's why I was saying to you earlier, I feel that what you birthed into the collective has been divinely tethered and clearly what just came through you and what spoke through you isn't about you, but it is about the replay of something much higher that has manifested in you as an entity that's called Laura.

LBB: 1:16:12

Yeah. If you were to ask me to repeat. I couldn't.

PMD: 1:16:17

I know you can't.

LBB: 1:16:18

It's a tuning in right to that aspect of why we are here, right? We're just vehicles to remind people, you can hop in, come for a super cool ride because I've got a really unique navigation system to get us to the next point of destiny. And then you get to hop into another vehicle and I think that's what happens and people often ask me that if you show up at a retreat or a summit or you give a talk and they're like, how did you think? How did you connect? It's like it isn't even a process to get there. It just is there. And I think that's what I really wanted to impart in the science of empowerment. This book was that reflection mechanism for you. You can see yourself in it. I know what that looks like. I feel that I've thought about that before. Oh, wait a minute. And there's a part in the book when I actually say hello to that part of yourself that's been hidden because for so many of us, it's in that's probably the most really true kind of friend to friend moment I have in the book where I'm here I know what that feels like to read something to be exposed to something that all of a sudden you get that feeling in your gut and you're like, oh my life is not gonna be the same after this There's something now that is always going to be in the back of my mind when I go to have a disagreement again, and I've quoted my friend Laura Katana in here. We were just talking about disharmony and regulating harmony. You're going to go into this disharmony environment and be like, I can't stay like this. I can't have the same conversation that I've had with you for I don't know how many times. I can't show up to this place of work anymore. It's drowning my soul or I can't and fill in that blank. Not because I can't because it's disempowering, meaning I can't because I don't have to anymore. I am now in power to make different choices or you don't leave a relationship and quit a job right at the get go. You just start practicing right that neuroplasticity muscle, you start bringing in that knowledge, you start slowly. I did this in my own family. I started asking, what is your intention to this conversation? They looked at me like I had two purple heads. Why are you asking me? We have this conversation all the time. Exactly. Why are we having it again? Oh, so now let's take a five minute break. You go do what you have to do. I'm going to step away. Let's come back and let's come back with positive intention. Let's see if we can structure this conversation differently so we feel there's some resolve and there's some growth. Now all my kids look at me like, all right, mom, bring it on. But that's what I do and I do it, whether it's quietly in my mind, when I'm talking to someone or I'm showing up at an event or I'm listening to conversation at a gathering. I'm starting to look at the patterns, the energetic patterns and how can I go in and just elevate it for a moment without being intrusive, without being disrespectful so that I can uplift the energetic frequency of the whole. Because if two people are having a negative experience in the corner at a party. It absolutely everybody picks up on it. Yeah. So I find that if I can go up and just be, Oh my God, did you guys try that dish over there? Sarah, come on over with me. I know you're a foodie. You've got to try it. And you break the conversation. You break that pattern. That actually changes something in the neuroplasticity for those two people, even if they're unaware. But then that gives me a moment to maybe then reach back out to them and say, you know what? I was reading a book or I listened to this podcast and I noticed something that you guys were going through. Are you receptive to some new information that might help that friendship, that relationship? If you get no mind your own business, thank you. You walk away. Nine out of 10 times. Someone's yeah, we've been having some trouble. And then you can open up the conversation. So that kind of, for me, that's that 360 view of how can we individually, even if ever so quietly start to change the whole collective vibration on this planet.

PMD: 1:20:40

I was listening to a podcast with a neuroscientist who talked about cortisol and what they said was they used to think cortisol was just an inside job. It was trapped within the body, but now they found it actually leaks out through the body. And if you're in very close vicinity to that person who's experiencing toxicity or negative thinking, it seeps into your sinews. So there needs to be an interruptus where people can feel empowered and then understand that there is, as you have in chapter four, there is a potential for brilliance because, we often find ourselves entrapped in that cycle of emotional reactivity where our responses are driven by a deep seated conditioning and a lack of self awareness. And there's a disconnect between our feelings and our ability to respond with intellectual discernment. So it's putting discernment to work because if we don't do that, it keeps us tethered to patterns of negativity and hinders our personal growth. As you've alluded to, within us lies the innate genius. We can liberate that genius to harmonize our emotional and intellectual selves. Which then allows us to observe our emotions with mindful detachment and respond from a place of wisdom as distinct from impulse.

