Joy

Genevieve Gerard bringing Joy to Life

Joy Is A Spontaneous Expression

Joy Is A Spontaneous Expression

Resolve To Be Joyful photo for Joy Is A Spontaneous Expression blog post

Joy in life is even more important than happiness.

Many issues can impact whether or not you feel happy.  I have often said, and long believed, that happiness is something you bring to life more than you receive from life.

Joy is a spontaneous expression that can permeate your life, adding depth and dimension to the most mundane events and activities.

Joy springs forth in your heart and your mind, not so much from what you are doing but from what you are being.  When you are being appreciative of the myriad of little things in life, joy fills your heart.  It may be as simple as enjoying the cool caress of a breeze on your skin or the fresh smell of the air after a rain.  Thousands of little things in life could easily be ignored as we hurry and scurry through our busy lives.  When we stop to notice the little things in life and appreciate them they can be a wellspring of joy in your life.

Awareness of the world around you seems to be one of the keys and essential elements to bringing joy to your life.  Likewise, gratitude for what comes to your awareness also seems to be a portal to experiencing joy.

What is amazing is that these awareness’s and gratitude’s need not be about major happenings in life. The little pleasures, the simple pleasures, serve to stimulate the wellspring of joy as a natural result of living a normal life.  By being aware of and being appreciative of what is available for you in life, you bring into your life hundreds and even thousands of moments that are joyful.  By the time the day has passed you find that you are, through these simple techniques, living in joy.

Living in joy opens you to a limitless wellspring of understanding and awareness that impacts your personal happiness.

Joy is a spontaneous response to connecting with your Soul.
         – Genevieve Gerard

Joy connects you with the Love and Light that is your birthright as a beloved Child of God.

In my own spiritual and meditative life I began to observe that engaging in life with greater consciousness had an impact on how much joy I had in my life.  By focusing my awareness and expressing my gratitude I expand my understanding of the connectedness of us to one another.  This shift in consciousness led to my life becoming more joyful every day.

This does not mean that I never became upset of sad.  It does not mean I walk through life inside a protective bubble.  Rather, it does mean that the pervading experience in my life, in the midst of the challenges and trials, is one of joy.

The change of perspective that accompanies this awareness is both powerful and profound.  There is an old folk saying, “it does not matter what happens to you, it is how you react to what happens to you that matters.”  This folk wisdom is a key to what opens your life to joy.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
        – Helen Keller

Gradually my experience of joy increased in my life.  I was able to see the many blessings that I came in contact with every day.  Celebration, praise, hope, and promise became common experiences in my life drowning out the voice of fear and leaving in its stead trust and faith.

Knowing that no matter what touched my life each day I could bring forth so much joy, it allowed me to draw the strength to face each dawn excited by the potential of what beauty and blessings were in store for me every day.

Within you is an unquenchable, inextinguishable spark of Divine Light.  It comes through your Soul to be claimed as you take your first breath.  The nature of that spark is Joy.
          – Genevieve Gerard

You can let that divine spark guide your Soul and you can let that Light guide you.  The choice is yours; day by day; moment by moment.  With it, you were given the gift of thought.  Your thoughts and the choices give you the power of co-creatorship with God in your life, through the Universal Law that “energy follows thought.”

 

Transformation Through Joy

Your life, your success, your happiness, and your joy are a great adventure of consciousness and experience.  It is a magnificent opportunity to learn and grow.  You have the power to transform and change everything and anything you choose.

Embrace the situations in which you find yourself with an attitude of joyous celebration.  Examine your reactions to allow your perspective to focus on the positive.  These choices are uniquely yours.

Within these little choices and decision in life are the keys to joy.  You are never beyond hope.  New possibilities are part of the promise of life. 

Mistakes of the past can be immediately released because they are in the past.  From this moment forward you can be free of their tyranny.

Fears that have held you in thrall can be released, right now.  You can take the reins of your life and thoughts, and live the life of your dreams.

This is your life.  This is your great adventure.  This is your life laboratory, your school for consciousness.  There are no limits or restrictions unless you put them there or keep them there.

Let your Joy guide you.  Tune into your Soul, let your higher-self direct you.  It is never too late.  The greatest journey must begin from where you are.  That first step sets off a chain reaction.  Action, combined with intention magnetically attracts what you need, to you.

If you have breath, you have life.  If you have life, you can have hope.  Open your heart and your life to the new possibilities that are available to you.  An old saying that is still true is that “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”  Claim it.

 

Live The Life You Desire

There is never a better time to begin living the life you desire; living your life in joy.  Today is your moment.  Now is the call from your heart to embrace the unfulfilled possibilities that lie in the back of your mind.  Begin to manifest the dreams and desires, right here, right now, today.

Be and become all that you are meant to be; all you have ever dreamed of being.  The power is yours.  Rejoice, the time is NOW!  The possibilities are unlimited with joy.

