August 17, 2020

Understanding the “Turn On”

Did you know that being turned-on has more to do with an energetic connection than it does with physical touch alone? We have this false belief that turn-on needs to be “sexual” when there are SO many other things that can turn you on and light your fire that are just as powerful.

When women are craving more intimacy, passion and connection with their partner, I hear concerns like: the romance has died, we live like roommates, I have lost my libido or I don’t feel turned-on anymore. Let’s look at the definition of what it means to be “turned-on” for our answer.
Webster defines “Turn On” as: An activation or cause to flow, operate, or function by or as if by turning a control, or to move pleasurably.

When you turn on the lights, the room goes from dark to light. When you turn on the water faucet, the water goes from nothing to a continuous flow of water. Our energy is the same way. Being turned-on is feeling ALIVE and feeling the positive flow of energy throughout your entire body. A spark ignites and fuels you up on the inside and radiates outward to others. When you are turned-on, people feel the difference in your energy and want to be around you.

When you tune into yourself, into the frequency that fuels your fire, you feel energized and alive. Abraham Hicks, an inspirational speaker and author, regularly talks about being “in the vortex.” She shares inspiring stories and wisdom on how to get tuned in, tapped in and turned on with life. According to Hicks, when you are “turned-on” you are in the flow of life and attract to you the things you desire.

Turn-on can be a physical sensation however it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes we believe that we need a man to be turned-on, because we know how good it feels when we feel turned-on in his presence. The truth is you don’t need a man to find your turn on. If you can find your turn-on without a man, imagine how exciting it can be when you bring your aliveness to meet him. The fireworks that will fly. When you experience the depths of aliveness, you can combine the physical, emotional, energetic and spiritual components of turn on. If you want to experience deeper intimacy and connection in your life, it begins with not just knowing your turn-on, but living a turned-on life.

August 17, 2020

Turn On, Pleasure and Desire

What’s the connection with turn-on, pleasure and desire?

TURN-ON is what makes us feel ALIVE inside. When we FEEL alive, we allow our bodies to experience pleasure in SO MANY ways. When we dive into our pleasure, we open our desire channel to more and more desires.
PLEASURE is a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. Pleasure is a delightful sensation we allow ourselves to feel when our attention and energy is fully in our body. Pleasure is a gift from God that allows us to surrender to the feelings and sensations in the moment. Pleasure is different from fun (being playful) or joy (a state of inner peace), as it allows our bodies to feel.

DESIRE is a natural impulse that originates from your soul. Desire longs for you to expand and grow beyond what you already know. It rises above the obligations, should haves, rational or logical thinking, or seeking the approval of others. It requires that we are led by a force greater than our minds. Desire is the nutrient we need to fuel our soul. Desire is not the object itself. It is about being moved by the energy of desire itself.
So…

What turn’s you on?
What brings you pleasure?
What do you desire?

There is no right or wrong answer. None of these things are wrong or bad. But so many women when asked the questions above have a hard time answering them. Why? Is it that they don’t know, or are they too ashamed to say anything because it’s not something they are supposed to discuss? It’s taboo to talk about turn-on, pleasure and desire. Does culture or comfort hold us back?
The truth is, pleasure is the missing link to much of the unfulfillment women are experiencing in the world today. YOU are the only one that knows your turn on. If something turns you on, it is your responsibility to communicate and let your partner know what you like or create the turn-on yourself. YOU know what brings you pleasure. ou are the only one who knows what feels good and pleasureful to you. Every woman is different, so you can’t expect your partner to know what you like. It’s not their job to be a mind reader.

It is important for you to know your body and what brings you pleasure so that you can communicate to your partner what feels good to you or create the opportunity to experience pleasure just for you.

Mama Gena, founder of the School of Womanly Arts, states, “Pleasure is the direct antidote to the crisis of confidence and powerlessness women are currently experiencing.” Self-development and talk therapy are helpful but they do not get into the body. There is something different that happens when the body experiences pleasure over anything else. We have been looking for confidence in the wrong neighborhood. We believe we are flawed, so we try to hide and pretend like we need to fix something about ourselves, however, what we really need is the ability to connect to our sensual intelligence.
And lastly, only YOU know what you desire. When you are alone in your room, using your imagination, fantasizing and dreaming about your natural desires, only YOU know what you secretly yearn for and crave. What do you wish was different in your life? What are those hungers deep inside of you that are just waiting to break free? You have the power to choose. When you embrace turn-on, own your pleasure and cultivate your desires, you can experience more intimacy, connection and fulfillment with your partner and in life.

August 11, 2020

Make a Commitment to Your Pleasure

As we dive deeper into understanding what pleasure is as well as the importance of it, we owe it to ourselves to make a commitment to our pleasure and our radiance.