LBB: 1:22:21

I love this chapter, potential brilliance and I personally find that when you bring even that wording to people, they just look at you like either brilliance? No, that is not something for me, or it's only for, rock stars, or supermodels, or professors, and scientists, whatever they're laying, and I'm just like, oh. Again, we hold ourselves so Oh boy, so tightly to who we think we are not and we bypass who we really are. It's such this unique way of looking at the human condition and how we've twisted this. It should be the other way around. All of what is opposite of our brilliance should be the switch to the brilliance, but it's not. It's the switch off, not to switch on. All of these things are in place and it's like a power station. It just shuts down all of that brilliance. And for me, these indicators and no, not when we're young and maybe not when we're actually experiencing trauma at that moment. But when we start to come up for some air, when we start to feel a moment, just a moment of, oh, okay, I might just might be able to move away from this right there. That's brilliance. Trying to say hello. I am here. I've always been here. However, we look at life. However, we believe reincarnation, past lives, angels, guides, spirits, cosmos, off planetary existence. It doesn't matter. Stay right here. You have all of this right here. If you don't understand where it came from, who cares at the moment? You got it. If you can't quite figure out what to do with it, here you go. Here's a podcast. Tap into it. Own it, authorize it, give it permission to express itself. No one's going to judge it because they're still off, not even tapping into their own brilliance. But the minute you start to tap into it, all this is for me, all you want to do is get everyone else to know it. That you are amazing. You are beautiful. You are on purpose. And yes, even those of us that are down and down quick story when I lived out in Litchfield County, of course, here in the USA, we had an area where our parents would drop us off and it was a little town street and we get ice cream and lunch and there were restaurants, but there were what we used to call in that day the town bum, the bums would live on the street. They were homeless. That's what they called them. Town bums. They didn't call them any other name. And I used to sit with them on the curb and talk with them. And my friends would be like, what are you doing? I'd be like, just go in the store. I'm right here. I'm okay. We're out in broad daylight. They weren't mean, they weren't hurtful people. And I would just talk to them. And I remember telling my mom and my grandmother, especially a lot of female strong and power in my family. And they just thought it was amazing. And my grandmother, especially just keep on talking because somewhere it will make a difference. So even for the people that are at that level right now that they cannot even imagine tapping into anything other than what is. I promise you if you begin to explore the question within your own mind, Is this what I am meant to experience? Is there a possibility that there might be something a bit more? Just asking that question starts to move the energy and you will be amazed at what starts to come up. Maybe there's somebody that drives down the street and it's a program and there's a food and there's a new shelter and there's showers and there's a laundry and then within that program there's a coach like myself that volunteers every Saturday that you can come talk to. And this is how we begin to change all of it because as we know right here and here is really getting separated fast on us. It really is. The low is getting lower and the high is getting higher and I don't mean that in a great way. We're really creating this gap between the people and the resources and the knowing how beautiful and brilliant and special you can become. And the people that just feel like we're entitled to just have our own group and we don't really want you coming in there and it isn't and I write about that in the book. This isn't for someone else out there. It is for you too. It is for each and every one of us to experience this knowing we're a gift. We are a gift to this timeframe. We are a gift to one another, and we are a gift to the collective wellbeing. Now, what are you going to do with that knowledge?

PMD: 1:27:53

Please tell the story of mother Teresa.