In all of my work and in all that I teach: I wish you an abundance of joy in your life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

P.S. QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 2,891 times. Please share it with friends and then check out our other related posts below and in the “Hot Topics” sidebar.

 

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Genevieve - Soulful

 

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.

Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.”  Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.

Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.

In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on Apple Music (iTunes), Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.

It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.

 

Last updated 3-4-2020

 

Copyright © 2017-2020 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Joy Is The Antidote To Fear

Joy Is The Antidote To Fear

Read Joy is the Antidote to Fear by Genevieve Gerard

Transcending, transmuting and releasing fear is one of the most powerful and life-transforming steps you can take on your spiritual journey.

In the Ageless Wisdom, releasing fear is a step associated with the second initiation.  As such, there is a myriad of life lessons that accompany learning mastery over your fear.

To overcome your fears is a challenge for everyone. 

Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real
       – Unknown

Ultimately learning to transmute and transcend your fears cannot be done by your personality and your personal will alone.  For that reason to transform your fears becomes spiritual work

Fear is so very deep, archetypal and integral to the human experience that freeing yourself of fear is such a significant step in your spiritual evolution because to accomplish this you must call upon the strength, the power and the wisdom of your Soul.

Find a place inside where there’s joy,
and the joy will burn out the pain.
        – Joseph Campbell

As you transform your life by transcending your fears, everything changes.  Each victory you make and each step that you take is profound and significant.

It is best to harness the power of your mind and practice the powerful principle that “energy follows thought” by using a technique that I call the detached observer.

To use the detached observer technique, I recommend that you pay attention to the random thoughts of your mind.  Realize that these thoughts are what you are sending out on an almost constant stream as positive or negative instructions to activate the “Law of Attraction” in your role of co-creator of your life.

As you use the “detached observer technique” I have over the years recommended that you catch yourself engaging in “stinking thinking” as Zig Ziegler use to call it.  Once you have noted a fearful thought, just stop and restate it into a positive thought.  All it takes is to use the wisdom and insight of your Higher Self to reframe the thought and revise it, thus activating your personal will to manifest the life you desire. Ponder on this technique!

Reviewing, reframing and restating your thought is a very powerful technique that can empower you to transform your life.

If you have ever used this method, or if you choose to use it right now, I am sure that you will find buried in your previously unconscious “mind chatter” a myriad of fears you can address.

As you explore your preconscious thoughts, you may find that fears are often a component of your content. 

Fear is often embedded in your thoughts of worry, which I call “praying for what you don’t want.” 

Take just one minute right now to center quietly in yourself and listen from the role of the detached observer to the content of your mind chatter with the critical awareness of how much your fears are reflected in your thoughts.

I Am Feeling Free Meditation MP3 by Genevieve Gerard

 

Amazing isn’t it?  Fear can be a large part of your life.

The transmuting and releasing of your fears is such a significant part of your spiritual journey that of all my published guided meditations I have devoted not just one, but multiple meditations to that goal, (I Am Feeling Free and Feeling Free.)

 

What is clear to me is that because fear is so deeply rooted in the human experience it is only by empowering the personality with the power of your Higher Self (your Soul) are you able to release your fears.

The personality can be engaged by seeking more enlightened awareness as you call upon the wisdom, the will and the power of your Soul (Higher Self or Higher Power) to transcend your fears.  By so doing, you are demonstrating a powerful spiritual lesson.  You are created as a spiritual being (a Soul) to work in harmony, and unity with a material being that directs, body, mind, and emotions with your personality.

In this statement above, there is both great truth but also a secret for managing your life.  Ponder of this.

There is no higher purpose to meditation than to become aware of the power and magnificence of your Soul.
         – Genevieve Gerard

To use this higher power and this majesty to be and become all that you are meant to be and live a life of joyful abundance is the reward of enlightened awareness.  It is the inherent secret ingredient in all of the ways to live in joy.

Joy spontaneously arises when you call upon your Soul and activate it as an integral part of the choices you make in your life.

That joy is the antidote to fear came to me recently while coaching someone in the release of his or her fears.  It is such a significant thought and principle that I have meditated upon it for several days now.

As I pondered upon opening my heart and my mind to the touch of my Soul and experienced the rush of joy that accompanied it, I realized simultaneously that in doing so, there was no space for fear.

Miraculously, fear and joy are antithetical to one another. That led me to consider how I can use joy to conquer fear.

Lately, in my meditations, I have been experiencing the blessing, joy, and grace of an angelic presence that I call The Angel of Perpetual Joy She is an angelic being who has had a profound benefit in my daily life.  In fact, it was the transformations her presence has created in my life that stimulated the writing of my recent article, “When Angels Come to Earth.”  As I stated in that article, Angels often choose to come to earth for the purpose of helping humanity.

