The Energetic Advantage Podcast - 002 Lessons from A Hot Air Balloon
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Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Energetic Advantage, the podcast where energy isn't. Woo, it's your edge. I'm your host, Jessica Cerato, intuitive strategist, lifelong pattern decoder, lover of numbers, and energetic guide for visionary leaders around. Here we go, energy first, strategy second. Every episode will give you a perspective, a tool, or a timeline shift that helps you lead from your power.
Because the truth is your energy is your most undervalued asset. Until you learn how to use it, get ready. You're about to have the advantage. Let's begin.
Hey, hey. Welcome back to Energetic Advantage, the podcast that puts energy first, strategy second, and reminds you that your intuition is the most underutilized asset that you have. I'm Jessica Serato, professional Numerologist energetic strategist, and today I'm taking you [00:01:00] 3000 feet into the air with me.
Literally, this episode is called Lessons from a Hot Air Balloon. And let me tell you, it's not just a pretty metaphor. It is an energetic masterclass on trust, fear, fire leadership, and how to actually move through your life and business using energy to your advantage. You know, I first shared. This story in an email sequence back at the end of last year, and the amount of feedback, uh, emails back to me resonance that happened, I just knew that I was meant to share it outside of my email list.
And really looking back, that is where the commitment to this podcast. Really formed. So thank you to this amazing hot air balloon. Thank you to Mike, who I'm gonna introduce you to in just a [00:02:00] moment. And thank you to you for listening and really allowing yourself to deep into this energy to find your energetic advantage.
And to harness it. So remember, if you haven't yet listened to the first episode, I did share what an energetic advantage was, how you can find yours, and why sometimes we don't use it, and it's because of all of that, that this story really hit home for me. okay, let's set the stage here. Back in October.
I took a sunrise hot air balloon ride in Sedona, and this timeframe is important because October of every year is a preview of the next. The math maths, right? October being the 10th month [00:03:00] with that one encoded into it is always a step ahead. So if you just take this fun fact and embed it into your body.
Remember this October is a crucial month for the year that follows. And so of course I was being given a preview of 2026 and looking back, that balloon ride was such a perfect snapshot of what the themes. Are of 2026. Um, you know, like most energetic advantages, sometimes you don't plan it. And I have to say I didn't know it at the time.
I just thought it was gonna be a really cool sunrise bucket list moment, but it became a full blown energetic. Transmission and I laugh, it's because the person that I went with and actually who arranged this for me was my coach, Jenna Brown. And I remember saying, she's like, well, what do you wanna do when you're in [00:04:00] Sedona?
And I said, I want a perspective shift. And for me that meant maybe going on a really cool hike or seeing something from a different vantage point. And then of course, she comes back with. Well, let's go on a hot air balloon ride. And trust me, it gave me the perspective shift I was wanting and so much more.
as you will gather from many of these episodes, I love a good metaphor and this story does not disappoint. So as you listen to the story. I really want you to bring it into your own life and see how you can incorporate the lessons in real time. Okay, so I'm in Sedona and I'm up at 4 44. Yes. I set my alarm for 4:44 AM and I'm all layered up, right?
Coffee in my hand, feeling like, yes, this is gonna be epic. And then I get a text. [00:05:00] Flights canceled, too windy. And I was like, oh my gosh, of course. And you know, at the time I was annoyed. But two days later. When I actually took the hot air balloon ride, I realized that that cancellation was divine timing because when I finally did take the ride, I had a new pilot.
His name was Mike, and it was Mike's first day back on the job after flying hot air balloons in Kenya for a few months. So, okay, let's put two and two together. If I had gone, actually when I was scheduled to go, I would've never met Mike. I would've had a totally different experience. And not to sound melodramatic, but I will, I would not be talking to you here because I would not have a podcast.
So, so the universe was kind of setting the stage. Okay. So fast forward two days. The second [00:06:00] time in 48 hours, I had set my alarm for 4 44, and this time I woke up and we were in the clearing, right? We were there, we were ready to go. And you know, here's the thing that I laugh. I said yes to this, knowing that I do not love heights.
Like in my twenties. Sure. I jumped outta planes, I bungee jumped, I did all the things. But now, like when we're at the fair, like my family and I, like, I'm screaming at my husband for like moving the gondola on the Ferris wheel, even just a little bit. Right. Um, so it's still dark. It's a little bit chilly. I get into this basket and I am like prepping myself to be hanging onto the side and like, you know that saying, feel the fear and do it anyway.
Like I was expecting my fear of heights to be [00:07:00] there and I just knew I, it was worth it and I was going to work through it. But then we lifted off and I felt totally calm. Like eerily peaceful, like my stomach was not doing the normal things. It does. I wasn't panicked. wasn't holding two hands on the basket.