LBB: 1:27:57

For some reason, when I was a little kid, I have a unique story. My stepfather was Irish Catholic. He was born in 1910. He was much, much older than my mom. When they had my little baby brother, which is Chris. And so we went to Sunday school, Sunday service, Sunday mass, then my mother who baptized me, Protestant, my whole family on that side, they played the organ in the church in this beautiful church that we used to go to on the green every Saturday. So I had a lot of religion energy around me. But there came a point when my mom said to both my brother and I read, look, research. I was always a spiritual kid anyways. Somehow, I found Mother Teresa when I was very young. I don't even remember where, how she crossed my path. And I just was I could cry if I think about her, but there was something about her presence and how I felt she chose that particular vehicle of expression in this life. And as many people know about her, she gave her life and dedicated to making known that you matter to me and you matter to this world. So one of the stories she goes out in the streets of Calcutta and there's a certain time that you go out in the streets where a lot of the people that are suffering and just really are at the tail end of existence and belief in themselves. And she was asked on a radio station. What can we do for you? Basically, what money can we pour into some organization to fix something? And she said, go out into the streets and find someone who feels less than and remind them of who they really are. And I'm paraphrasing. And it stuck with me my whole life. And. I don't bypass my own luxuries and go out into the streets everywhere in third world countries. Not yet. But I do make it a point that if I see someone that I feel feels less than the way they're dressed or if they're dirty. My husband and many of us do this. My brother, it was taught in my family. You pay it forward. You see a car that's noisy and beat up and dented and disheveled and the person and you're in front, like at a Starbucks, you buy their meal and of course you wish you could do big things, but it doesn't matter. We go into a Walmart here. I don't know if UK has Walmart, but it's a big discounted store. And people are on, lots of people are on welfare and government assistant and little kids and you ask to the parents, can we, and sometimes we'll put a soccer ball or a baby doll in the carriage in case when we're up at the checkout. It's moments. It's just moments and no, maybe it won't elevate someone's life to such a degree, but maybe it will. Or maybe it's that one moment in their lifetime that they chose to be recognized and that will serve them. Maybe somewhere else down the road. We don't know the answers and we don't need to know the answers. We only need to know that we are here to gift compassion, to know what it is, to place yourself in the energetic structure of someone else's experience, know what that must feel like to the best of our ability, step back out of it, and then do what we can to just bring comfort. And that's how I look at everything. And Mother Teresa, to me, is just that beautiful example of someone that did that without explanation. Even in her interviews, but she has earned that position much more than I have to where she doesn't need to express anything past. Thank you, but no, just go and do. And so I write about that in the book. The same thing with my grandmother, never give a pearl to a swine. People can take that as this entitled egoic statement. No. It's now when you started to move from that disempowering structure to empowering yourself. Now you don't give a pearl to a swine. You don't go back into that environment. And you don't saddle up next to what you've already worked so hard to get away from. So there's really unique ways to I think, look at stories or courses, information and knowledge that we can all glean what matters to us, but take it and don't just listen or read. Activate the information, right? I say this and I'm sure other people do. I write about it. If I'm doing a post, knowledge is power. Absolutely. But application of that knowledge is empowering two different, two different structures of how to look at knowledge.

PMD: 1:33:08

That's so important because every, every moment holds the potential for growth and evolution. And I know for some people, there's a relentless grip of stagnation that tightens with each passing day that holds them hostage to a life devoid of progress. And, you can see in the human condition when this happens that motivation wanes, discipline falters, and the spark of inspiration dims in the face of adversity. But I do see that within that bleak landscape, there's always a glimmer of hope, because despite any darkness, the opportunity for change assists and it's the recognition of this truth that the journey towards self empowerment, I think, begins because if we are to acquiesce to the status quo, then we are squandering the precious gift of our potential because they're always for me. There always exists a flicker of positivity waiting to be embraced. It's just the recognition of this inherent possibility that can serve as the catalyst for transformation. And when we take that step forward, when we move into that space and allow that space to move into us, then we have, there's this active genesis, there's this new possibilities, there's igniting the instincts that lie dormant within. And with willingness, awareness, determination, resilience, we can really forge ahead and be propelled by that realization that Empowerment is intrinsically linked to the betterment of humanity, because in the application of any formula for growth, it's a liberation from stagnation.