In my meditations, I gained the insight that joy dispels fear.  It is important that you understand that Angels have a role of assistance and support.  The Angel of Perpetual Joy then went on to reveal in telepathic communion that Angels communicate through their union with your Soul to provide your personality a special blessing that I was charged to offer to you.

She, as an Angelic Presence will respond to your invocation by her presence to help you transcend and overcome your fears.  Therefore, with both her direction and blessing I encourage you to call upon her presence in your prayers and meditations to let joy serve as the antidote to your fears.

I invite you to invoke her presence in your life; I published in my previous article, “When Angeles Come to Earth” a meditation you can use and customize that is called,A Meditation on Angelic Presence.”

You can use this meditation to request her blessing of joy and her presence to transmute, transform and abolish your life of fears.

As you meditate upon her presence, I invite you to invoke and call upon the power and the presence of your Soul.

I believe connecting with your Soul is always accompanied by a rush of Love and Joy.  However, in my experience after calling upon “The Angel of Perpetual Joy” and meditating with her, the presence of my Soul was also magnified and expanded.  Such is the gift of angelic dedication to a particular purpose in life.

Because transcending and transmuting fear can be such an important part of your spiritual journey, I encourage you to use both the reframing technique of the detached observer and take advantage of the blessings of angelic presence regularly in your meditations.

I invite you to use Joy as an antidote to your fears.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

P.S. I also ask your help and support to share this article with those you know who you feel would be open to and responsive to this teaching.  When you consider how limiting fear can be in someone’s life, this would be an act of service and a blessing.

 

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Last updated 1-21-2018

 

Copyright © 2016-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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When Angels Come to Earth

When Angels Come to Earth

Read When Angels Come to Earth by Genevieve Gerard

This article is a part of my on-going series on Angels.

To share with you the mystery and magnificence of the presence of Angels in human experience, I find that I must discuss the subtle role that angels play to bring a unique energy into manifestation.

A part of the angelic mission and purpose, when they choose to come to the earthly realm, is to embody an energy that needs to be manifested in humanity.

It is an act of love and service to humanity that these angelic beings take on this mission.  The celestial beings that focus on a specific and particular energy are often called Devas since the choice to embody a specific energy is a mysterious part of how the angelic realm (a realm of pure energy) works to create energy and influence matter.

The heavenly realm reflects Divine Will at the source of all creation.  The heavenly hosts have an opportunity to serve as the messengers to help with the manifestations of Divine Light and Divine Love that it is the Will of God to provide for humanity.

This choice is one of great service and great sacrifice for an angel whose substance is pure Light and pure Love.  To choose to embody a particular energy requires the angel moving from what is unlimited by either time or space to a specific focus.  This is, by definition contained and, therefore, limited.  It is a sacrifice fueled by Divine Love and empowered by Divine Will.  It is the work for which the angels were created, so it is simultaneously their burden and their joy.

Angels are spirits, flames of fire; they are higher than man, they have wider connections.
         – Matthew Simpson

This inner working of the angelic kingdom is not something that is explored and expressed very often.  The mechanism is the same as what is manifested for an angel to become an individualized guardian angel.  That is a powerful and personalized service.  This is different in a subtle way because it is more impersonal.

The transition to becoming available to the needs of humankind is a somewhat different service for an angel as their influence is more generalized and I imagine may be less rewarding since the result is more general and diffused.

For the angels, infused with Divine Love and directed only by Divine Will, there is a willingness to serve the Lord of creation to a task trusting in Divine Wisdom.  This need of humanity or a human individual becomes the life work and the life purpose of that angelic expression. 

As the veils between the planes of the angelic realm are thinning, more and more awareness of angelic presence is coming into human consciousness.  Angels are coming into a greater understanding of the human experience, as humans are increasing their knowledge and awareness of the angelic realm.

Make friends with the angels, who though invisible are always with you. Often invoke them, constantly praise them, and make good use of their help and assistance in all your temporal and spiritual affairs.
       – Saint Francis de Sales

This is a dynamic transition in the overall Divine plan of evolution.  Human consciousness is evolutionary.  Angelic consciousness is in-volutionary.  What all of this means, especially in this amazing transformation that is being revealed in this time of change is just now beginning to be revealed.

More and more individuals are becoming conscious of angelic beings and their presence and influence on human experience.  Angels are being called upon more and more with the asking for help and guidance through the extensive use of angel cards and the invocation of angelic presence in prayers, there is a response of love and compassion.

This response is wider than just a response from your Guardian Angel.  The heavenly hosts are hearing and responding to the invitation from the human hearts for greater companionship.

Since the essence of angels is composed of Love, this increased invitation and invocation of humanity for the presence of angels increases the awareness of the blending of Divine Love with the human experience.

