SAMIA: Yeah. That's awesome, I love that! Now you mentioned two things that you help people with, or rather what... maybe it's one thing with two parts. Intuitive and Lunar Living. Now I have some idea about the intuitive part. But I'm not so familiar with the lunar living part...can you tell me more about that?

SAMIA: True.

JENESSA: Because of the gravitational pull and all the science behind that... like, it amazes me every time I think about it... that because we are a very specific location away from the moon and the sun, that we are able to be alive on this earth. That blows my mind. That just shows me that, you know, the universe, higher power, whatever you believe in, is totally at work all the time and is everywhere. Because one little tweak, and we can all be in trouble.

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: So, you know, lunar living is... the way I teach it now, is a lost, forgotten cycle. Because everything on the earth has a cycle. It has, you know... we go from birth, life, death, rebirth. It's all just this continuous cycle of life really, right, and energy, and amazingness... I mean it still, it blows my mind to even think about it all. But you know, for civilizations way back, they have always gone by the moon. I mean we have our calendar, our 30-day calendar is based on thousands of years ago by the moon, because the cycle of the moon is like 28 and a half to 30 days.

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: So our calendars are based on how the moon revolves around the earth. And you know, when we understand the lunar phases and the energy of each one, it really helps us to make better decisions and to expect better results. There's energies for planning, acting, celebrating, rest, release, making space... And there are eight phases, four major phases. And four, like, I don't even want to call them minor phases, but minor phases of the moon... But you know, when we follow the lunar energy in our own lives, our lives become more in flow and more easy...with more ease... I don't want to say easy because easy can be interpreted in a million different ways. But our lives can have more ease, we handle things better, we can make better decisions, and like I said, expect better results because of that.

SAMIA: I totally support everything to makes life more easy!

JENESSA: Right.

SAMIA: Greater ease! And I love that, you know, like what you said about this, what you're sharing right now, this is not new knowledge... we just lost this knowledge. And when it comes to... I just wanted to... when you were talking about how our calendars are 30 days, our calendars because of the moon... actually there are still cultures where they explicitly continue to use the phases of the moon to set the calendar. For example, in the Muslim culture, we still use the lunar calendar. And so our calendar is actually not even completely set because we're literally like every month... it's like... will it be 28 days, 29 days, 30 days this month, you know… because we're actually watching the moon. And we have these like funny... funny for us in a sort of sense, things happen where, you know, we have certain holidays and we're going by the lunar calendar. And until the actual new moon starts you don't know the exact date in the Gregorian calendar when the holiday will be. And so it gets a little bit funny because you know we're like, "Ah! Will our holiday be on this date or will it be on this date?" And half the community just wants to follow the astronomical calculations made by the scientists for when the new moon will be, and the other half of the community wants to actually wait till they site the new moon. So it's still a very much live part of many cultures that, you know, you follow the phases of the moon as part of your everyday life.

JENESSA: Right. And/but what I think has been lost is the energy that comes with the phases.

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: And how to follow them. I mean you can follow the lunar calendar, you can follow like you said the Gregorian calendar. But how you feel, and you know, coming in to a better connection to your own self, your body, your spirit, your mind, is where the energy of the moon cycles or phases come in.

SAMIA: Yeah, please tell me more about that.

JENESSA: Yeah, so to do that let me just start by telling you what the phases are. And then we can kind of go through what each energy is. So the New Moon is... they also call it the Dark Moon. Because you don't see it in the sky at all. And that is the time to... that's like the beginning... like, you know, you would know the beginning of the new cycle. So we set our intentions, we figure out what we want to accomplish during the month, we reflect on the past month. We also can... the new moon... the full moon is a little bit better to like let go of stuff. But you can, when you're reflecting in the new moon, you can also look... when you're looking at your past month, be like, "Okay, what did not really serve me last month? Or what didn't really work for me last month, and how can I tweak it this month going forward?"... But you know, the new moon is really called... you're getting ready. It's like you're planting your seed for your flower. And now you like, you stick it in the dirt, you cover it with dirt, and now you're like, "Okay, I know that my intention is to grow this flower". So at the end of it you're gonna have a big beautiful flower, right. So that's your intention. The second major moon phase is the First Quarter, which is when the moon is exactly half lit and half dark. I call... I call those phases like the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde phases. Because it really is pure duality, right. It's half light, half dark. And you know, you can feel a little of both during those phases because they're just, they're right in the middle, and they're like... you're like, "Okay do I go, do I stop?” But we'll get to that in a minute. Then the third one is the Full Moon, and that's like the mother energy, the big, big, energy of the lunar cycle. And then we have the last Quarter Moon which is another half moon that leads right back into the new moon. So in between those cycles we have what's called waxing between the new moon and the full moon. And then waning energy between the full moon and the new moon. Waxing energy is growing energy. So it's a new moon. And then more and more and more light starts shining... the sun... it's sunlight shining onto the moon that shows you more, and more, of the moon until it gets to be full. And then the waning energy is decreasing energy. Because the light is going the opposite way. So now it's going back into the dark moon... the new moon. So we kind of already covered, you know, what the new moon is. It's like that you've planted your seed, you're like, "Here's what I've, you know, here's what my intention is for this month". And then when we set intentions… they are more of like... you can set a goal which has a tangible outcome. And your intention is really what you need to be to create that goal or bring that goal into fruition. Does that make sense?

