Where do you Need to Focus on a Retreat? - jessicacrossasmr.com

Sometimes you just need to take a break from life and get some perspective.  When ensconced in our daily routine we have a hard time seeing the root of the issues we are struggling with and how to change them.  When we take a break from the ways we distract ourselves (television, books, radio and other people, etc.) we get a chance to gain a new perspective on everything.  This can be as easy as taking the 2-3 hours of TV most people watch in an evening, and instead sitting down with a journal or meditating.  

If it is that easy why don't we do this?  Because it is Hard!  We are tired and stressed and the last thing we want to do is try to problem solve.  That is why most of us think the only way to Retreat is to go on vacation.  It is often only after we have taken a few days to relax that we are able to look at what needs to change.  This is not the only way though.  

One of the reasons I love Question Centered Guided Meditation is that it allows you to relax and feel refreshed first before starting to problem solve.  I always look forward to these types of meditations even if I know I have a difficult problem to examine.  I feel relaxed and rejuvenated as I consider what changes need to me made.  Try this simple meditation below and make sure to have a journal nearby to write down what you learn.  Continuing to examine what you learn through journaling is a good way to extend your Retreat time while you are still relaxed.  

If you have additional time or want to delve deeper into the issue, move on to the next blog post with more meditation prompts.  Add these mini retreats in regularly to help you relieve stress and grow.  Read the following meditation and then close your eye and remember what you can.  Let your meditation unfold the way you need it to and don't worry if it differs from this prompt.

A Personal Journey

Take a deep breath, get comfortable and close your eyes.   You see a stone door in front of you.  Is it ornate or plain?  The door will not be easy to move but you have prepared well for this transition. 

One of your guides is here waiting for you.  If this is a new guide you may ask their name.  Before moving forward, is there anything you are ready to leave behind before crossing over this threshold?  Thoughts, beliefs, and burdens may appear as spheres of light that you can hand over to your guide or place down on the ground outside of the doorway.

Now reach for the door.  It will be difficult to open but you have the strength to move forward.  Use all of your might to open the door wide open.  Walk through the doorway and head down a cobble stone path through a darkened garden.  The moon is lighting your way, but much is in darkness; there is much to learn here and many mysteries.  

Explore this garden, although all is not clear, you are not afraid.  What is there to learn in this place? 

When you have explored as much as you would like, find a comfortable place to sit down.  You will not go back to the doorway where you began, as you have moved on from that place.  

As you sit, you being to hear the sounds around your physical body.  Wiggle your fingers and toes, and when you feel ready, open your eyes.

Now write down what you learned in a journal or drawing.  If you are done with your retreat, eat or drink something to return to your body.  

I hope to Journey with you again soon.

Learn to Make Room for Abundance in your life, Get over 5 hours of Video Guidance: HERE

Take care,

Jessica Cross
www.jessicacrossasmr.com

Meet your Needs to Relax - www.jessicacrossasmr.com

When we are stressed we often lack the energy to figure out how to really refuel our body and mind.  At these times I try to use meditation to bypass my thinking mind, which is too stressed to focus.  My conscious mind is thinking, "Tired, Stressed, Need Cookies."  It is often this exhaustion that causes us to flop in front of the TV rather than find something that would really nourish us.  

Meditation help us to access our unconscious and ask what we really need.  My unconscious mind is able to direct me to a more fulfilling stress reduction method, like a cup of tea, quiet, and staring into space with a journal in my lap.  

It is vitally important to learn what you need.  We often expect the ones we love to be able to read our minds and take care of us, but often we don't even know what we need or want.  Now is the time to look at what your body and mind need to be able to care for yourself.  

Use this meditation to figure out how to care for yourself right now. Read through the meditation and then close your eyes and visualize what you remember. If your meditation veers off from the one below, that is the path you were meant to take.  
  
Room of Requirement Meditation

Take a few deep breaths.  Find yourself in front of a familiar house.  Walk up to the door and with a relaxed breath open the door.  You are so happy to return to this place.  It is exactly where you need to be.  Look around the entry way.  While looking around you see a painting that you have missed in the past.  Stand in front of the painting and really look closely at it.  How does it make you feel?  What are the colors in the painting?  Is it a landscape or are there people and/or animals? Is it realistic or abstract?  Why do you think this painting is here?  Does it remind you of something or teach you something new?  It is ok if you have more questions than answers, you can visit this painting often until the meaning becomes clear.  

Next to this painting you notice a small door that seems a bit hidden in the shadows.  You might not have noticed it if you had not been drawn to the painting.  You have high hopes for this room as it seems to have been waiting for you.  As you grab the knob for the door you feel a bit of a jolt.  You immediately think of exactly what you need right now.  Is it a feeling, an item, or an experience?  

