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First 107 Intuitive Readings - My Feedback on Your Feedback

March 2014

The message below was originally sent by email to those who signed up for updates after receiving an intuitive reading and providing feedback between October 2013 to early 2014. Over 100 free readings (107 to be exact) were completed during this practice reading phase. 

Hello,

This is my first email to you all since completing my practice intuitive readings. If you're getting this message it means you not only booked a reading with me but also did my survey and signed up for updates. I can't thank you enough for your encouragement, support and helpful feedback :)

I've recently gone through all the survey feedback and I'm keen to incorporate many of your suggestions into how I do readings in future. Whenever I do questionnaires or help out with research, I love to hear about the results and it only makes sense that I do the same for you. So read on for my feedback on your feedback!

SURVEY FEEDBACK

Positive Feedback

Chakra Reading

The chakra reading (that was done at the start of each session) was the most common answer to the first question of the survey, 'What was most enjoyable or helpful about the reading?' It was also described as helpful by providing enough accurate details and validation to trust other information that came through later in the reading.

Clarity

Some of the responses showed that readings helped to improve clarity about life or choices being faced, and about what action steps to take in order to move forward.

Communication

There were lots of nice comments about my communication style, including that I was easy to talk to, friendly, and caring. Several of you mentioned that you liked my Aussie accent :)

Explanation At the Beginning

A number of people appreciated having everything explained at the start about how the reading would proceed. I don't think I consistently did this for every reading, but I plan to do so in future.

Q&A

While the majority seemed to enjoy having the chakra reading the most, some people said that the most helpful part of the reading was hearing messages passed on and being able to ask more questions as they came up throughout the reading.

Own Intuition

A few people indicated that the readings helped them to get in touch with their own intuition and remember or learn about their strongest intuitive modality.

Reassurance

Some of you said that the reading confirmed what you already knew or felt, but it helped remind you of something important, reassured you that you were on track, or gave you a different way of looking at your situation.

Not-So-Positive Feedback

Two people found nothing enjoyable or helpful about the readings.

One said 'nothing much' was enjoyable because 'you didn't let me speak'. This concerned me because I hadn't even realised I had done that. The response was regarding a 15 minute reading so hopefully by offering a longer reading option, people will be able to talk more if they want to.

The other respondent was 'not at all impressed with the reading' and had also wanted to speak to a medium. In future I'll need to let people know up front that I don't offer mediumship readings at this stage.  

Comments / Suggestions For Improvement

Checking in

Opinions were quite divided on whether I should check in after describing each chakra to confirm whether the information was accurate or not. Some people 'loved' it and appreciated the opportunity to clarify anything when asked. Others thought it was unnecessary and that it would be better to skip the confirmation part.

This is something that I'll continue to do because the main reason I start with a chakra reading is to make sure I'm tuning in to a person's energy properly. I think it's really important to make sure I'm not assuming anything or interpreting an image incorrectly.

Many of you liked hearing about the visuals/words exactly as I was receiving them and it allowed you to correct me if, for example, a particular image resonated with you but it hadn't been interpreted accurately.

Connecting To Other People's Guides During A Reading

I was asked whether it's possible to tune into the guides of someone's family members during a reading. I wasn't sure, so I have since asked an experienced professional intuitive about this and apparently the answer is no, though we can still access your own spiritual guidance for relevant information about that person – e.g. your relationship with them or how you can help/affect them and vice versa.

Current Inactivity Around Certain Chakras

One person wondered why the energy around a couple of chakras, including the heart chakra, didn't appear active even though she had previously spent a lot of time and effort caring for others. The chakra reading shows your current state of energy rather than how active each area has been in the past. Lack of activity around the heart is not the same as lacking compassion, and it can appear inactive even after a lot of energy has gone towards caring for people previously. If you're compassionate and at the same time not actively helping others at the moment, then the energy around your heart may appear open but inactive, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Extra Chakras

It was pointed out that there are more energetic centres and chakras than seven. This was interesting and I'm open to learning more about these, though I may not include them during readings. Hopefully seven is enough :)

Focus Of The Reading Seems To Be On Improvement Rather Than What Will Happen

The sort of readings I offer are focused on what's going on now, areas for improvement and what outcome may be optimal for you. I doubt that I could ever say with certainty what will happen in the future.

Have Questions Sent In Advance

One person sent questions before the reading (which I was not expecting) and it worked out well because all the answers were prepared before the reading started, and this left more time to talk and cover more specific details and suggestions.

I assumed that no one would want to send questions/ areas to focus on or any other information about themselves that could potentially make the reading less impressive. But feedback on the survey showed that sending questions prior to a reading would be a popular option.

I'll be giving people the choice to send questions in advance if they want to. There will still be the option to not prepare any questions at all – one person commented that they liked not having to ask questions.