SAMIA: Yes, yes. --

JENESSA: That's how I teach my people right now in the challenge that I do every month. So because it's a manifestation challenge, it can, you know... you can use the moons, the moon energy for so many different things, right. You can use it to manifest something specific. You can, you know, use it in daily life. You can use it to garden, you can use it to plan out, like, I plan my business marketing by the moon cycles, my launches by the moon cycles. You can... like your exercise and health and wellness routines... Like it's just... it's a free-for-all when it comes to this, right? But we also know that life happens, right. So sometimes when, you know, the moon energy says, oh it's time to rest, or to pause, or you know, to go, go, go... Sometimes it doesn't always quite happen in life that way, right. So I guess the great thing about it is that if you know what energy you're in you can, you know, still do the thing that you need to do, and then rest after. Or you can like... if you're not feeling well or something in the go, go, go energy, it's more important to be listening to your body than it is the moon energy, right. Because our health comes first. We can't fill up anyone else's cup if ours isn't filled, which the moon cycle gives you a chance to do.

SAMIA: Right. And in some cases, you know, like if you're feeling sick and and the moon energy is like go, go, go, maybe the way that you can go, go, go, in that moment is by taking a rest and and taking better care of yourself... you know, because it's about, like you said, filling that cup up again. And that's a way of going too.

JENESSA: It is, yeah absolutely! It is absolutely. Because, you know, I think in this... in our society today, we're conditioned to go, go, all the time. If we're not like, especially with entrepreneurs, like, if we're not working, we're not making money. Which is bull. Or if you know, as mothers, or wives, or partners, or whatever, even just ourselves... if we're only responsible for ourselves, we feel like if we're not doing something then we're not contributing to life, or we're not doing enough.

SAMIA: Yeah, but it's this definition of what you think you must be doing to feel like you're doing something worthy... You know, I was actually doing an interview with another coach earlier this month, or was it last month, and we were talking about how he... one of the things he mentioned about himself, he said no matter what happens he exercises for a couple of hours every day. And that's part of how he takes better care of himself and creates better balance in his life... And I was like, you know, I don't, I don't exercise for a couple of hours every day. But I do, with great discipline, do various forms of meditation for like couple of hours every day, sometimes more than a couple of hours. And I don't see that as time that I'm just wasting or whatever. It's actually critical time that I'm investing in my growth, in my wellness. And it actually enables me to stay in the high positive energy vibrations that I need to be able to manifest what I want in my life with greater ease, and do the good work that I do, you know. And so it might seem to people who don't understand the power and the need for such self-care practices to, you know... they might think, oh, you know, this is like luxury, or waste of time, or whatever. But I think that's just a lack of understanding just how necessary these things are for us.

JENESSA: Yeah. And you know, like if somebody had said to me, "You need to exercise for two hours a day to like keep your mental health", well, I'd be like, "No, no". Not that I don't move my body, because I do. But just, you know, it doesn't... I think that's where we get disconnected, right... is we want to change something about ourselves, right, whether it's our weight, our current situation... the reality that we've built for ourselves, whatever it is. And we go on this... the internet, right. And we're like, "How do I change this?" So you're looking externally for somebody to tell you how to change something in your life. And while I am all about learning, I am... we are all constantly learning and you should be constantly learning. I mean, just waking up in the morning and living... you, you are learning something right. That's how I look at it. So I'm not saying don't go, you know, looking for knowledge. Because you always want to be looking for knowledge. Just always know that you have the answers already. Your intuition guides you with that little GPS of life. Like it doesn't, you know... life doesn't come with a manual, but it comes with a GPS, you just gotta plug it in.