LBB: 1:35:12

I don't know if you have it over in the UK. I'm sure you do. Like we have these ponds where I grew up out in the country and all the green heavy moss and the water got dark because they were contained. There was no free flowing movement right coming through. They were just these little stockholds of water. And I remember looking at them as a kid and I didn't understand stagnation, but I remember there's no flow here. Who lives here? What little creature lives in this? But it makes me think about that. Yeah. I don't do well in stagnation. It doesn't feel right for me. There's a difference right between relaxing and rejuvenating and slowing down, but that stagnated framework, I feel and this is me personally, just being transparent that our lives move fast here. We don't get to live for 300 years 500 years, if that's ever even such a truth out there. Some ancient, archaeologists now are starting to dig and find some things, but great if we had a 200 year lifespan, okay, we could chill a little bit. We got some time. You're talking a hundred years and under, and then usually we only start to understand, become aware, recognize become willing to be accountable to tapping into that potential, right? Letting go of that drama and all that back wake. Oh God, it serves no purpose here. Understanding we're in that power seat to choose neutrality and positivity. Oh dear God, I've only got 22. 4 years left. So much to do, so much to see and that's that was part of that, that nudge from the universe to write this book, which by the way, took me five years to write every word, every sentence, the written energy was so thought through for that reason. I wanted you to feel activated. I wanted you to feel on fire. Back when I grew up, we used to call it in the spirit world, that fire in the belly. I wanted you to feel like what am I waiting for? I'm going to carry around this weight one more day, one more year, 10 more years. Oh, now I'm going to get together with that person. And now I'm going to open up my baggage and they're going to open. Then we get to play around and all of it together and then just drive each other nuts. No way. Come on. Wake up, become aware of your potential. Be willing to tap into that brilliance, right? The chapters, like you said, we could do podcast on every title alone and dive into it. There is the brilliance of the universe inside of you. There is the God energy inside of you. My friends find it funny. Sometimes when things are going a little awry and I'm moving through the formula and sometimes they'll kid around Oh, this empowerment stuff. I'm like, okay. What would Jesus do? And it breaks and we all crack up because I'm like serious. Okay, just pretend I'm channeling Jesus right now and I'm looking at you people and you're all fighting over stupid things and you're arguing about which president is better than the other or fill in the copious list right of all that's wrong. What would Jesus do now? What would he tell you? Where would he guide you? And they just laugh because I'm like, you have the answer. This is a waste of time, empower your life. So you can empower others and not meaning you're accountable to empower them, but you can represent what is potentially available to them. You can offer some type of reflection, like if she can do it, I can do it. If he can do it my own way, my own design, my own creation. But what that looks like, right? You talk to so many people, they want to write a book and they're just like, I could never write a book who wants to hear my story. Somebody, I wrote this book for one person. Didn't matter to me. I wrote it even in the book, right? If I could tap into that one person out in the globe, whoever it may be, wherever they may be living, and they read this book and it changes the legacy of their experience and their people, family, friends, community. Oh, it was so worth it because now there's two of us. And now we get this beautiful ripple effect because this is how I live my life, right? I didn't write a book. This is how I live. You can't take it out of me. There's no differentiation, right? I'm sure you've met people where you read and there's information. But personality is very separate from the information. And that's just doesn't work that way for me personally. It's not a good or bad or right or wrong or negative positive. It just is a thing for me and because I've tapped into that, however, I've tapped into it and whatever it may be, I want other people to feel it and to know it, that you have a purpose, you do matter. You matter. Just let yourself start to explore what that could mean for you and where that can lead you and how that maybe can be this incredible adventure of an empowered life. And then once you arrive at a certain moment of that recognition, that person just naturally wants to tell someone else. You've got this, you can do this. I think it's just that moment of stagnation for people that could be such a beautiful mechanism of growth. What is it that, that stops the growth and the stagnation remains, what is it in there? And so through the book and the science of empowerment or coaching and speaking in this amazing grateful energy I have for this podcast, because hopefully there are someone that will listen to everything that you and I have created in this moment, and it will spark that awakening in them and they'll do something amazing out in the world.

PMD: 1:41:44

I want to do a couple of things before we wrap up if that's okay with you. Absolutely. I want to read something from the book that I found really powerful. And I've just got it on the ebook here and it says to remain in the same depleted stage of stagnation day after day is to be taken hostage and to remain in a lack of the desire and discipline needed for self motivation is to acquiesce to that negative existence. This state of being is a genuine waste of what you have been given which is the chance to further your personal development in order to help all of humanity. Somehow, find your way to the application process of this formula. It is all around you. Even in negative environments, a spark of positivity is awaiting your connection. Once you open the mind, the instinct will kick in. And then, once exposed to the possibilities, no matter how small the opening is, leap ahead.