With any new venture or goal in life, the hardest part is making the decision and getting started. Let’s think about the decision to eat healthier or workout out. How many times have you said to yourself, I am going to start eating better or go to the gym regularly to find yourself NOT following through on what it was you said you were going to do for yourself.
Just like eating healthy, going to the gym, meditating, or going to church are all regular habits or practices, PLEASURE IS ALSO A PRACTICE. You can’t just eat healthy once a week and expect to be slim. You also can’t just workout once a week and expect to tone your body. You need to make a commitment to yourself and create a regular practice.
I am gifting you with the opportunity to make a vow to yourself to own your pleasure. Join our movement, by choosing to reclaim your sexuality as a woman and anchor the journey of coming home to yourself. In choosing to accept The Pleasure Promise, you are taking a stand to connect more deeply with yourself, your body, your partner and the Divine.

The Pleasure Promise is a 3-part journey:
• Learning to love and accept your body
• Discovering your own pleasure (with or without a partner)
• Surrendering to a deeper spiritual connection (intimacy and sharing of whole self)

You will find that pleasure is the gateway to a deeper spiritual connection with your partner and the Divine. If you truly want to experience the depth of intimacy and connection you crave, making a commitment to your pleasure is vitally important. It could be be THE THING that saves your marriage or that makes your man want to commit to you.

If you are ready to begin the next phase of your journey and are curious on learning more about HOW to create a practice of committing to your own pleasure, click on our website link and sign up to receive a download of The Pleasure Promise. You can use this guide as a daily promise to yourself and your pleasure.

If you are ready to take your commitment to another level, sign up for a complementary consultation and learn how we can support you on your personal journey.

August 6, 2020

Cultural Myths that Block Women from Experiencing Pleasure

What is pleasure? How do we as women experience a pleasure-filled life? When a woman shatters the glass ceiling of what pleasure really is and learns to embrace it, the world around her begins to shift.
Pleasure is MORE than taking time out for self-care practices. When we own our pleasure, we connect to a power within that is even greater than ourselves. When a woman expands the love of her body, embraces her radiance and her feminine power, she becomes magnetic, igniting an energy that begins to attract all that she desires.
I realize the concept of pleasure is not something that we all talk about often. So how do we have an open dialogue on this topic and understand the value that focusing on pleasure can do for women? Let me share a story with you.

One woman I worked with had an okay relationship with her partner but wanted to take things to another level. She wanted more intimacy and connection, but everything she tried didn’t seem to work. She tried things like ….

… Talking to him
… Asking him to go to counseling
… Suggesting they go to a workshop together
… Recommending books that would be good for him to learn how to have a better relationship
… Leaving hints around the house
… Giving him an ultimatum
… Just accepting things as they are, and setting for the relationship they currently had

NONE of these things worked.

She was at her wits end. Is this how relationships are supposed to feel? She really did not want to leave her marriage, but at the same time, she felt unhappy and unfulfilled as a woman. She knew she needed to make a change. She was hesitant to focus on pleasure, but nothing else seemed to work. She was a “Good Catholic Girl.” How could she be thinking about focusing on her own pleasure?! She shared with me some of the concerns she had around focusing on pleasure that I think every woman can relate to. She worried that number 1, pleasure was gluttonous. That it was selfish to focus on pleasure. She worried that pleasure was a reward that must by earned by hard work and good behavior. And of course, like a good Catholic girl she didn’t want to look like a like a bimbo or a slut by coming across as too sexy.

Her and I sat and talked about each of these concerns. I shared with her how I have heard so many other women share the same fears, but that there was hope! These are myths that most of us have been taught about pleasure, but they are exactly that, MYTHS. She was hesitant to dive right in to a sexuality program, but nothing else had worked. She knew in her core she had this yearning and longing and was curious to learn more. She was ready.

July 23, 2020

Defining Pleasure

When I started focusing on pleasure, my first thought was what are people going to think? I was raised as a good catholic girl, how could I be exploring, let alone encouraging other women to open to the possibilities of what focusing on pleasure could do for their lives, relationships and careers? Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy life, but I’m a busy working mom always on the go living a life filled with passion and purpose and can easily get caught up in all the work to get done, whether it’s participating in church activities, raising my family or building and running my business.

You might say, Jen, I do take time to enjoy my life. I take time for me regularly. I enjoy spending time with my kids, connecting with friends and make date nights. We also take regular vacations. If this is true for you, I applaud your efforts; however, I encourage you to consider your experience with TRULY FEELING pleasure. Pleasure is a delightful sensation we allow ourselves to feel when our attention and energy is FULLY IN OUR BODY.
Pleasure is different from fun (being playful) or joy (a state of inner peace), as it ALLOWS OUR BODIES TO FEEL. When we deny ourselves pleasure, we end up creating physical and emotional pain. Pleasure can be felt through all of our senses. Rediscovering our ability to feel enables us to express our true self which includes experiencing pure enjoyment as well releasing negative or stagnant energies that are no longer serving us.