SAMIA: I love that! That's just, that's just brilliant. Life doesn't come with a manual but it does come with a GPS. Brilliant!

JENESSA: Yeah. So when you're listening to that, you know, you always have all the answers inside you. Usually what stops us from making a change is fear. And it's fear of a lot... it could be a lot of things, right. But mostly it's fear of the unknown. Like, if this changes then what? I'm gonna have to let go of something. I'm going to have to change the way I am being, you know. I have to follow through... like that was one of my big ones. Like I love to start sh*t, but I did not like to finish it. Or I would wait until the last min… I was the biggest procrastinator ever, right. And I would... like in high school, the book report got done like the night before it was due, like reading the book and the book report got done the night it was due. And it was, you know, assigned a month beforehand, you know. So yes I am, you know... I don't even want to say recovered procrastinator, because that's just a label that we put on ourselves which becomes a belief. So, but, yeah, fear really is the biggest reason why we don't change. Have you ever heard the story of the dog that sat on... the sitting on the nail?

SAMIA: The dog that's sitting on the nail? No.

JENESSA: Yeah, so I heard the story from one of my mentors. And I love it so much because it's a mind blower... like, and you're like, "Oh God, I do that all the time", right. Like and then once you... I'll tell you the story in one second, but once you realize that, you like once you bring it to consciousness, you're like, "Where am I doing that?" And then you're constantly asking yourself, "Am I doing that right now?" you know. Is this fear-based not doing it, or is it like intuition based not doing it? Is it ego based not wanting to change or whatever it is? So there's a guy walking down the street and he hears a dog howling, and he's like, "What the h*ck?!" So he, you know, walks over to where the dog is and there's a man standing with the dog. And the guy sees that the dog is sitting on a board with nails in it. So there is a nail like piercing the dogs, probably, butt... whatever, you know, piercing the dog in some way... the dog is howling, and the guy is like, "Oh my God, did you know that your dog is sitting on a nail?!" And the guy, owner of the dog says, "Yep I do". And the guy on the sidewalk says, “Well, why doesn't he get up?" And the guy says, "Because it will hurt more". Does that make sense?

SAMIA: It will hurt more to get up from the... from sitting on the nails?

JENESSA: Yeah, so let me explain...

SAMIA: Yes, please. I don’t think I get that one...not entirely...

JENESSA: No, and that's cool because some people don't... some people are like, "Why wouldn't he just get up?' Right?

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: But think about this, if you took your hand, right, and you slammed it on a nail, and the nail went through your hand, it would hurt right for a minute?

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: And then it would, like, kind of not hurt as much, for a minute...

SAMIA: Oh, 'cause the body will numb the area, and so forth…?

JENESSA: Yeah, because your body now says, okay, like, this is uncomfortable, but I can deal with it. So it's like the mediocre, right. So it's like sitting in the mediocre of your life... But if you were to pull your hand off that nail, it would really hurt.

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: And it would really... and you know that it's gonna really hurt when you pull it off that nail. But when you pull it off the nail, it can now heal and become whole again.

SAMIA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

JENESSA: So most of us are sitting on the nail, and so we're sitting in this mediocre part of our lives where we're like, just kind of going through the motions... yep, we wake up, we, you know, eat our breakfast, we do whatever we do in the morning, we go to work, we come home, we eat dinner, we go to bed, we do it again... Like it's this hamster wheel, right. But is that really what we want? I mean, is that what we were put on this earth to do? In my opinion, the answer to that is a hell no, all right. Yeah, I mean yes, do we need money to survive on this planetary, you know, plane, this 3D plane that we're on? Yes, we have to have money to survive, right. We can't eat, we can't have shelter, we can't have clothes, we, you know... all of those things. But we can always breathe the air, we always have oxygen, right... so food/water and air are literally the only two things a human needs to survive. So being on this hamster wheel of life, most humans are, you know, they do this... the hamster wheel hamster for like 50-65 years, whatever it is. And then they're like, "Yay! Now I can retire!" And then unfortunately most of them won't make it another 5 years, right, or 10 years. And they're like, then they have these regrets like, "I should have done more with my life, I should have gone on more vacations, I should have enjoyed the things I...", all of these things. And that's where a lot of us sit now. Especially... I mean, a lot of the people that come into my challenge now are, they're a little bit past... they're like starting to get off the nail. They're like, I know I want to get off the nail, you know, yes. But I know this is gonna kind of suck when I do. But I also know that it's going to be a big transformation/change. And I am going to be whole, and understand who I am at the core so that I can enjoy my life. Like, I consider us like souls that came down here... being, you know, little soul... souls that are here in human form that came down here. And you know, higher power, universe, God, whatever you believe in, said, this is a playground. You are supposed to experience life as a human on earth. That is what you signed up for.