This building of an energetic bridge from the angelic kingdom to the human material world has a profound influence.  Since your Soul is composed of the same substance as the angels and is known as your solar angel, this calling forth of the presence of angels builds more and more energetic etheric substance along the rainbow bridge.  This not only helps and enhances the ability of angels to respond to your call but forges a pathway along what is known as the Antahkarana (the rainbow bridge) for you to have a greater conscious awareness of the wisdom, the Love and the Power of your Soul.

This greater awareness and greater merging of angelic presence open the human consciousness to a vast world that lies beyond the limitations and restrictions of the material world.  Learning to listen to the soft, gentle promptings of your Soul opens you to a greater perspective of what is real.

Imagination is a gift of your higher mind and is powerful and dynamic.  It fuels your understanding and appreciation of a reality that lies beyond the five senses of matter.

Intuition, empathy, and telepathy all exist in this space beyond the limitations of your five senses.  Learning to sense, to hear, to see and to feel these subtle energies are a part of claiming enlightened awareness.

The essence of life is beyond matter.  Love, joy, peace are all real powers that have a profound impact upon and influence in your life.  Angel’s help these subtle energies manifest in a way that can be more easily experienced by your human mind and sensed emotionally.

At times, great angels choose to come to earth and bring with them specific energies that humanity needs.  This is for these presences an act of Love and an act of service, for with their descent to earth and the material world, they become a source of Divine Love and amazing grace as an active force to manifest God’s overall plan on earth.

These great angels are aligned with Divine Will and Divine Love by their very nature.  They serve as God’s emissaries.  The individual energies that they embody and deliver to humanity can become known to you through revelation in meditation.

Angels offer the energies that they have been charged to bring into human awareness in a subtle way that relies upon those who reach out to experience their gifts of the spirit, like telepathy and imagination.  A part of the expanding of your consciousness to listen with your heart to the whisper of their energetic impression, which is what brings about the healing they bring and the help they offer to humankind.

This blending and opening from the angelic realm to human consciousness is a special blessing.  Many of the great Devas and Angels who appear to help humanity are emissaries of the Divine Mother, the female part of the heart of God and are responding to the prayers of humanity.

These great presences can be touched in meditation and may provide healing or help in response to humankind’s needs.   They are a part of the energetic interaction of heaven and earth, God and man, the world of the visible and the invisible.

In times of exalted meditation, they may reveal to you their name or their purpose and, when that happens, that is an invitation for you to invite and invoke the extraordinary energy they bring into your own life for your benefit and blessing.

Their presence, especially when revealed in meditation can have not only significant healing power but can help bring into manifestation and conscious awareness energies that can help humanity face times of great challenge.

Because these great Angels and Devas are of the substance of divine love, they manifest as spirits who are richly imbued with the essence that they are charged to help bring into manifestation.

When their name and purpose are revealed, you are invited to tap into that energy.

To empower you to receive these angelic presences in meditation I am naming a few who have been shown to me in meditation that you can call upon and connect with:

The Spirit of Perpetual Joy (is a vast and powerful angel)

The Spirit of Peace and Equilibrium

The Goddess of Grace

The Spirit of Compassionate Forgiveness

These great Angels have opened their presence so you can experience the blessings that they have chosen to embody for humanity.


Read about The Angel of Perpetual Joy by Genevieve Gerard

 

To become familiar with an angelic presence first hand read and experience my free Meditation To Invite an Angelic Presence Into Your Life.

 


New insights and awareness’s are available for you to enhance your life with joy.

Before you conclude your meditative time, you might wish to express your gratitude for the blessing and healing you have received.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 12-10-2017

 

Copyright © 2015-2017 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

When Angels Come to Earth Read More »

Discover How To Choose Happiness

Discover How To Choose Happiness

Read "Discover How To Choose Happiness" blog post by Genevieve Gerard

It is true, but often not realized or understood, that you and none other hold the power over your own happiness.

It is a power that you can hold and develop, or a power you can give away.

When you embrace the power to choose happiness in your life, you are making a conscious step to fulfilling the creative potential of your life.

Wikipedia defines happiness as, “a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.”

Also according to St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, “man’s last end is happiness.”

Many years ago when I was first learning how to meditate, I received instruction at a Zendo. In Zen Buddhism, the zen-dō is a spiritual dōjō where zazen (sitting meditation) is practiced.

Zen instruction tends to come from little stories or statements, which the student explores, ponders or considers.

In the very best results, this leads to a moment of awareness that shifts your entire understanding. A moment of enlightenment where sometimes these seemingly offhand comments by the Zen master resonate so deeply and profoundly that they bring a significant shift in understanding or perspective that is life-changing or transforming.

One such statement in my early experience was on the subject of happiness.