When we embody ourselves, we awaken the feminine energy and radiance inside of us. We become, healed, whole and healthy. We discover how to reclaim our power and begin to honor and appreciate our body as a temple.

I want you to be curious! What if PLEASURE was the answer?

• WHAT IF you could experience more pleasure in your life with no judgment?
• WHAT IF experiencing pleasure allowed you to discover your purpose?
• WHAT IF owning your pleasure is the key to you discovering your authentic self?
• WHAT would happen IF you gave yourself permission to nurture yourself as a woman?
• WHAT would happen IF you got in touch with your true feminine nature?
• WHAT IF feeling pleasure opened doors of opportunity that you never knew existed?
• WHAT IF experiencing pleasure was the key to creating more intimate relationships?

PLEASURE IS NOT A LUXURY. IT IS A NECESSITY AND A GATEWAY TO POSSIBILITIES. When we give ourselves permission to be vulnerable and feel pleasure, we learn radical self-love and self-respect. We embody a presence that is energetic, empowering and magnetic.

Let us discover all the richness of our feminine nature, all the mystery and magic. As we reclaim our truth, freedom and true happiness, we can expand our radiance, share more of gifts of service to the world and create the intimacy and connection our souls desire.

July 2, 2020

The 4 Ways You May Be Emasculating Men

As we explore letting go of control, let us take a deeper dive into why we might emasculate men in the
first place. Last month we discussed how women need to feel loved in order to respect a man and on
the flip side, a man needs to feel respected in order to love and desire a woman. It feels like a vicious
cycle. If you are not feeling the type of connection and intimacy you desire from your man, you are likely
emasculating your man without knowing it.

When I first started exploring this idea it made sense conceptually; however, I wanted to learn more. I
wanted to know what things I was saying and doing that were emasculating to men. Where was I
criticizing and putting a man down as opposed to encouraging him and lifting him up. We know it’s
important to honor and respect our husbands, but what we don’t realize are the little things. The little
jabs and hooks we throw that no one talks about that are the culprits.

I want you to think about the following questions…

– Are you a strong, confident, independent woman who feels disconnected with your partner?
– Do You feel frustrated your partner isn’t meeting your needs?
– Do You struggle with communicating with your partner and feel he doesn’t hear you?
– Does he shut down and refuse to open-up to you?
– Do you end up feeling like you need to do everything yourself and question if he even finds you
attractive or desirable?

If you answered YES to any of these questions you are likely thinking, “Are you a fly on my wall?!” It is
likely that you are emasculating your man and don’t realize it. One of the keys to creating deeper
intimacy and connection with a man is to understand men and the polarity between men and women. If
you show up in a controlling, demanding or pressured way, you will not get the results you desire, and
you will push your man away. The key to igniting intimacy with your man is to own your sexuality,
surrender control and show up in your essence as a woman.

We must learn to be a strong, confident, whole women, but not at the expense of crushing our men.
The key is to stop emasculating men and provide more respect and appreciation. We must show up
differently to our relationships. When we correct these habits as women, the vicious cycle of love vs.
respect stops and the desire and connection between you and your partner can re-ignite.
There are four ways that we emasculate men without realizing it. Trust me some of these things are so
simple that we don’t even realize we are doing it, because we have been behaving this way all of our
lives. Our female role models have done these things too without realizing how it impacts our
relationships with men. I have created a resource that educates women on the four ways that we
emasculate men. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to sign up for my monthly
online membership and this month you will receive the resource “How to Stop Crushing the Man.”

Learn more by visiting our services page or contacting jen@thfreedomkeys.com.

July 2, 2020

Control and the Emasculation of Men

Last month we talked about Celebrating Masculinity and the impact that male relationships have had in
our lives and how we understand sexuality. This month we are going to dig a bit deeper. So many of us
want the type of romantic relationships we saw growing up as kids in fairy tales. The relationship where
we are swept off our feet, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Or as an adult, we crave the
deep intimacy we see on the Hallmark channel or in romantic movies where we feel the hot passion and
intense desire with the “man of our dreams.”

The truth is we desire connection and intimacy at our core. We have this hunger to be cherished,
treasured, loved and desired by a man. However, we don’t realize how embracing our sexuality, or not
embracing our sexuality, has a direct impact on whether we can achieve this deep intimate experience
we so desperately crave.

Do you want to know the #1 biggest thing that gets in the way of the intimacy we so crave? Control.
Our society has traditionally labeled character traits for boys and girls, and encouraged us as parents to
teach our kids what it means to be a “good girl” or “good boy.” However, the feminist movement has
inspired many women to change that mentality; stepping up to be strong, independent successful
women. We have been told we can do anything a boy can do, and at the same time, we have become
“too controlling” in our ways. With the desire to be strong, independent and confident, many women
have subconsciously put up blocks creating a false, inauthentic version of themselves without realizing
it.

