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On this episode of Unstoppable Mindset we meet and get to talk with Dr. Christine Balarezo. While Christine was born in Peru much of her youth was spent in California and then Connecticut. During her life she has secured various college degrees including a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Texas. She spent ten years working in the field of human trafficking. Later she worked briefly for a nonprofit organization. Christine was never fully satisfied with both working for other organizations and for working in academia. After her time with a nonprofit she decided to go out on her own. What she realized she was being directed by her inner self to do was to take up the job of more directly helping others. Christine became a spiritual coach and healer. Today as she explains she “helps creative sensitives reconnect to their true soul being by using her intuitive and psychic gifts with practical, multi- and interdisciplinary transcultural knowledge so they can fully shine their light”. Our conversation touches on many topics including the concepts of spiritual healing, psychic intuition and some of the fears and prejudices around these concepts. I hope you enjoy what Christine has to say. One thread I find both with this conversation as with so many we have had on Unstoppable Mindset is that we all should learn to be more open and curious to things we may not fully understand or embrace. About the Guest: Dr. Christine Balarezo is Founder of Christine Balarezo, which offers multidimensional spirituality services for clients around the world. She is an Intuitive Spiritual Coach, Energy Healer, Intuitive Astrologer, and Educator. She helps creative sensitives reconnect to their true soul being by using her intuitive and psychic gifts with practical, multi- and interdisciplinary transcultural knowledge so they can fully shine their light. Christine loves working with diverse groups of people especially those with multidimensional identities and/or overlapping intersectionalities, neurodivergents, HSPs, BIPOC, single parents, immigrants, witches and healers. In a past life, she was a human trafficking scholar with ten years of experience in the field, and with expertise in mixed-methods trafficking and policy research. Christine began her career in academia serving as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science, and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Scholar, where she conducted fieldwork across Israel on its human trafficking policy. She also had a brief stint in the nonprofit world supporting national anti-trafficking efforts. As a multicultural Latina and single mother, she is also passionate about mentoring and continues working with vulnerable populations within the mental health, metaphysical, and higher education fields. Christine received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Texas, and her M.A. in Political Science from the University of South Florida. Christine’s goal is to provide practical yet cosmic guidance - balancing the scales, that is - so people can live a life that is true to them and their heart. When she’s not helping others or talking about energy, she loves traveling and exploring new places, cooking Peruvian and Asian food, spending time with her college son, walking their two dachshunds, and finding new books to read at the library. Ways to connect with Dr. Christine: Email: christine@christinebalarezo.com Join My Newsletter: https://sendfox.com/christinebalarezo Grab a Virtual Coffee & Let's Chat: https://tidycal.com/christinebalarezo/cafecito-connection-chat Website: https://christinebalarezo.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinebalarezo46/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChristineBalarezo Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/christinebalarezo About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today we have the pleasure of talking with Dr Christine Balarezo and Christine, well, what can I tell you about Christine? She has founded a company called Christine Valery so and she offers multi dimensional spirituality and coaching. And I'm not going to go into it all, because it's more fun to hear it from her than to hear it from me. Anyway, so I'm just going to say, Christine, I really want to welcome you to and thank you for coming on unstoppable mindset. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 02:00 Thank you so much, Michael. I'm really grateful and excited to be here and to converse with you and simply see wherever we go in this conversation. Well, it'll be fun. Michael Hingson ** 02:12 And yeah, who knows where we're going to go? It'll it'll be fun. I've got lots of questions I can think of, and I'm sure you have lots of things to say. Let's start with something that should be pretty easy. Tell us about, kind of the early Christine, growing up and so on, and kind of maybe how you got where you are today. But let's start with sort of the the early Christine, Dr Christine Belarezo ** 02:32 absolutely. So I'm Christine, as many of you know, most people call me this. I was born in Peru to Peruvian parents, but my mom came here when she was 16, to the United States, to Connecticut, specifically, and then she went back to Peru and met my dad. And I was born there during the time of a civil war, and my parents realized that they had wanted to live somewhere else, perhaps maybe with more stability and see a different type of lifestyle. So they first moved to California, and eventually we ended up in Connecticut, and that's where I spent my earlier years. I grew up on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, where my grandparents had already come beforehand, and they established a restaurant, and that's where I saw my formative years. It was a very different, I think, way of living, because since then, I've moved I also have a twin sister, and it was, again, a different way of for me growing up, perhaps coming from another culture and blending that into where I grew up in, which was predominantly homogenous, so there wasn't too much diversity, and I learned to navigate different types of people and experiences. And long story short, we're speeding it up here in high school, I moved to Florida, which opened up to a completely new culture, different experiences, and my main goal in life was to work with other cultures and other people. And I initially wanted to pursue a line in diplomacy, and that's what I was working towards beforehand. With my background in political science, I really wanted to help people. I really wanted to focus on peace and bringing together, perhaps some type of mediation resolution in countries that experienced a lot of instability, a lot of conflict. But I think life had other plans. Michael Hingson ** 04:36 That happens a lot, doesn't it? Right? There's Dr Christine Belarezo ** 04:38 that saying, you know, when you plan something, sometimes God or whatever your beliefs are, there's something that changes your plans. I'm like, Oh, I plan things. So to the T and I realized things are changing, and I'm going to have to also pivot. And I became a single parent. I'm a mom to a beautiful boy when I was still completing my undergraduate. IT career, and so that definitely changed my