The Zen master and I were sitting quietly over a cup of tea after the actual meditation time was over. We were talking about beliefs and culture and the far-reaching implications of those things. The subject of happiness came up, particularly the concept so deeply embedded in the American consciousness, that of the pursuit of happiness, a concept the Zen master unequivocally declared as absurd.

In one of those enlightening moments, one has when their consciousness and perspective changes, I saw and understood happiness in an entirely different way. I realized that by pursuing happiness I could never be happy. I realized that happiness was not something I got, but rather something I brought to life.
Happiness was something I could choose to be.

At that same time, I realized that I could choose to feel victimized by others, blame them for either what they had done or not done. That would functionally put my happiness outside of my control.

This paradigm shift in my awareness had a deep and very life empowering influence on my life. It changed my expectations and needs for others in a way that was very freeing and empowering for me. The power for my own life and my own happiness come under my control. I didn’t have to wait for others or life circumstances to bring situations and circumstances to my life for me to be happy. I could choose happiness.

As with any moment of enlightening (and I have learned over a lifetime of expanding and exploring consciousness) moments of enlightenment shift my awareness and the cascading effect of this realization was profound. It put me in touch with the power of choice in my life experiences. Of course in that morning over tea, long ago there was a great deal I did not yet know or understand that would influence my ability to take this insight and incorporate it into my daily life.

As with all flashes of enlightened consciousness, you need to learn to integrate and demonstrate what you now understand.

Much of what I have since discovered, and come to understand, has been built upon the foundation of recognizing that I have a choice. I am not a victim of my life and circumstances; I am the actor and director.

I am, by the power of my thoughts empowered to join my conscious creative power with the Divine as a co-creator of my life.

Effective Tools To Be Happy

Choosing to be happy can have an amazing impact on your life. Once you make that choice there are some tools and techniques, many of which I have suggested time and time again. These tools and techniques can be used and adjusted to different situations and circumstances to energize and support your choice.

Affirmations

Among these effective tools are using affirmations. The power of saying an affirmation sets up energetic ripples in ways that help bring what you are affirming and what you think as you affirm it, into manifestation.

Using the powerful assertion of an “I Am” statement in your affirmation activates the dynamic principle that energy follows thought.

Right now, you can experience that control if you say with conviction and intention one of the following affirmations I wrote.

I am happy, peaceful and calm, right now.

I choose to be happy in this moment of time.

In this event, I am learning to be happier and more fulfilled in my life.

You might notice that whatever you had been thinking or feeling before you affirmed this has started to fade away and that assertion and affirmation have been elevated in your mind and your consciousness. This is not a trick of the mind to affect your feelings, but rather a dynamic tool to give you the ability to transform and influence your life, right now.


Soaring To Success Affirmations by Genevieve Gerard

 

Experience my Soaring to Success Affirmations for Abundance CD or MP3’s to allow yourself to envision your life beyond limitation and allow them to train the imaging faculty of your mind to create perfect pictures of the life you will create with these >> affirmations.

 


Mindful Breath Meditation

You can expand and enhance the use of affirmations by adding a simple Mindful Breath Meditation (that I created) while you breath.

I am breathing in peace and calm, right now.

I am aware that I am choosing to be peaceful and calm right now.

Observe how affirming the state of being you are wanting shifts your experience, how it influences your consciousness.

Reframe & Reinterpret Your Experiences

In addition to the capacity to affirm the state of being that you desire, you also have within the vast capacity of your mind the ability to reframe and reinterpret your life experiences.

My mother-in-law used to say. “It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it.”

So much of what interferes with your personal happiness lies within the content of your negative mind chatter, which is mostly based upon fear.

Remember, in life, there are many things that you have no control over. These life experiences can be viewed as negative things just happening to you or opportunities for life lessons learned. It all depends on the meaning you attach to them.

Therefore, ponder on these life experiences and take the space to re-frame and re-interpret them in a positive light.

Live In The Moment

When you examine the content of your negative mind chatter, particularly when you bring your awareness to the perspective of the detached observer, you may well realize that much of what is limiting your happiness is created by your expectations and your fear of what might happen in the future, instead of being in the NOW.

These are underlying factors that can influence your choice to be happy in any given situation and circumstance in your life. Inherent in every event in your life is a choice. The choice to be the primary force in your life or to surrender your personal power to the people and happenings you bring into your life is of great importance.

In every moment, you consciously or unconsciously decide.

Needless to say, I encourage you to use the power of your mind and the mastery of your emotions to choose happiness.

Master Your Emotions

It is important to note that mastery of your emotions does not mean the suppression of your emotions. Emotion, any and every emotion experienced has a natural ebb and flow to it.