I was taking pictures with my phone over the edge of this basket, and I was like, who am I right now? Like, who is this person? And it really surprised me. And so later when we were in the van on the way the drive back to the place, I mentioned this to Mike, the pilot. And the fact that I was like so shocked, like I wasn't scared and he said something so prophetic but with such ease and it cracked me open.
He said, you know, most people confuse fear of heights with fear of falling. And I was [00:08:00] like, boom, mic drop. Uh, I wasn't scared of being up high. I am actually scared of falling, of not being held, of plummeting without a net right? And the moment that I realized that I was held, that I wasn't going to fall, that the balloon, that the sky, that the moment that Mike or all there, there was nothing left to be afraid of.
And I could go up to as many feet up in the air. As was possible and I still wouldn't be scared. So this is the first energetic lesson. So many of us are afraid of the wrong thing. We're misidentifying our fear, and because of that, it's holding us back. We named the obvious fear, but we ignore the fear underneath.
And if you are trying to lead your life or your business from a misidentified fear. [00:09:00] That's like the energetic equivalent of trying to navigate to a place using the wrong map. So often the fear that we name isn't the fear that we're actually feeling, and if we're not naming the correct energy, we can't shift it.
So this is one of the core energetic advantages that I notice in leaders all the time. They are very precise with their language because if you label the energy with incorrect language, you're gonna create strategy from the wrong place. Energetic leadership is being able to pause and ask yourself, what am I really afraid of here?
And you can insert any examples that are coming in your real life here. But you know, is it really I'm scared of being visible or am I really afraid of being misunderstood? Am I [00:10:00] scared of failure or am I really scared of success or what might happen or what might change if I succeed until we name the real fear?
That fear controls you, but the moment you name it, you rise. You can get on that metaphorical balloon and enjoy the experience because you are crystal clear and precise with that energetic advantage of language. Okay. Lesson number two is the energetic advantage that your body holds. The wisdom of your body. So mid-flight,
I started to notice something Mike kept on leaning over the edge of the balloon and spitting. And at first I was like, Ooh, that's kind of gross. Like, does he have something in his [00:11:00] throat or something? And then I was like, wait, no, he's not doing it casually. Like he's not doing it once. And he's doing it over and over and over again with intention and he's really paying attention.
And here's the funny thing, actually, I'll start with first is no one else noticed, and here's why. They were so busy asking about the mechanics, about the gadgets on the hot air balloon. So, you know, in the hot eye balloon, as you can imagine, there's the tanks, there's the gauges. So they were like, oh, Mike, like, what's this gauge do?
Hey Mike, like how hot is the propane? Oh, Mike, like my ultimate favorite question, oh my gosh, I can't believe this guy asked it. It was like, what happens if like the burner fails? Like, have you ever had a catastrophe mid-flight? Anyway, they were so focused on the tools and I. Was watching the master.
[00:12:00] I was watching the leader. Mike had the gadgets, but he wasn't relying on them when he was spitting what he was doing. Instinctually and intuitively was reading the wind. He was reading the wind with his body. He was feeling the air on his skin. He was spitting to check the movement of the air. And I'm gonna tell you this, there were about 15 balloons in the air at the same time we were there, and we were the only balloon that landed cleanly.
So here's the energetic advantage. Tools are great, yes, but energy always comes first. Knowing how to tune in to your body is more powerful than knowing what all of the dials say. Like his skin, his breath, his spit. And it was so funny, even when we landed, of course you have this like huge balloon that now needs to deflate and if you can imagine, [00:13:00] you need to know what way the wind is blowing on the ground.
So this huge balloon falls into open space, not on barbed wire, not on cactuses, not on people, not on the vans. And it was so funny, he asked his ground crew, okay, like what direction is the wind going? Everyone reached into their pocket and pulled out a device. He reached down to the Red Rock, the dirt. He threw a dirt in the air and he saw which way the wind was blowing based on the dirt, and he chose the right direction.
Based on that. You know, we are , lucky and blessed that we have more advanced technology than we once did. But we cannot rely on strategy and software, right? We have to trust our own calibration first. And in leadership, your body knows before your brain. And so my question is like, are you listening to that?
[00:14:00] Where are you asking yourself a question? And before you even allow your body to answer, you're outsourcing that by asking outside of you. , And how can you really hone in on your abilities and trust those first, and then use the gadgets, the tools, the metrics that are out there to reinforce that, not outsource that.
Okay. Lesson number three is all about the fire. And this was so interesting to me, and I'm laughing about how little research I did about hot air balloons before I actually got in one. But maybe that just goes to like I was not gonna give myself any excuse not to get in one. Okay? So in a hot air balloon, when they pull that lever and the fire goes up, the fire doesn't make you go higher.
Like I perhaps had thought. The fire doesn't make you fly. The fire actually keeps you [00:15:00] steady and it controls your descent, it brings you home. And it was so fascinating that I had such a visceral moment on that ride because if I rewind a little bit to the early days of my business. I had this like fire under my ass energy, like I was hustling.