trajectory. And I know in diplomacy, especially the route that I wanted to go into, it entails a lot of traveling, and sometimes you have to go to locations where you may not be able to bring family. And I knew I didn't want that. So I reformulated, and I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna have to go down a different path. And I realized I may not be able to do that particular line of work, but I still wanted to pursue something to help people, so I pivoted to human rights. And that just opened up because human rights is very broad. It encompasses so many types of groups, so many types of individual rights, civil political liberties, among many other types of perhaps freedoms that we have here in the United States, that we may obviously take for granted, but that are not always present in other countries. And I pursued that path with obviously completing my Bachelor's, my master's, and then my doctorate, and then I changed. I was like, maybe I'll consider academia, and I'll just tell you. Fast forward, many years later, I just started feeling like I couldn't help people in the way that I wanted to because I was not working one on one with people in the way that I felt that I could help them. A lot of it had to do with, maybe more abstract, theoretical types of support and aid. And sometimes I felt like I was lost in that bubble, because academia and sometimes some of the work people do human rights, and it depends, but the line that I was on, it just felt disconnected. I'm like, Where are the people? Why am I? Why am I doing more research and talking about more theory and presenting at conferences? But I don't feel like I'm having the effect that I can to help people navigate in this world. So I went through a period of disillusionment, of feeling very lost, very disconnected and questioning myself. Is this the path that I'm meant to be on? Is this something that my heart is truly connecting to? And I realized it wasn't, and I tried, because of all of the work that I've done, I feel like this was so similar to so many other people that I've spoken to. I'm like, let me see how I can salvage all of this experience, all of my hard work. And I pivoted to the nonprofit in a similar background in human rights, particularly human trafficking, and I tried. I was like, You know what? Let's continue doing what I did in a different way. I just felt like my life was disappearing, and that was not a very positive experience for me, though I learned a lot, really grateful, because something I think that you touch upon in many of your episodes with other folks and even with your own personal story, Michael, is challenges. As humans, we experience a lot of challenges, and it's your attitude that really defines the next step, and I realized this wasn't probably the best, maybe most highlighting or illuminating experience of my life, but I learned something here in this space, and that pivoted me to creating my business eventually, a few years later. Michael Hingson ** 08:16 And what is the new business about compared to what you'd been doing so Dr Christine Belarezo ** 08:20 prior, I was really delving into human rights, human trafficking, conflict to an extent too, and working more from that theoretical, academic, research oriented, and also teaching perspective. And I completely crossed the bridge to something very different, and I entered more into the spiritual realm. And this is a broad term, because it encompasses many different elements. Some people say metaphysical. Could say occult, but it was a very non traditional, or maybe alternative field that I never thought that this was something I was going to pivot to, and it connects to a lot of what I experienced in my life, things that I was healing, and that came up for me to heal, especially after leaving that a toxic job, and it provoked a lot of things in such a fast, perhaps accelerated way that made me realize I'm being called to do something on a scale where I might not feel completely comfortable yet, because there was a lot of foreign perhaps feelings or just emotions. When you sit with them like this is new. I kind of felt like a kindergartner, because I was essentially re crafting my identity, who I was and what I was doing. And it's so easy to become attached to who you are, whether, again, it's a political scientist or a teacher, whatever it is, and that's what happened with me. I had to unravel, undo, unlearn a former Christine and completely step into this new role of what my own heart was calling me towards. So my own business focuses on helping people connect to. They really are and learning to trust themselves. And you mentioned this perhaps when we opened up Michael about listening to your intuition of what you're feeling and sensing. And sometimes it's scary, because it may be telling you or bringing up to you, it's time to go. It's time to leave. It's time to end this way of being or doing, existing or identifying, and a lot of times our human selves are like, we're going to hang on. Michael Hingson ** 10:29 Well, give me a little bit more if you would insight into so exactly, what is it then that that you do now, as opposed to kind of what you were doing before, Dr Christine Belarezo ** 10:38 well before it was training and helping people in human trafficking, whether it was understanding what the dynamics were, educating students through coursework examples, for example, and now I connect with people generally, one on one through a Coaching environment where I help people transform different obstacles or different experiences that they want to overcome. A lot of it has to do with shining or empowering themselves, showing up as who they who they are, excuse me, and also grappling with anything around fear, whether it's fear of the unknown, fear of change or fear of anything alternative, especially if they have followed a certain paradigm or belief system or religion or a philosophy. And it's like, I feel like I may have gifts in certain areas. Perhaps you can call them psychic gifts, or seeing or sensing things. And I work with people to also harness that. And I do that through through different modalities, intuitive, spiritual coaching when we work one on one, and it's really at the bottom root, it's not therapy. It's a lot about asking questions, because we're focused on solutions and moving forward. It's very forward or future oriented. And we do glean to the past to inform, but we don't stay there. And I incorporate also my own gifts, again, my intuitive and psychic gifts to help people through the questions that I ask, because ultimately, I believe everyone knows and has the answers to what they need and what they know is best for them. It's called our intuition. People know that for many reasons, a lot of times we feel stuck. We don't see things. We may feel like things are unclear, and it's simply getting rid of the noise or chaos around us. So there's a lot of simplifying on so many different layers, and that's what I help people do, because sometimes we have to zero in and it's helpful because other people can see things you don't always see. Michael Hingson ** 12:42 So how do you how do you do that? How do you get somebody unstuck or open to thinking about doing something or reacting in a different way than they have? A