When allowed to wash through you without fear, and kept in the present time emotions should not disrupt your happiness. It is when you overlay the emotion with fears, with the thought that what you are feeling has always been that way (which is not true), or (it will always be that way), which also cannot be true, does an emotion take hold and create misery.
This is important to understand. This is something that is entirely within your control and is inherent in your choice of being happy. The tools that you can incorporate into your life, including affirmations, observing and reframing your thoughts, and releasing fears and expectations, all impact whether or not you are happy. And, they are all tools that are available to you today.

I encourage you to choose to be happy. You can use an affirmation of your own creation or from the vast array of positive affirmations that are available in the world.

You can pay attention to the input of your negative mind chatter by observing and noting the thoughts that interfere with your happiness. If they are fears, you can release them by entering into the present time, which is much more real than the fear and incredibly freeing.

You can take a moment to re-frame what you are observing in light of greater understanding and awareness as you focus on what is going on. This process is amazingly freeing and empowering, especially when applied to your own personal happiness.

So today, I invite you to discover to choose happiness and experience how to BE HAPPY. It is your birthright and your empowerment as the co-creator of your life.

Namaste,

   Genevieve,

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

P.S. QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 12,168 times. Please share it with friends and then check out our other related posts below and in the “Hot Topics” sidebar.

 

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Last updated 7-8-2020

 

Genevieve - Soulful

 

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.

Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.”  Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.

Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.

In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.

It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.

 

Copyright © 2015-2020 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Discover How To Choose Happiness Read More »

Healthy Hugs

Healthy Hugs

Please read A Heathy Hug, blog post by Genevieve Gerard

I recently read an article about the health benefits of hugs that is directly related to both the healing advantages that came from hugging and how we hug one another.

The real health advantages in a hug occur when it lasts at least 20 seconds. The average hug, the author lamented lasts only 3 seconds.

As I began this blog and looked for pictures it was interesting to see how many of the hugs that were available on the photo site I use, were given sideways. The energetic blending of life force that to me represents a healthy hug is heart-to-heart.

Twenty-second hugs help depression and anxiety

In a heart-to-heart hug, you both give and receive concurrently. That is part of the magic that unleashes the physiological and psychological benefits of a hug. Oxytocin begins to be released after 20 seconds in a hug. Oxytocin is nature’s antidepressant and anti-anxiety neurotransmitter. In that way a “healthy hug” is healing.

The information that hugs result in better health and wellbeing is not new. Over 40 years ago, when I worked as a counselor in a community mental health center in Los Angeles, there was research published that proposed that for optimum mental and physical health an individual needed to receive 7 hugs a day.

Of course as mental health professionals, we were all into optimum mental and physical health. Among the staff, a tradition began that changed the work environment in a way that made it less stressful to be in a very intense and stressful work environment. The staff began to hug one another in the interest of health and wellbeing. Since you cannot really give a hug without receiving one the atmosphere of the workplace began to transform into an environment that was much happier and supportive.

Teams became much more effective. Networking and interdepartmental collaboration improved. Patients and clients who were by professional ethics not eligible for hugs seemed calmer and I know in my program migrated back out of the hospital and into society much more rapidly. The measures for success improved.

If I was a researcher, which I am not by nature or inclination, this would have been a wonderful opportunity to understand the healing power of hugging. My observations remain anecdotal and completely subjective. Of course, as others and I migrated into other work environments I realized how rare and special work environments like that little community mental health facility long ago were.

Actually, I had not thought about that experience in years until I read the article about hugs achieving their optimum effectiveness at 20 seconds and realized that even in non-intimate situations where hugging is considered socially appropriate average hugs are so brief.

This realization made me evaluate the nature and duration of the hugs I give to close friends and family members and resolve to relax into a hug and sustain it beyond that brief socially acceptable 3 second parameter and I have found that the researcher was right. A hug of at least 20 seconds is more relaxing.

Stress and tension I had been unaware that I was holding is released in the longer hug. Breathing is deeper and in just a few days of my own brief experiment with healthy hugging, I seemed able to return to my work tasks more creative and focused. In a longer hug, you seem to share breath and the life energy or Prana.

Now, to make a healthy hug also a healing hug add the power of your intention and the principle that “energy follows thought.”

As you are hugging heart-to-heart imagine the person you are hugging being infused with love, from your heart to theirs, and see them being strengthened and supported in what is right and good for them. In this way, your hug becomes a healing force in their life.
            – Genevieve Gerard

This you can do without any personal needs or expectations. This hug is a gift you can give freely. This is a gift that by giving you receive. Your gratitude as always enhances the experience.

Since you have to feel comfortable with both the person you are hugging and the concept of giving and receiving a hug it is perhaps the mutuality required in the act of hugging that enhances the power and effectiveness of a hug.

Consider this simple way to reduce stress and enhance everyone’s wellbeing.

When you hug, linger a bit longer and make it a healthy hug.

So as a way to reduce stress, increase joy, and in general, live both a happier and more healthy life I encourage you to hug one another. Relax into the hug and let your hearts blend, and enjoy!