I Didn't Know How Much Info Or Feedback You Wanted

I wanted as much information or feedback as possible to give a great reading, but not so much that there would be no validation in the answers that came through. A couple of people were quite cryptic in their responses, saying not much more than 'maybe', 'somewhat', 'okay' and 'hmm' during the chakra reading. At the end of both readings I was told that the information was accurate. So a sceptic may enjoy a reading more if they don't give anything away about themselves. For someone who is more trusting of the process, however, they will probably get more value out of the reading by offering enough information to receive the most guidance possible on a particular life area.

One person asked if there was any point giving a long explanation if the guides already knew what was going on in her life, and were aware of the names and people involved. If you believe that guides exist and that they know all about you and what you want to know during an intuitive reading, you’d have to agree that they still need to pass that message on for your reader to communicate it to you. Listening for spiritual guidance is not as easy as hearing physical beings with audible voices. To take the analogy of a person who whispers, it generally takes more concentration and effort to hear them, ignore other sounds, and confirm that you're hearing them correctly. If I receive a message, I prefer to check with you that I've 'heard' properly, so the process takes a little longer when you don't volunteer information. 

To summarise here, it's better not to give too much away before the reading starts, but once you're convinced that your intuitive reader is genuine, the more information you provide the more likely you'll get a quick clear answer or direction to take. But you don't want to give a lot of information if it makes you more likely to doubt the response you get back. A bit of a Catch-22 …

Light Incense Sticks

The only issue with incense sticks is that the majority of readings were done over phone or skype. I'll consider lighting up incense for future face-to-face readings if anyone requests it.

Confidence

A frequent comment was that I need to have more confidence and stop doubting myself. This has been my greatest challenge by far. I was super-duper nervous for most of the practice readings, as you could probably tell!

Donation

It was suggested that I should accept donations for readings. As people who had a free reading were asked to do a survey, I was happy with that exchange so I didn't accept any donations. One person, however, said that 'it didn't feel right not giving you anything'. I may later add a donation button to my website but only for people who requested the option to donate; if you're not one of these people then please don't feel obligated to donate or think that I want anything more than your survey feedback.

Have A Website

Working on it!

Information About The Reading In Advance

I'm working on this too. I didn't give much information at all about what to expect during the free practice readings, and a lot of you had never had a reading before. I do want to start sending details in advance for anyone who's interested in booking.

More Specific

For those of you whose readings lacked specifics, I completely understand why you would want more detail and I would love to get to a point where I consistently offer specific information. Someone asked why guides were often vague about things. I suspect this is more my fault than due to vagueness of any guides! Although I've listened to my own intuition for a long time, reading for other people is relatively new for me and it feels a little like learning another language. I noticed that I was more vague when feeling extra nervous, so hopefully this will improve as I become more calm about it.

Offer Recorded Sessions

I'll look into this, or at the very least I'll let people know before the reading starts that they are welcome to record the call or type/write notes.

Offer Video Calls

I have done video calls on skype, and I agree that it's nice to be able to see who you're talking to. It's just that only one skype reading didn't drop out during a video call, so I opted to stick with just audio.

Reminder Email

I'm not sure how to automate this and the appointment software I was using doesn't seem to have an auto reminder feature. I know that reminders are important though so I'll work something out …

Script

Two people mentioned that it occasionally sounded like I was reading from a script. Although I didn't have a script, this feedback highlighted the fact that I write a lot of notes during the pre-tune and then read from them later on to recall the information. I'll be careful to jot down less notes in future and to stop looking at them so much once the call starts.

Something Felt Slightly Impersonal

I am sorry if I sounded too impersonal at times. It's not always easy to establish a very personal connection particularly for short readings when there's no face to face contact and we've never met before. I'm always grateful when people are willing to open up, share and talk about very personal aspects of their lives ... it's a vulnerable position to be in and the last thing I want is to come across as aloof or not caring.

Sound Quality

Sound quality during skype calls was described by one person as 'challenging at times'. There were a number of concerns I had while using skype, and I agree that phone calls may be preferable for better quality sound and connection.

Timing

A few of you would have preferred less time on the chakras and to have kept it simple, while others thought this part could have gone on for longer with more detailed descriptions of each chakra.

Last year I mainly offered 30 minute readings, but some people seemed satisfied and ran out of questions after about 20 minutes. For the 15 minute readings, one person said there isn't really enough time to go through the chakras as well as have questions answered within that timeframe, and in hindsight I agree with this. Although many of you were happy with 15 minutes and said you liked getting a lot of information in a short period of time, I was often stressed about fitting everything in – i.e. giving a decent chakra reading and leaving enough time to answer as many of your questions as possible. I felt myself rushing a fair bit, and a couple of you suggested I speak slower. Other people liked the timing, saying that we went at a nice pace and that there was no rushing.

I've decided that I would rather err on the side of talking slower as opposed to speaking too quickly. To make sure there's enough time in each reading, I'm going to be offering longer readings from now on.

MORE READINGS

Several people have asked when I'll be offering paid readings. I'll send out details soon about how to pay & book for a reading.

Thank you again, have a fabulous week, and lots of love,

Jess :)


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