Dr Christine Belarezo ** 12:54 lot of it takes awareness first. You have to be aware first of maybe any disconnection or what I call similar to what we used to coin in political science, relative deprivation. Sometimes you're seeing things from a certain perspective, where what it is that you want, but where it is that you are existing, or perhaps acknowledging there is some type of distance there. And that's where people maybe fall into a point of suffering, because they're trying to resolve things with what they know, what they've brought in their current belief systems. I call it Life suitcase. Basically everything they know up to that point they're still holding on. And what I do generally, for example, in the first session, I ask a lot of questions about the background, why they're coming to me, what their goals are, what's been going on, to learn a little bit more about who they are as a person, too, but more importantly, where they want to move, what direction generally. And through these questionings that come up a lot of it's intuitive, because once people start talking to me, and even beforehand, I just the best way to explain this is I just get, like a knowing and questions come to me that help unlock some of this for people where they say, Wow, I didn't even realize it about myself. This is what has been holding me back, or this is why I feel scared around this particular issue or being seen. So a lot of it is it happens organically. It happens through me, conversing one on one with people, and all those lines, they connect kind of like connected dot. There's a game. I don't recall a name, but it's a kin of, okay, we have one nugget that has appeared, and we keep following the rest. And I wish I could say this happens in 24 hours, or in a week, where people are like, okay, I'm good to go. We've got it. I'm unstuck. Generally, it happens, I would say, over a period of time, and it depends with everyone. Because, again, awareness is key here. And my point is not to tell people this is what you're doing wrong, or this is what you need to see. Is to help people see that for themselves. Michael Hingson ** 15:02 Uh, spiritual healing and transformation is something that probably a lot of people look down on. They say that there's nothing really to all that, but leaving what people think aside and maybe, maybe not. But what are the major blocks, or roadblocks, and how do you get past that to say, look, there really is something to be said for this whole idea of you can transform yourself, you can heal yourself. And doing spiritual healing techniques is an IS and ought to be a very important part of what you do. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 15:40 Thank you for that question. Those were things that I pondered myself, and what I have found that generally, in whatever modality you choose, it's important to know that I and others, in whatever tool you use, it's a facilitation. I'm not here to tell you. I'm going to heal you. I have a magic wand. I'm a fairy godmother from a Disney movie, and poof, you're going to come out of this 100% yield. But what I can tell you is many of the factors, or many of the challenges or blocks, as you name them, that come up for people, they're universal themes around fear, doubt, allowing ourselves to be seen a certain way or to express a certain way. In other words, maybe stepping into what it is that we feel passionate about. And a lot of times I tell people, what makes you excited, what makes you joyful, or what brings up those feelings of, oh, I can't wait to do this. I want to go into this, because that's also telling you a lot about where you might want to go next. And I want to speak a little bit more about the fear and doubt, because, again, depending on many factors, where you've grown up, your family, your society, your culture. And I'll say that broadly speaking, because culture is very multifaceted, multi dimensional, we have a lot of layers that we may be undoing and we may be relearning things, perhaps setting boundaries, speaking up for ourselves, realizing, Wait, I can put my needs first before others, or I can say no, I can also know and realize it's okay to be afraid most of the times, many things that we do, even if we're passionate about them, there could be some fear, like maybe speaking in front of a crowd, You can feel that through your different senses, people get butterflies in their stomach, right? You feel a sensation, or even when you are doing something for the first time that is new, people generally feel it in their body first. So fear is an element. I feel that it's always present. It's about realizing taking that first step forward, no matter how small is, what's going to eventually help dissipate that. And what I have found is not thinking about that long term picture, because a lot of people, and I think it's very perhaps human of us, we want to know the whole picture. If we're leaving a job, we want to know all the steps and what our next job is going to be and what exactly we are going to do. And we want to have that outlined akin to a board game where we want all the answers, because that gives us control. It gives us safety, it provides security, and it allows us to say, well, we can follow the steps because they're already here. And what I've come to realize working with some of the people that I've worked with is many of them are on paths where there aren't steps in front of them, they're doing things that are very different, perhaps different from their family systems, different from their society or culture, or completely different, like I did, where I didn't really have other steps in front of me to follow. There was no manual or rule book. And so a lot of these challenges about overcoming these blocks, they first start with that awareness that I mentioned, and then taking, I call them many action steps. They don't have to be big and they don't have to necessitate planning, and I think that's key, and it's important to remember and in this process itself. Michael Hingson ** 18:53 So in in dealing with all of this, I know you talk a lot about the whole concept of spiritual connection. What? What exactly is that? And I think maybe the real question is, why is spiritual connection so very important, and how do we really work toward getting there? Dr Christine Belarezo ** 19:18 You squeezed in three questions. In one, Michael Hingson ** 19:19 okay, Dr Christine Belarezo ** 19:21 I love that. I'm the same way. It's like little sub button, you know, something that, Michael Hingson ** 19:27 what can I say? What can I say? I don't mind it at all. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 19:31 I think it's a they just they pop out. That's how it works with me, too. I get questions that pop out in very much the same way. And right now, so many changes have been happening, I would say, in such an accelerated speed in many different areas of our lives, and connecting to so many people, whether it's neighbors or clients or friends and family, there's very resonant themes where some excuse me, where people are going through some. In their life, or several something. And a lot of this has to do with coming back to self. And when you mentioned what is spiritual connection, it's simply your connection to something higher, a belief system. Many people call this god. It could be universe, spirit, source, energy, or even your higher self. It varies. I usually just say God for myself, but it's a higher energy source. And realizing sometimes there's a lot of things we as humans want to control. We want to dictate how things will go. We will push and resist. We'll try to fit everything in our suitcase. And when things don't go that way, when the suitcase pops open and we have challenges, the more we resist, the more we suffer, because we're trying to make things happen in our own way. And as humans, we only have a limited ability for certain things to go in that way, except for our mindset, our beliefs, our thoughts, our attitudes. And so the spiritual connection is something bigger you may not always understand, you may not always see, but you you can feel it, and that's something you can cultivate and nurture. And a lot of people have been turning to that, I would say, especially post pandemic, when so many things fell apart, that perhaps is another conversation, but so many things were brought up for people. Am I truly happy doing what I'm doing? Am I in the right relationships? I feel like I'm supposed to be moving on to something else, etc. So many questions came up, and people I found were feeling lost because they were placing a lot of this outside of themselves, perhaps in institutions, in different people. And when those things dissolve, what do you have? And that goes on to the next question is, well, why? Why the spiritual connection? Because the connection we have with God, with the universe, with source, and generally with something divine. We may not always see, but we feel it, something that can never be taken away from us. And I like to relate, relate it almost like an umbilical cord. Think of all of us being in imaginary little bubbles. We all have our own connection to this source, to this divinity that cannot be taken away. And I've been mentioned mentioning this frequently with people. You may have read the book by Victor Frankel in answer for meaning about his experiences in the concentration camps and something he brings about, which you also talk about too, is your attitude towards life, your thoughts, your beliefs, and how that can dramatically change how it is you navigate through life in general, but also challenges. And that's something too with the spiritual connection that can help nurture this too, because you again don't, we don't always have the answers to everything. And the moment where we say, You know what, I give this up to either something higher or I surrender this. More importantly, I'm leaning into faith and hope that things are going to work out in the way that they can. And that's a that brings in a level of acceptance, which doesn't mean that you acknowledge and you say, I'm happy. These challenges are, are are going on in my life, or the others are experiencing this? No, it's simply saying, okay, it is what it is. This has occurred. I can't, can't change it. What can I do moving forward? And for me, one of the best ways that I have found to cultivate or nurture the spiritual connection is by learning how to take time to embrace solitude. And that's again, something that many folks experience with the pandemic. We heard a lot of either anecdotal stories and narratives where people realized, quote, unquote, I found myself, or I realized this is what I wanted in life. Or lot of people saw the duality of the lives they were living before and the lives they were currently living, and how much control a lot of folks had to give up during the pandemic, where they realized I need to make changes, and this is the direction that I feel like I'm being called into and for me, the best way that I saw, perhaps this is what the pandemic. I tend to look for silver linings in hardships and challenges, so in reflection to the pandemic. For instance, one of the things that I saw, that it brought to all of us was how to lean into solitude, how not to be afraid of your own self, your own fears or things that are changing. Michael Hingson ** 24:25 You know, you said something interesting about people wanting to control everything and they can't. Why can't they so? And that's an interesting discussion. You could you could immediately say, Well, what about things like the pandemic? We didn't have control over the pandemic. And, yeah, that's true. We didn't have control over the pandemic happening. But like with anything, what we do have control over is how we deal with things like the pandemic. So in in terms of that, what can we learn to have better control over the things that occur in our lives, or or, can we Dr Christine Belarezo ** 25:14 That's a big question, and I do think we can find safety and security in ways or different things we can control, namely, again, what's within us. Think about our circle or bubble of influence, and a lot of it pertains to ourselves, how we react, how we view things right, like putting on maybe a different shirt, some people feel like when they wear something, a certain something, it feels different, and they may feel more confident or vibrant. Maybe it's the material. It honestly doesn't matter, but the way that we try to control things, it all relates down to safety and security. And I feel like the pandemic really blew that out of the waters for so many people, because, again, things just happen that we may not even understand fully. And for me, my own personal belief, I do believe in an afterlife, and I do believe that when our physical bodies end here, we continue on in Adriatic form. And so some people, we may not understand that until that time. We may never understand it, but so many things happen so quickly that we're forced to confront a lot of things that may have been left untouched unseen. That's why there was a lot of healing that came up for people, generally and individually around so many topics, and what I've told folks repeatedly, and also what I've learned my own self, because I didn't come into this world thinking, You know what? I don't need to react to this. I have to learn this too as a human. A lot of this has to do with, again, how we approach things, and that can be something that's difficult to learn because we're unlearning different behaviors that were inculcated from our own family systems, from the way we've grown up, from society and the way we navigated and many of us tapping in to these different issues or problems that have come up. We're adults. I never questioned this when I was five years old, I didn't question, Should I be responsive or reactive at this time? Why am I losing control over this? That's why it's beautiful. Children have a different way of approaching things. If something doesn't work, they may express it through their emotions, right? Tantrums? That's one way they express this energetically. Then they go about like, two minutes later, playing they carry on with adults. We tend to hold on to that and maybe perhaps over identify with some of these things that are not controllable. Michael Hingson ** 27:53 Well. The other part about it is that as we are dealing with things that happened to us. It seems to be that we can learn to be better prepared for things to happen to us. And what I'm kind of saying about that is