LBB: 1:42:54

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Even when I hear it because how we know this information comes from the source. I can't say it any more than that. That is, remove the fear, suspend the doubt, enter in to what can be the most. profound experience of your human existence, and that is to arrive at knowing thyself. And that's what I can say to that. I think the written energy and the passion of how I write and how I speak people have said there's that authenticity to it because I cannot contain the feeling, the energy when I speak. So I'm like, my hands move, my body moves. It takes a lot for me to sit because it, it moves through me because it's, it's true. It's not, oh, it's true for me and not for you. It's universal truth. You were born to experience truth your greatness period. Whatever you perceive as greatness, that is your calling. But to go through this life and take that last human breath and you will know if you bypassed it. And that's what I don't want for anyone. Where can people find you, Laura? They can go to www. thescienceofempowerment. com. That is my website. And there is just a wealth of knowledge and information that even if you read, you could spend a month reading through the website. It will actually begin to create new neuronal pathways. Neuroplasticity will be doing its thing, and you will elevate your intellectual prowess. Free, right there. There's also a media page on the website. You can listen to podcasts. This, of course, will be uploaded to that eventually. If you want the book, go to Amazon Laura Brennan Ballet, the science of empowerment. com and there's Kindle version as well. I am being nudged to create the audio version but not at the moment but that's really where you can find me and the very cool thing on the website is all my life empowerment coaching. But there's an area where you can email me so I have readers that purchase the book on Amazon and then go back to the website and then they start to connect with me and some lead to coaching and retreats and speaking engagements, but some just reach out and just say thank you. I've healed this, my marriage is saved. My child who was in a very depressed state is feeling better. We've started working just negative positive neutral. I have sometimes when I have clients, I ask them just pick one energy, one principle, just begin somewhere to tap into that part of you. So that's where they can get me. There's a place to email. There's a place to purchase the book. There's a place to coach and I'm there. I answer everything personally. I respond to everything that comes my way.

PMD: 1:46:16

Do you have any messages for the audience at all?

LBB: 1:46:22

Your brilliance in physicality, do not let that go unknown. I'm going to leave it right there.

PMD: 1:46:37

I wanted to say thank you so much for giving us your time and your insights and your wisdom and I see that the science of empowerment is a transformative journey into the depths of human potential and the power of personal growth and development. And from what I've seen, from what I've read, and I've read the book throughout and I actually had questions on every single chapter, a lot of questions, but I think I can see it's written with insight, with clarity. And it offers a readers a roadmap and a blueprint for unlocking their inner strength and harnessing the forces that can drive a positive change in their lives. And throughout the book exploring the concept of empowerment from a scientific perspective by delving into the intricate workings of the mind, the body, and the spirit, and drawing on a wealth of research and personal anecdotes, you present, it presents a compelling evidence to support the claims and provides a practical strategies that readers can humanize into application or implement into their own lives. One of the book's greatest strengths I see is to bridge the gap between theory and implementation and practice. So rather than offering vague platitudes or empty promises, it provides readers with concrete tools and exercises that are designed to cultivate self awareness, drive, resilience, From mindfulness practices to cognitive reframing. Every single chapter is filled with actionable insights that enable and empower readers to take control of their lives and create sustainable, and I emphasize the word sustainable, change. So I want to thank you so much again for what's been really a heartwarming conversation. And exploring the science of empowerment. What's been your experience today? How have you experienced the conversation today?

LBB: 1:48:55

I think I shared with you when we first met we had just we could have we have wonderful conversations anyways, I for me, love the level of intellect, but I'm not saying that out in that world, right where people are like, Oh, he's such an intelligent chap. There is such a unique alchemy of how you take wisdom and universal principles and through this very unique lens also articulate and express how they can be seen and viewed and used. I think from an author who you have read the book and posted this incredible platform for us. The way that you moved through that book and what it sparked in you, and how you expressed it, just added such a wealth of light and compassion and insight and availability for the listening audience. I think only one time I've said this, and this was maybe right in the beginning of my podcast journey, but this by far has been the most my favorite interview, my favorite conversation because it wasn't really an interview. It was, but it didn't, it felt like traveling on a plane, hopping over to a friend's house, hanging out on a big soft down couch, whatever the drink, I'm drinking tea and honey right now. It doesn't matter. And really talking about life. What does it mean? What does it matter? Where do we fit in? How can we add something that creates value into it? And we really just conversed about things that I think are important on a world stage and matter to everyday people. And you don't have to be a scientist and a Harvard professor or an author or a coach and fill in that blank. You can be anything and this podcast matters. It will change your mindset. It will elevate and I think create new perspectives. It will spark an awareness to what is possible. And so thank you. I think your brilliance just for me, it shines the moment I met you, but now having this opportunity to discuss material that matters to the both of us, because the world and its family matters to us. It was amazing. It was just an absolute lovely experience all the way through. And I cannot wait to share this podcast out into the world.

PMD: 1:51:46

Thank you so much, Laura. Thank you so much for your kind words. And yeah, it's been an incredible experience. Thank you.

LBB: 1:51:54

Thank you.