I am not suggesting that women should not be strong and independent, they absolutely should.
However, I believe we have swayed too much to one side. It is not always about WHAT WE DO OR SAY,
it’s about HOW WE SHOW UP. In our efforts to DO MORE or overcome oppression in some ways, we
have lost a piece of ourselves.

When we are young and first in love, we show up different. We feel alive, passionate and on fire. There
is attraction, polarity and connection, which is a natural part of being a woman. As time goes on, this
attraction and connection can fade. With day to day life responsibilities, couples can tend to take each
other for granted and the spark that was once there seems to have diminished. Women are so busy
doing life that we just go through the motions at times. We become numb. There is no time for sex or
pleasure. It is more important to take care of our family, house, church, business or community. Women
are working themselves too hard striving to be successful, trying to keep it together and focusing on
serving and pleasing others rather than surrendering into the truest expression of themselves.
Women show up with an energy of having to DO IT ALL. We take it upon ourselves to be in control and
have forgotten how to surrender and let go. The truth is, in trying to maintain that control we end up
emasculating men more often than we realize. This need for control kills the connection with that
partner and “desire” in our relationships (as well as our orgasm). As a result, so many women live with
this feeling that SOMETHING IS MISSING, yet can’t put their finger on it. We don’t realize what is
underneath this hunger we so desperately crave. We are so busy focusing on our responsibilities that we
forget this deep hunger inside. We ignore it and show up in a way that emasculates rather than creates
connection with our partner.

When a woman learns to give up control and surrenders to the divine nature within her soul, she is filled
with more love and passion than she could have ever imagined. It is no longer about control,
responsibility or getting things done. She tunes into the essence of herself and feels with her body,
instead of thinks with her mind. When she learns how to respond versus react, and shows up with honor
and respect for her partner, she creates the connection and intimacy she so desperately desires.

June 2, 2020

Men and women ARE different! Understanding LOVE and RESPECT

In continuing with our theme of celebrating masculinity, I wanted to highlight something important that I think as women we tend to forget. We laugh and joke around about books like “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” or “Men are like Waffles and Women are like Spaghetti” and countless others. The truth is men and women ARE different. We can’t expect the men in our lives to behave and act like the women in our lives. They have had different programming, different experiences, and relate to their relationships in their own unique ways. It is unrealistic and gets us into trouble to expect them to be “like” us in these relationships.

When we learn to appreciate and understand masculinity and what makes a man tick, it brings a whole different dynamic to the relationship. In relationships, men and women need and want different things. They each have different needs and priorities. While men may put sex as higher importance on their relationship priority list than women may, I am NOT talking about sex being “the thing” of what makes a man tick. I am talking about Honor and Respect. If you want deeper intimacy and connection with your partner, the key is learning how to Respect him.

There is a wonderful book written by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs entitled, “Love and Respect.” According to the theories of Eggerichs, the love that she most desires and the respect he desperately needs causes pitfalls in relationships. The challenge in many relationships today is that we live in a vicious crazy cycle. Men want respect and women want love and neither party can effectively provide. However, a man can’t love a woman who doesn’t respect him. This is intuitive as you can imagine love can’t happen in ANY relationship where respect is not a foundation. And a woman can’t respect a man if she doesn’t feel loved and seen. If you didn’t have parents that modeled both love and respect in your household, it can be hard visualize this balance of needs. So what does respect look like to a man?
In the book, Dr. Eggerichs breaks out the needs of men and women into two different easy to remember categories. How to spell respect to your man, CHAIRS. How to spell love to your wife: COUPLE.

How to Spell Respect to your Husband:
Conquest: Appreciate his desire to work and achieve
Hierarchy: Appreciate his desire to protect and provide
Authority: Appreciate his desire to serve and lead
Insight: Appreciate his desire to analyze and counsel
Relationship: Appreciate his desire for Shoulder- to Shoulder Friendship
Sexuality: Appreciate his desire for Sexual Intimacy

How to Spell Love to your Wife:
Closeness: She wants you to be close
Openness: She wants you to open up to her
Understanding: Don’t try to fix her, just listen
Peacemaking: She wants you to say “I’m Sorry”
Loyalty: She wants to know your committed
Esteem: She wants you to honor and cherish her

As women, we know what it feels like to be LOVED. We crave this in our relationships and if we don’t feel loved from our partners, we can feel empty. When experience this empty feeling, and it can be hard to show respect our men. Once we are aware of the different needs, it makes it easier to take different actions in your relationship. If you really want to experience deeper levels of intimacy with your partner, it is critical that you understand your man’s basic needs. Rather than criticizing him for actions you can’t relate to, learn to appreciate and respect him for the man he is.