all right, so let's take the pandemic. We didn't predict it. Probably couldn't predict it. Well, I'm pretty sure we couldn't predict it, but so many people just were going around trying to figure out what to do with themselves. The government wasn't helping with that. For a while, we got a lot of mixed messages, but at the same time, what comes to mind is that we could learn more about being able to face unexpected situations. I'm hesitant to use the word control, but we certainly but we really can learn to control how we deal with them, but we don't learn and and have been, in a sense, spoiled, and don't learn how to deal with things that we don't expect to happen. And the result of that is that, because we don't learn anything or give thought to it when something happens, then we don't have, or we haven't created, the tools to deal with it. Does that make sense? Dr Christine Belarezo ** 29:29 Absolutely, and I will say I agree with all the points that you made, but there are many people that have pivoted and were able sure to change, or perhaps to move with the ways, with the pandemic as a prime example, because they've experienced a lot of different changes in their own life, whether it was growing up in a dysfunctional home or simply maybe moving a lot, or changing schools, or whatever it is that entailed, it's time to adapt to a new way, to a new environment, perhaps to new people. Systems and institutions. So I heard from some folks that this pandemic, for many of them, they embraced it, especially maybe people that were more introverted or that really value that solitude. They really realized it's time for me to go out on my own, maybe work for myself or do things differently, because it created a massive shift in movement around how people work and interrelate Michael Hingson ** 30:24 well. And I think you're absolutely right. I think it's important that that we do more of that, and we we tend to fear, and we have allowed fear as an entity mostly to overwhelm us, or, as I put it, blind us, or paralyze us, whatever word you want to use, but overwhelm. And so when something happens that causes a fear reaction, we tend not to be able to face it very well, because we've never learned how to harness that fear and use it in a positive way, and I've talked about it before on this podcast, that that was one of the things that I was able to deal with on September 11, because I learned what to do in the case of an emergency, and it created a mindset within me that said, when Something did happen, okay, you know what the options are. Now assess your situation and then deal with the appropriate option based on the situation. Well, there are actually lots of options, because the situation was, there was fire in the building, but the fire wasn't anywhere near us. I knew that because my dog, my guide dog, Roselle, was giving absolutely no indication that she felt fear. And dogs have, I do believe, a much greater sense of some things than people do, and if she had sensed anything that caused her to be concerned, I would know it well she wasn't, which told me that whatever was going on wasn't such an imminent emergency that we couldn't evacuate in an orderly and calm way. And so I worked to get other people in the office calm and got them to the stairs. I didn't a colleague, David Frank did, but David was pretty worried and scared. And in fact, at one point, when I kept saying, slow down, don't panic, he said, You don't understand. You can't see what's going on outside. The problem was that David wasn't seeing what was going on inside, namely the dog that wasn't reacting. And I knew the dog, and I knew that that was part of my world that gave me information that I could use. If Roselle had been acting differently, we would have done things differently, but she wasn't well, so guests got to the stairs, and David and I went to the stairs, and we started down, and we went downstairs. But the bottom line is that it was because I had taken time in advance to prepare and didn't rely on reading signs and other things, that, as I said, it created a mindset. And I think that more often than not, we collectively as people, can learn how to deal with fear in a different way than we do, and that we can use fear as a tool to help heighten our senses, focus us and not overwhelm us and create a situation where we can't make decisions. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 33:33 Ditto. I loved your example, and I remember reading that and also hearing that about you and Roselle, when you were waiting and kind of feeling into results response, and that was your indicator of like, Okay, do we have anything to be alarmed or not? And that's the same. And I agree with you about animals, they have a high incense, I'll just say their own intuition, but also internal alarm rating that you can sense how animals behave a lot and see what's going on, because they pick up a lot of things, and we don't for so many, for so many reasons. And practicing this fear is key, knowing what you do and how you navigate the world, preparing yourself right, looking for emergency exits, knowing the layout, etc. That's one such way. And in certain circumstances, I think we can prepare to an extent, right? That's one amazing example, if you are traveling, if you're on the plane, if you're in a hotel or in your own home, you can prepare certain things, like safety procedures, making sure you have alternative ways to enter your home if you get locked out, whatever it is. And I think to an extent, we can prepare for certain situations. We see that with natural disasters, right? We can learn a lot from historical events or different types of conflicts. Yeah. But sometimes there's things that happen in our life that we may not always know how to prepare, and a lot of this taps into the emotional response. And something that I have found too is sometimes over preparing for things can induce anxiety in people, because it may provoke fears of, well, wait. What if this happens? And it's not so much about identifying with that potential situation or event that could happen, but simply having some, maybe some type of contingency plan or a backup plan where you can say, how would I approach this? Because when unexpected things happen in our lives, whether it's an unexpected relationship loss or grief that pops up a memory or even an event like you experienced with September 11. We may not always appear or know how to respond, even if we plan for it, but I love the example you gave, because it's an excellent, excellent way of practicing this. We can simply practice and lean into some of the fears by doing a little bit every day, and some may call it a form of exposure therapy. But the more we practice with the unknown, with changes, with navigating things that come in our life, I think the more it gives us that sense of empowerment and also perhaps a calm inner confidence, like, hey, whatever comes our way, we'll be able to navigate this. Michael Hingson ** 36:24 What I think is is really the issue is that it isn't necessarily planning for every contingency that that is difficult at best anyway, because there are so many contingencies that we don't necessarily know about, but we can learn to know ourselves. And we can learn to say, Okay, I observe this happening. And