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

P.S. Comment below with the number of hugs you gave or received today.

 

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Last updated 9-12-2018

 

Copyright © 2014-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul. All rights reserved.

 

Small Photo Credit: Daily Celebrations

 

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How To Experience True Joy

How To Experience True Joy

Read "How To Experience True Joy" post by Genevieve Gerard

This post is part of my ongoing series on Joy

The experiences of joy and sorrow while seeming to be complete opposites have something in common. That is a relationship in our ability to experience them.

When someone, as people often do, blocks off their ability to experience sorrow, as people often do when presented with painful life experiences, one of the unintended consequences is that they also limit their ability to experience joy.

I don’t know why this is true. It certainly seems like it should work to wall off our sorrows, but it doesn’t. I first observed this relationship between our ability to experience joy and sorrow way back in 1975.

I lost my Father as a young child at the age of 7. Raised in a culturally Northern European home, mourning, any display of sorrow or frankly any emotion deemed to be negative was strictly frowned upon. Crying or frankly, any emotional honesty was vehemently discouraged.

I know that this message was not limited to my coming up. It was a pervasive social norm at the time. Consider the praise heaped upon the way Jacqueline Kennedy was stoic with dry eyes as the First Lady, widow of a much-beloved president.

Strong emotions can be unsettling or frightening to others. Therefore, they are easily discouraged. Most of us feel powerless to really comfort someone when they are in the midst of heart-wrenching sorrow. It is much easier to discourage their expression of sorrow than to just be with them through their pain.

But, what I learned in 1975 when I was finally able to mourn the loss of my Father was that the unexpressed sorrow I had held in my heart for so long had also limited my ability to experience joy. In fact, there seems to be a direct correlation between these two seemingly opposite life experiences.

In describing this it seems there is almost a bandwidth in the spectrum of our emotions and it may be that we cannot limit the scope of one side of our ability to experience life without limiting the other. Perhaps the impact was so great for me because I had held back such a dramatic flood of tears behind a dam of inconsolable sorrow. But once I released the tears I had held back for over 20 years an amazing transformation began to take place in my life. I was able to feel more fully and completely than before.

The depth of my sorrow is the height of my joy.
        – Genevieve Gerard

In that fertile valley of emotions that had dried up when I dried my tears at age 7 were the seeds of a deep and abiding joy. When I realized this I coined for myself the phrase that I share with you today, “The depth of my sorrow is the height of my joy.”

In choosing to embrace life, the good, the bad and the sometimes sorrowful, I opened a portal to joy and happiness. The transformations that this shift in my understanding brought into my life were far-reaching and profound. It gave me the ability to have emotions in their full depth and range, without letting the emotions limit me.

I learned that an emotion, freed to be expressed, had a natural flow to it that is analogous to a dive into a deep body of water. You go into it, as deep as feels right and that then, automatically you begin to pull up until you are free of it, washed clean and released into the light.

By granting this natural flow of experience and expression you can have emotions but then they are then released. New revelations and understanding can now flow in bringing a new awareness. This freedom to experience the full spectrum of life’s events open you to not only your joy but also an understanding and perspective on your life events and life lessons that is very freeing.

Also, the willingness to feel whatever life offers along the journey also releases a lot of the need for fear. So much of what fuels fear is the desire to avoid pain and sorrow. When you realize that the sorrow of life is something you can cope with and handle, a lot of the need for fear disappears. All of the energy you used up avoiding sorrow is now available to create the life that you envision and desire.

This understanding and awareness works into your life gradually as you grow in confidence and trust in yourself to take on life’s challenges and events as they come.

Another small piece to the puzzle is revealed when you realize that nothing is ever too much to bear when dealt with at the moment. It is only when you project it; backward or forward in time that something becomes too burdensome to bear.

At the moment you have strength. At the moment you can cope. If you let your fears drive you to think it (whatever the situation of it is) will always be this way, many of life’s challenges become too much to bear. However, in the amazing freedom of the moment, you can always handle things.

This is a great blessing that is inherent in the promise that we will never be given more than we can handle. Yes, sometimes life is sorrowful, and sometimes that sorrow seems to be more than we can bear, but it never is more than we can bear. And our bearing the sorrow, though it may leave us feeling bloodied, can be healed.

Ask yourself “Do I experience more Joy or Sorrow in my life?” Amazingly, when you keep open to the full spectrum of life, joy is as likely as sorrow, and your strength and confidence will grow with each life challenge conquered.

Remember you are part of an amazing adventure called life and you are an amazing being blessed by every lesson learned along the way. Allow yourself to really enjoy all spectrum’s of life in the moment as you let all experiences, whether in joy or in sorrow, flow over you.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 5-1-2019

 

Copyright © 2014-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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Simple Joys in Life

Simple Joys in Life

beautiful gardenia bush in nature

If we look around us and remain open and aware there are a myriad of little blessings and simple joys for which we can be grateful.