Surprised by this feeling you slowly open the door.  On the other side is exactly the room you need this evening.  What are you standing on?  What is on the walls?  What is the furniture?  Is there a bed or sitting area that seems to be made just for you?  Go rest there.  If there is a table next to this sitting area look closely to any items on that table.  These items may be the things that you need to have, rather than the room itself.  

Take a deep breath and revel in the fact that this room can become anything you need it to be at that moment.  It will show you what you need in your life even if you don’t know.  Enjoy the feelings that this room creates for you.  If there are items on the table feel free to take them with you as a reminder of what you currently need.  When you feel ready you can leave this room knowing that you can return here at any time. 

 Leave this room and take one final look at the painting.  Feel gratitude that it led you to this room.   On second glance has the meaning of the painting become any clearer?  Look once more around the entry way.  Has anything changed?  

You can now leave, smiling as you shut the door to a place that is becoming so comfortable.  Walk down the path with a smile still on your lips as you begin to return to your physical body and open your eyes.

Now return to your physical body with gentle movement and eating or drinking.  Write down any notes you want to remember from this Journey.

If you enjoy this and want more check you my Free Soul Path Ebook HERE.  It says "Name Your Price" but I promise Free is fine, it is just the most professional way for me to send you the book.

Take very good care of yourself this week,

Jessica Cross
www.jessicacrossasmr.com

What are Your Intentions for this Full Moon? - Let Me Help you Decide!

Tomorrow is the Full Moon.  When using the Moon Cycles for Goal Setting, this is the time to solidify your desires and then release them.  The second half of the month you can gently work towards your goals but also take time to rest.   It is good to reflect on what you are currently grateful for in you life and start thinking of your goals for next month.  This is the time to focus on what your priorities are and then limit your energy to those areas.  After the Full Moon it is also important to spend plenty of time recharging your batteries.

Use this meditation to help you energize and finalize your goals.  Read through the meditation and then close you eyes and remember what you can.  It is not necessary that your meditation looks just like this one.  Let your own intuition guide your meditation.

Aztec Meditation

Take a deep breath and close your eyes.  You are walking through a jungle.  It is a bit difficult to walk down the path.  The air is hot and humid.  This is a lot of noise in the air from animals.  The air is beginning to cool a bit as the sun is going down.  
 

Soon you reach a small oasis and there is a pool with a waterfall.  Walk towards an area in the grass near the pool.  Sit and join one of your guides in this clearing.  If this is a new guide you may ask for their name.  You hear the sound of the waterfall, it is small and makes a pleasant noise.  You recognize this is a sacred place used for healings and ritual for many years.  You have been granted special permission to use this place. 

At the top of the waterfall you see a staff with a large crystal at the top.  You notice that the sun, which is setting, will pass directly behind the staff at the top of the waterfall. 

As the sun dips a bit lower the crystal catches it’s light and sends the light down to your feet where you are sitting.  This light has a magenta glow and this is your connection to the earth, and the energy that comes from the ground; the ancient understanding that is deep within the earth.  You feel this energy like a spring entering your feet and send this light and energy through your whole body.  You feel connected to the earth and powerful. 

The sun continues to set and send this light to your hips.  It turns a red color.  It is as if a flower at this area opens all of its petals and releases its energy.  You feel the energy still coming from the earth and filling your body.  You feel secure and safe.

The light then moves higher to right below your belly button and turns an orange color.  The flower here also opens and releases your creativity and your strength to move down this path you have found.  

The light now moves up to the base of your ribs and turns a yellow color.  The flower opens and releases power and your ability to effect the world.  Feel in control and strong.

The light moves to your heart and turns a green color.  This flower opens and fills you with love for yourself and others.  You care deeply for those around you.

The light rises to your throat and turns a blue color.  The flower opens and fills your body with the ability to speak your truth.  You feel capable of setting boundaries with others and yourself.

The light now touches your forehead and turns a dark blue.  The flower opens and you are able to see not only what is in front of you but what you need to know that is not visible.  Your intuition will help guide you down your path.

The sun continues to set and the light reaches the top of your head and turns a violet color.  This flower opens and you feel this connection to the energy all around you running from your feet all through your body and connecting again through the top of your head.  Your body is balanced and whole.  

As the sun leaves your body it surrounds you in an egg of pink light  This brings you love and healing, and feels like a hug from the energies surrounding you.

You see the moon full in the sky.  It shines a silvery light down on your head and fills your body with peace and calm.  Before the sun dips below the horizon you feel the direct light from the sun filling you with excitement and passion.  You feel your heart quicken as the sun reminds you of the new opportunities all around you.  The light of the sun is guiding your forward to great things.