this is the kind of thing that can happen in an instant, if we work toward it, something does happen, and because we have learned to know ourselves, we've learned to know that we don't need to be afraid to the point where we can't make decisions. We've taught ourselves to be able to make positive or make some sort of decision. By observing those are things that if, if we teach ourselves how to do it, we can learn to very quickly, make the decision that would be best for us. And of course, part of that has to do with learning to listen to our inner selves. And I know one of the things that you talk about is people learning to interpret and understand their own psychic gifts. So how do people learn? Or how can we teach people to learn, to be able to harness and tap into their own intuitive and psychic gifts? Dr Christine Belarezo ** 37:59 That's, I think, such a fascinating question. And I it repeatedly comes up where so many people now are being put in situations that provoke or prompt this question. Because a lot of people we know and we feel it, that's the thing. It's another sense many people are leaning into now, is what's coming up in their body. It's almost when you meet someone. This is the best example of how you can tap into some of these intuitive and psychic gifts that everyone has, but some people choose not to nurture for many reasons, including fear. But ever meet someone, and it's just their presence, which is, you could say energy, but it's just the presence of a person, whether it's their voice, or when you shake hands with someone, or just being in their proximate vicinity, you may feel off. You may feel certain, certain something is not quite right, and a lot of people have mentioned in so many various circumstances, something feels off about that person. I can't put my finger on it, but I just don't feel comfortable. Or likewise, people come into a room and sometimes they're so full of vitality and life, and you just feel uplifted and energized. And we get certain sensations in different ways that everyone receives them. And that's the first point of our intuitive and psychic gifts, is realizing I'm feeling something. But many people, they're like, Nah, that can be right, or they just count it, or they dismiss it, as I'll say, especially with what I call red flags, right? When you feel something is off, or you're like, I'm not really sure this interaction is best for me or this job, or whatever the circumstance, it's only in retrospect. People are like. I knew it. I felt it. I felt the science. Because we don't see something come up in our inner mind where it tells us, okay, this computer is registering. This person is XYZ. We feel it. So the first step is. Really harnessing your gifts. For those that are just embracing them, they're popping up, or you're wanting to strengthen this is to start paying attention to these moments and to trust what you're feeling. A lot of times, I always suggest to people write them down, whether it's in your phone, in some type of computer application, or you can write it in a way that helps you, or you can a lot of you know what's interesting? I connect to a lot of people that like using video recorders, and they record. You know how some people like to express through journaling, right through words now, and that's another powerful way. But the point here is to take account and to start becoming aware of all those different instances where you may have discounted yourself, and more than likely, the majority of those times you were right, you had some type of feeling where you felt something was off, and that's one of the first things you have to become aware of that, because there's a level of trust that then comes in. Many people don't trust themselves. Or, like, No, this can't be right. Or they say, quote, unquote, I'm crazy, or I'm seeing things, or I'm making things up, or it's just me. Everyone likes this person, or this is a great work environment. And then later on, they're like, I knew something was off. So it takes practice, which you infer of right with leaning into fear. It's the same way with your psychic and intuitive gifts, and we have to practice that continuously. It's a muscle whenever you are Go ahead. No, go ahead. Oh, whenever we are experiencing those moments, it's important to say, Okay, what's coming up for me? Yeah, and a lot of different emotions, and this can stem, again, from your own personal, lived experiences, maybe growing up where people discounted what you said. You weren't allowed to speak or communicate or express yourself in a certain way. Maybe you were invalidated, or people subjugated you to a certain way of being. There's so many different circumstances that I found, but a lot of the stems from earlier parts of our lives, and we're honing this too, and that's just one part of trusting yourself. And for me, I take a very practical approach, because the more I've leaned into trusting myself in my own intuition, and we've all received the psychic messages very differently, too. That's something else very briefly to say, some people may just know things or send things, and that's clear cognizance or clear sentience, or they may see things visually or through dreams, clairvoyance, for example. And so there's different extra sensory ways that these messages come through. And a lot of times I'll say again, like I've said, we feel it in our body first, and it's not something we should intellectualize or something that you can try to analyze. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 42:51 And what I was going to react to was the fact that you, you referred to it as a muscle, and it is, and I think it's important that people think about it in that way. My favorite example, and I've used it lots, I hope people aren't getting too bored with it, is trivial pursuit, which is a fun game, and I think of so many times I've played it with people, and I've been a victim of it, and others have been as well. A question is asked, an answer pops into our head, and then we think, no, it can't be that easy. And we think about it and we give a different answer, and invariably, the answer that we originally thought of was the right answer. Our inner selves knows a lot more than we give it credit for, and by practicing to listen to it, I think we all can benefit a great deal, but we do really have to practice and listen to it, because I think that it won't steer us wrong, although I think a lot of people will poo poo that, but it is, it is absolutely true, and there are so many examples of it, so I think it is important, and it's Part of what I put in my new book that's coming out called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and walking in faith. It's all about learning to deal with fear and learning to listen to ourselves and learning not to second guess, but really learn to know more than we do and we can. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 44:29 Oh, you just beautifully packaged that that could be like the little bow or ticket on a gift. I think you summed it up perfectly. And just to reference Roselle during your time when you are working at the World Trade Center, and even now with your guide dog and any animal in particular, you'll notice that, how many times have you seen a dog or an animal or felt it doubt themselves? I've never because I have two wiener dogs, and you may have heard them, hopefully not loudly. You have two wiener. Dogs. Here dachshunds. I Michael Hingson ** 45:01 was listening for them. I haven't heard the doxies. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 45:04 I've never in my life thought, wow, he or she second guessed themselves. They don't need to go to the bathroom. Or if they bark for a reason, because animals are so attuned to different we'll say frequencies like a radio than we are. And again, many stories around how animals will bark at certain people or see things we don't. And brings to mind, they're not second guessing themselves. They know exactly what they've seen, and they will stay very fervent in that position, whether it's barking or they're like, hey, I need to go out, or whatever it is. And they'll let you know, similar to what you brought up with Rosella and how she didn't indicate any fears, which help you tune in and say, Okay, we're good right now at this time. So in the same vein, we can learn a lot from animals. And it seems like your book is tapping exactly into this where animals, they just do it. They don't themselves, they don't question themselves, they don't ask the next dog over. Hey, did you see what I see Michael Hingson ** 46:02 they don't do, what if they don't? And Dr Christine Belarezo ** 46:06 that's the beauty that we can learn from from other creatures around this, but also to ourselves. And again, it's just practicing. And this is probably the most boring, unglamorous aspect of this work that I do, because people tend to see it in perhaps a particular way. When you talk about this field of spirituality and psychics and intuition, people see it a certain way, and it's really not this is the boring work of you got to trust yourself first, because if you are receiving those intuitive messages and you don't trust that, there's going to be no one else you can listen to them, but what if they're deceiving you? You got to trust what it is that you're feeling and what's coming up to you, and you've said it, it never leads you astray. Michael Hingson ** 46:52 As I said, animals don't do what if. But make no mistake, they learn. So there are so many examples of somebody being in a situation like family in a in a building and it catches fire, and the animal comes and it bothers people, until they pay attention and it gets them out. The animal didn't do a well, what if this building catches on fire? What am I going to do? The animal does learn, however, how to move around their place. That's one example. The bottom line is, we can all learn those same sorts of things, and we do have the extra gift of being able to do what if, but we need to learn how to use that too. And again, the best thing about what if is that we learn to build that muscle, that mental muscle, and learn how to know ourselves better so that we can deal with situations that come up. And although not every situation will be the same, and we may not have predicted a particular situation, we can learn well enough to have a pretty good idea of how to deal with most things that come into our lives if we choose to. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 48:07 I agree. That resonates so much. I always like to say we have our own sniffers, kind of like dogs, because their sense of smell is so acute, and some I would imagine breeds, especially carriers. I'm not a dog expert, but this is just from my experience, and what I've read, they have an even greater sense of smell, where they can send things that we can't. And to your example about, you know, a dog that maybe awakens the family, or even cats or any other animals. I've read so many accounts because I'm an animal lover as well, and I'm just fascinated by they don't question things. They follow their senses. And for many reasons, I feel like animals are also like our own angels, our own guardian angels. They help us in many ways, and we can learn so much like they do, because they adapt. They're super intelligent creatures, and I speak for many different types of creatures, rodents, birds, could be reptiles, dogs and those in the wild that we make there was ways that we can also start practicing and adapting to having that keen sense of knowing who you are. And perhaps that's something people are learning, especially post pandemic, is who am I? And connecting to yourself through those moments of solitude, but also in your surroundings, that's it helps you keep in touch with what's going on, like your own antenna. Michael Hingson ** 49:33 Well, there's, there is a lot we can learn and hopefully live like a guide dog will help people think about that a little bit more and maybe not fear so many things. Or, you know, another aspect of it is we've got some people who just say, Trust me, I know what's best. Just listen to me. You don't have to worry about it. That never works. And what we really need to do is. Is to not just trust, but make sure that somebody earns our trust, and we really take the time to think that we've really analyzed what they say, and then we can trust perhaps. But even then, it does go both ways, but it is a it is a challenge. Well, tell me something that people don't know about you, just to change the subject. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 50:30 Wow. You know, I've asked myself this question, and Michael Hingson ** 50:33 you're still trying to figure out what what you don't know about you, right? Dr Christine Belarezo ** 50:38 I think that's an ever longing journey or quest. And I think something folks may not know about me is how much I really like to learn. I'm generally a very curious person, and I love asking questions to people. Things pop up and things like sometimes when I speak, it could lead, it could appear or feel like I'm going off a tangent. That's because I get so many things that pop up in my head. I'm like, Oh, this is fascinating. And I can really go down a hole in trying to learn, perhaps over consume or simply engage with someone or something, whether it's a topic, a theme, or something I'm really passionate about, until I know all facets. And when I say all facets, obviously it's not going to happen, because there's something you can always keep learning. Yeah, so simply learn to lean into that, because I'm a lifelong learner, and I've always considered myself like a student in life, a traveler in life and through the world, and I constantly learn new things, and some people when they either sense being in my energy, or if they see me, they judge, because I can be quiet, but that's because I'm observing first, and I'm someone that likes to observe and kind of get a feel. Would this person be open to talking? Do they like to engage? So that's just something that most people don't know about me. It's really easy based on many assumptions, whether it's through personal experiences or maybe something people see in themselves to make those judgments. But I'm a questioner. I just question I love asking people questions about themselves, what, why they do, what they do, what led them to this? And more questions pop up, so it's infinite. Well, Michael Hingson ** 52:24 that's there's nothing wrong with that curiosity, I think is a good thing, and I love