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: So are we really experiencing life when we sit on this hamster wheel?

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: Yeah, so we can bring this right back into the lunar energy right. So when you learn about lunar energy, and you learn and unlearn... that, you know, there are... and you should, because you are a living being, you have a cycle.

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: And every month you have a cycle as a human being.

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: And you have to take time to reflect, and plan, and do, and celebrate, and rest, and pause, and do all those things. Like you have to... This natural moon energy tells you to fill up your own cup. And so many of us don't. You know, whether that's, like you said, I don't remember the examples you gave a few minutes ago, but whether that's like, you know, going to get a massage, or just sitting down in your comfy chair with a tea and a blanket, and just sitting there enjoying your tea... like that's filling up. You filling up your cup can be anything.

SAMIA: Right, right.

JENESSA: Anything you want it to be... where you're like, "This is my intention... my intention right now is to sit down and just refill my own energy".

SAMIA: Yes, and there are... maybe this is something we can talk about next time, Jenessa, like the different ways to fill up your energy… Because, like, all of us are doing some things that help us stay happy, and sane, and well, to the extent that we do. But we all probably also have gaps because of which we are not as happy, or as peaceful, or as well, as we can be, or we have the potential to be. So like, how do you recognize that? ...Keep doing the good things you are doing that are helping. But then how do you also recognize the gaps, and then fill in the gaps? And so one of the things that I'm learning from you today is that understanding the lunar cycle and the energies, is one of the ways we can begin to recognize where the gaps might be for us. Because by understanding the lunar living cycle, you know, it's a way to understand how to create better balance in your life.

JENESSA: Yes.

SAMIA: So you can see... okay, this I'm already doing, and I'm good. So keep doing this. And ahh, I'm missing things over here, so let's fill in that gap...

JENESSA: Yeah, yes. You can do lunar living big picture, like what you just talked about. You can do lunar living smaller picture by, like, following it, you know, monthly.

SAMIA: Yeah.

JENESSA: You know, bigger picture being what are the gaps that I'm kind of missing in my life right now, and how do I fill those up? Or, I don't want to say fill them up... but how do I create space to be my best self?

SAMIA: Yes.

JENESSA: And then, you know, when you do it monthly, it is, you know, setting that specific intention for the month... and one specific intention for the month. Because, like, here's what I tell...here's what I tell my people. I'm like, if you don't know what you want your intention to be, if you have a million ideas in your head of what you want your intention to be, write them all down on a piece of paper and then literally close your eyes and just move your hand. And then when you feel, when your intent, when your intuition says stop, stop! That is your intention for the month. And stick with it, you know.

SAMIA: I love that.

JENESSA: And that's just also teaching them to feel into their intuition.

SAMIA: Yes, yes. Okay, so please set an intention. And not a lot of intentions. Set one intention for yourself every month. And allow your intuition to guide you as to what that intention is for you, for that, for this month, or whichever month you are in. And hey, I know a lot of people struggle when it comes to being able to listen to their intuition, even being able to recognize what their intuition is saying to them, or if it's their intuition talking, or if it's their ego or something else. So please reach out to Jenessa for help when you need help with that. You can reach out to me also. That’s something that I also love to do, is help people tap into their intuition. I also call it... I use the language of the Heart, the Spiritual Heart... learning to connect with our spiritual heart, which is also the voice of our intuition. So anyway, you have lots of help and support that you can get if this is something you need help and support with. We'll put Jenessa’s links so you can connect with her in the show notes... We'll put my links so you can connect with me in the show notes. And yeah, just once again, thank you so much for joining us Jenessa. And I'm looking forward to having you back again :).

JENESSA: Yeah, thank you so much :).