I was fast. I was on a mission, and honestly, sometimes I was just running so like I wouldn't burn. The fire has gotten me here. Yes, but during that timeframe, the latter half of 2025, it had shifted. I felt really grounded. I felt so steady. I felt clear. I just felt content and, I'm not gonna lie, I had this moment of like.
Man, have I lost the excitement for my business? Like, where's my fire? But that balloon ride reminded me like, my fire isn't [00:16:00] gone. It's just evolved. It's no longer adrenaline pushing me higher. It's devotion. . It's not sparking chaos and getting me to go in a lot of different directions. It's sustaining my vision, and this is the energetic advantage that most people miss, is when they chase that early flame and wonder why it's not sustainable.
Your fire is not supposed to stay the same. It matures as you do, and so using the fire to your advantage and not judging , what you feel that is, here to do, or if you've lost it, is so key in allowing you to create a sustainable life and business that you don't need to burn down because you burn [00:17:00] out.
Lesson number four, this was the final lesson and it was my favorite and the one that landed the deepest for me. if I had probably known this, I would've not gone on the hot air balloon. When we got on the hot air balloon, Mike, our pilot, did not know where we were gonna land.
Like not when we took off, not halfway through the ride. And here's why, because the wind was shifting constantly. So the landing plan where we were gonna land changed, I'm gonna say 15 times at least. But here's the interesting part. Every time Mike would spit, every time he would get a gauge on the wind, every time he would radio the ground crew.
So there was a crew on the ground in the van that we had driven to the takeoff place with, and there was two of them in there. And their job, of course, was to meet us where we landed, and he would just radio the ground crew with a new [00:18:00] destination, right? He would be like, oh, we're heading towards Doe Mountain.
Oh no, I thought we're gonna go here, but now we're gonna go here. Oh, we're gonna just like have quarry rock. Right?, Every single time he did that, he never apologized for shifting direction. He just gave the next right instruction with confidence. And on the receiving end, every single time his ground crew responded with the same words and the same energy, they're like, copy boss, meet you there.
There was no drama. There was no heavy sighs of annoyance. There were no, are you sure? They just heard that message. Copy boss meet you there and drove to the new location and a lot of times he would change it mid driving, right? And so if you feel this energetic advantage, it was real time trust. Mike didn't [00:19:00] need certainty.
He did not know where he was going to be an effective leader. He just needed a crew that would meet him wherever the landing unfolded. And this is the exact leadership model that my business has in 2026, and I hope yours does too. You don't need a perfect plan. You need people who will move with you, a team that trusts your read of the wind, and a deep knowing in yourself that the landing spot will reveal itself after you've taken off.
And here's the coolest thing, I don't remember back in episode one. Where I share that most people don't take their energetic advantage, or most people don't like to step into leadership because it feels like if They [00:20:00] distance themselves from people, or they fear that by being a really bold leader who really unabashedly takes the energetic advantage, they lose connection with those around them.
And the example that I saw unfolded when we all landed. Was completely different. Mike got high fives from the ground crew when we landed. we had a big cheers at the end and everybody on that team. I wanted him to give the toast because it was his first day back. They celebrated how amazing a pilot he was.
They celebrated that he had this insane, energetic advantage, which in many cases made him better than they, but they still love to play the game with him. They still love to fly with him because he was not shying away. From his energetic advantage. And so here's what I want to leave [00:21:00] you with. Of course, these lessons aren't just about a balloon.
They're about you, and they're about me and all of us trying to live and lead and rise in a world in motion. Your intuition is stronger than any app. Your fear might not be what you think it is. Your fire isn't fading, it might just be evolving, and your leadership lives in how you move, not how you plan.
Right now at the beginning of the cycle, life is just one giant metaphor, so let it be. We are always being shown the next chapter, and if we are present enough to read the signs. If we're able to watch the sky, spit over the edge, throw some dirt, name your fear, adjust your [00:22:00] landing, trusting your crew to meet you there and knowing that it will shift.
And when it shifts, we will have the trust in ourselves and those around us to keep leading. So if this story stirred something in you, if it helped you reframe anything that's happening in your life or reconnect with your own energetic advantage, I would love if you would share it., Tag me, message me.
Tell me what it brought up for you. Share this with a friend.
Next episode, I'm gonna share a little bit more about the metrics that matter, while at the same time giving you a sneak peek into next month's energy. And this is one of the energetic advantages that I'm going to share with you. Tapping into the future weather so that we can move forward with confidence, exploring our own energetic advantages, how we tune [00:23:00] into it, how we lead with it, how we build our business and life around it is my passion, and I'm just so excited that you are here with me on the ride.
I'll see you next time.
Outro: Thanks for being here inside The Energetic Advantage. If today's episode open something for you, share it, tag it, or send to the person who popped into your mind. And remember, energy first strategy second. Your advantage has always been in you. Now it's time to lead with it. See you next time.