being curious, and I wish more of us would have been taught more about being curious and not discouraged as children, which happens so often. But I think the curiosity is a very important thing to do. So I'm glad you like that, and I'm glad that you talk about that. What kind of advice might you have for others who want to make a big change in their life? Dr Christine Belarezo ** 52:53 Don't overthink it, just do it. And I also want to preface this, perhaps a mini disclaimer here, obviously, make sure your basic needs are taken care of. You know, like paying your bills and things around those elements. But when it comes to making a change, I find that so many people, and I say this particularly from personal experience, we may lean into it. We may take time. It may be years. I'll just tell you my leap from academia into doing what I am now. I received just knowings just guidance. It's time to end your time here, similar to yours when you left your position at the World Trade Center and you left that career to start speaking, and I've received messages like Diana ignored it, and I took a lot of time. We're talking more than a decade. I'm like, Nope, I'm going to keep pursuing this. So I would say, when you feel something, explore it, and don't be afraid to take action. That doesn't mean, okay, I'm going to quit my job the next day. Can mean maybe it's time to update my resume or CV. Maybe it's time to reconnect to my network and start exploring new opportunities, or hey, that event is calling to me about maybe basketball popped up in my head, or sports, or whatever it is. Take action. Don't put it on pause. Don't wait. Don't say another day, because we tend to analyze things, and then that wheel is fomenting, perhaps of discontent or unhappiness or whatever it is. Michael Hingson ** 54:32 Yeah, I think again, you're right. You can't, you shouldn't overthink. And if you think about things in the right way and analyze it, you can come to the right decision. And that's really what you're you're looking to do, which is as good as it gets, and that's important to do. Well, tell me, if people tell me a little bit about you and your business. So how do you meet people? How do you reach out to people? How do they find you? And so on. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 55:05 So I encountered and connected to clients in so many ways, usually in unusual ways, where I'm shopping, maybe at the market, I'm reaching for a fruit and someone's like, hi, I don't know them. And then they start telling me about themselves or life story, and next thing you know, I'm still with the pair in my hand 30 minutes later, and you're like, what do you do? And I let them know, like, wow. I'm like, yeah. And so I meet people in unusual circumstances like that, where I'm just going about my routine other ways, is through connecting one on one, like coffee chats, and that's not usually my main intention. One of my values is connecting and creating bridges with people. I simply like connecting and asking questions, getting to know people, and supporting other people. And many times, folks are interested in what I do, and that's one way that I've gotten clients. I also have a YouTube channel where I talk about astrology, spiritual topics, also real life, everyday topics, because I'm a practical person, and it's important to be grounded in this world and not just completely think my head is in a certain cloud or on, existing on whatever dimension you feel you may be existing on. Very practical here, because we're all here to contribute in some facet, our own lights in this world. So YouTube is another way. I've met people LinkedIn too. You may have experienced this on LinkedIn. I'm sure many folks have where you've had people reach out, whether it's cold calls, I've had people reach out to me where we have no related work, but they may be trying to sell me something, and I've gotten clients in that way. So I don't do traditional forms of marketing. I'm someone that really values creating genuine relationships, rather than something transactional. I hope and try to create, maybe you could say, like a friendship, family, type of connection with people, because trust is really important in the line of work that I do, there are a lot of charlatans, like in many other fields, but I would say more so in this field, and that's why, going back to some of the really great questions you asked and the responses and examples you gave, it's important to trust yourself when you meet. That's why I like offering people the opportunity to engage in video calls with me, because if we don't connect, if you you're not feeling it, I don't personalize it. Um, to me, I think, Okay, I have one new friend that I know in this network. Good luck. Maybe I can offer you someone else that does something that you may connect to, sure. Well, Michael Hingson ** 57:38 if people want to reach out to you. How do they do that? They Dr Christine Belarezo ** 57:42 can email me, Troy, provide my email or yes please, it's and spell it out. Okay, it's Christine. I'll spell it in a sec. It's Christina @Christine Balarezo.com so it's C, H, R, as in Robert I S as in Sam T, as in Tom I N as in Nancy E. At, what is that? Called the ampersand? 58:15 No, at, at, Dr Christine Belarezo ** 58:17 you have it? Christine, again, C, H, R, i, s, t, I, N, E. Valero, so B, as in boy, a, l, a, r, e, Z, as in zebra, o.com, that's one way, email, YouTube channel, my first and last name, Christine valarso through my website, same christineballarso.com Those are many ways to connect with me, and I offer opportunity to connect in one on one chats too. Michael Hingson ** 58:56 Well. I hope people will reach out. This has been very insightful and very useful, and I hope that it gives people a little bit different slant on some of the things that they may be thinking or hearing within themselves, and that they'll maybe listen a little bit better. So I hope that will happen. And I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us today. I'd like to thank all of you for listening to us. We really appreciate your time. I'd love it if you'd give us a five star rating wherever you're listening to unstoppable mindset. And if you know anyone who ought to come on our podcast, we'd love to hear from you, and Christine for you as well. If you know anyone we're always looking for for guests. And so I hope that that you all will do that, and again, wherever you are, please give us a five star rating. So thank you very much for listening, and we will be back in a little while with another episode of unstoppable mindset. And you can reach out to me, and I'd love it if you would. you can email me Michael h i@accessibe.com that's m, I C H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, w, w, w, dot Michael hinkson.com/podcast and Michael Hinkson is m, I C H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O n.com/podcast so once more, Christine, thanks very much for being here, and we really appreciate your time. Dr Christine Belarezo ** 1:00:28 Thank you so much. It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you all great. **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:37 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. 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