The clearing now becomes dark and you feel the universe all around you.  This dark connects you further to the energies that come from far away.  You feel as if you become transparent and you lose the clear edges of your body.  You meld into the energy all around you.  You look up and see the stars, and the stars send down their energy and fill you with limitless possibilities.  You are filled with glimpses of other opportunities available to you in life.  You feel peace and awakening.  You know that these energies are helping to guide you at all times.

I want you to feel the source energy that has surrounded you and filled you and send it back down into the earth.  You are pouring energy through you into the earth. 

Look into the pool of water lit by the moon in front of you.  What version of you do you see in the pool.  Does this vision offer you any guidance.  Ask your guide any questions you may have about this experience.  Thank your guide.

Take another deep breath and stand to walk out of the clearing.  Start to hear the sounds around your physical body.  Wiggle your fingers and toes, and when you feel ready, open your eyes.

Now connect to the world with gentle movement.  Eating and drinking also helps to ground your physical body.  You should also note down your vision and see how that influences your goals.

The Full Soul Path E-Book is Free and can help you gain perspective on where you need to go.  Click here!  I would really appreciate honest review of this book on Amazon.  Have a wonderful Full Moon.



Take care,

Jessica Cross
www.jessicacrossasmr.com

Easy Goal Setting - Relax and Ask - www.jessicacrossasmr.com

Your activity for today is to write yourself a Christmas Letter.  What?!? It is the beginning of summer!  A Christmas letter is the best example of what I want you to write.  Do any of you still get Christmas Newsletters from families telling you how awesome they are?  They lay out all the amazing places they have gone and awards there children have won.  It is the amazing highlights of their year.  In the digital age we are often bombarded with these kinds of posts on Facebook year round!

Your letter to yourself is the same.  I want you to write a letter dated this time Next Year.  Detail all the awesome things that will happen over the coming year.  Set your sights high, but also keep them within the realm of possibility and things you could actually work on.  We generally over estimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can accomplish in three years.  If you only meet half of the goals you write out, or only meet these goals half way, that is a lot farther than you are right now.  

Read over this letter every month, three months, or whenever feels right to you.  Remember this is a working document, so feel free to cross things out and add new things at any time.  Some people hesitate to set yearly goals because a year is a long time, and our priorities change.  It is still good to set those goals, but don't hesitate to alter them.

Now, read through this meditation.  Then close your eyes and remember what you can.  There is no need to worry if you can't remember it all.  Your meditation will go right where you need it to. 

Star Meditation

Take a deep breath and close your eyes.   You are walking outside at night; where are you?  It is dark but the stars are brilliantly bright.  It is a new moon so the light is from stars alone.  

Lay down on the ground.  Feel the light from the stars bathe your body.  This protective light covers you with peace and calm.  As you look up, a few of the stars seem to burn brighter than the others.  They may omit a comforting color or your eyes may just feel drawn to these stars.  One then seems to reach out stronger than the others. 

Focus on that star; soon you notice strings drifting down from each of the stars above.  Reach out to the string connected to the star you are drawn to.  This star is your current path.  Hold on to the string and you can ask the star any questions you have about the path you are on.  You can simply ask if this is the right path; if the answer is no, you may look to another star calling out to you.  You may choose a different path than the one you have been on up to this point.  

Do not feel afraid to attach to the stars.  At any time you can detach from this string and attach to a different star.  If you feel ready, you can attach this string to a reel that appears right above your heart.  This reel pulls the string little by little, bringing you farther down this path to your destiny.  Sometimes it will move so slowly it will seem to barely turn; and sometimes it will be as if you are racing towards this star.  As this star is pulled closer to you, so are all of the stars in the sky; so you are moving further down all possible paths.  Some stars are farther away, and some are so far you may not be able to see them yet, but you are always moving closer, so choosing another path is easy.  There are no mistakes, just clarifications of what we want.  We are constantly reeling in our destiny and we learn on any path we choose.

Ask for any clarification from your star.  When you have asked everything you need to ask, welcome this star into your life.  Thank the star for pulling you along on your journey.

When you feel ready, start to hear the sounds around your physical body.  Wiggle your fingers and toes, and open your eyes.

Now roll your shoulders and then your neck and return to your body.  Do you have anything you need to add or remove from your letter?  Feel free to follow this meditation regularly to update your letter and make sure you are still focusing on your current priorities.

If you enjoy this meditation the full Soul Path EBook is available for FREE HERE!  Thank you so much for reading my blog and relaxing with me.

Take care,

Jessica Cross
www.jessicacrossasmr.com