Perhaps it is the rare combination of colors in the sky as a dark cloud blends with a pink cloud at sunrise.

Perhaps it is the cool movement of the air on your face on a warm day.

Perhaps it is the waif of perfume in the air as you pass by a blooming bush.

These little blessings of beauty and nature make up the miracle of life.

We only need to open our eyes to see the gifts that abound all around us. These are the simple joys in life.
          – Genevieve Gerard

And, as we express our gratitude whether outwardly or just within our own hearts we expand our experience of joy and celebrate the wonder that can bring us happiness in the midst of life’s challenges.

Today, see how many little blessings you can find as you move through your life. Appreciate them and express your gratitude for them. Then notice how much more serene and content you feel when you recognize the simple joys in life.

 

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 11-19-2019

 

Genevieve - Soulful

 

About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

Genevieve has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Theology and a Master of Arts Degree in Counseling and for over thirty years has worked one-on-one with people who were recovering from devastating disabilities and chronic pain. Teaching the mastery of the mind-body relationship she was one of the early professionals trained in biofeedback, visualization, imagery, and meditation as essential techniques to help people heal their bodies, heal their emotions, heal their minds, and heal their lives.

Genevieve’s work demonstrates what she knows so well, “It is spiritual connectedness that triggers physical healing and emotional and mental well-being.”  Helping people, like you, tap into your higher-self is the power she wields to guide you to heal and transform your life.

Now, with this understanding, she combines the effective techniques she developed over decades teaching mind-body mastery along with her extensive experience in meditation and spiritual development to create a synthesis of mind-body-spirit that delivers complete healing and opens the door to unlimited personal growth and an encounter with your Soul.

In addition to her current life guidance coaching sessions, and workshops performed around the world, Genevieve has produced more than 20+ guided meditations in the last eight years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, and her website.

It is her vision that through your experience with the techniques of awareness, visualization, and meditation, the love of your Soul will touch and transform your life through her writings and products. It is her sincere desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Browse her life story and read the Touch of the Soul that changed her world. To contact Genevieve, visit her keep in touch page.

 

Copyright © 2013-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

Simple Joys in Life Read More »

Living In Joy Workshop

Living In Joy Workshop

 

Living In Joy Workshop

April 3rd, 2016 in Boca Raton, FL

9:00am—1:00pm (gather at 8:30am)

Explore & Experience
Living In Joy

 

 

Are you living in joy?  Genevieve Gerard wants to share with you the joy of life that is your birthright and empower you to heal and transform your life to be all that you can be.  Her work utilizes the techniques of awareness, visualization, release and meditation as she guides you through transformation into joy.  Let Genevieve guide you to follow your heart, your mind and your soul, to celebrate the joy that fulfilling your purpose and finding your place in the plan of life will bring to you.

In this workshop you will be guided to discover, perceive, and appreciate joy in your life.

Among the subjects we will cover are:

  • how to attract and feel more joy in our lives,
  • the relationship between gratitude and joy,
  • how we can enhance our interpersonal relationships to create joy

And how meditation, a sense of oneness with life and our ability to “be in the now” can play a role in finding joy and embracing it in our experience.

You will learn new ways to find grace through forgiveness, and you will be given tools to release negative thoughts and emotions.  Genevieve will show you how being in the now, conquering negative self-talk and releasing expectations, frees you from the toxic influence of living with “shoulds” and “oughts”, thus releasing joy and love into your life and into your relationships.

The wisdom revealed in this workshop is rooted in the rich soil of experience Genevieve gained over decades of spiritual study and practice that have brought her to a life of profound joy.  It is her deep desire that the potential of a life of joy and celebration that seems to elude so many people can become a reality for you, now and forever.

Please join Genevieve Gerard for her

— SATURDAY, April 3rd 2016 Workshop

9:00am—1:00pm (gather at 8:30am)

Limited Seating is available (this is a small group setting)

Click here to reserve your seat at her Living In Joy Workshop in Boca Raton, Florida.

Reserve my seat at my Living In Joy Workshop
Special Introductory Early Bird* Pricing (40% off)

Will be $199 USD  Now only $120 USD with Early Bird* Special

*Must order before March 23rd 2016

 

Book the How To… Why To… Meditate Workshop at
the same time by March 16th and get a further discount:

Reserve your seats (by March 16th 2016) for the Living In Joy Workshop and
get to experience the 4-hour How To… Why To… Meditate Workshop
on March 20th for the super low combo investment of $199
(that’s 50% off the combined list price)

Workshop Location: Our Boca Raton, Florida location will be emailed to you one week before the event.

P.S. Bring a friend or significant other (and order at the same time) and each save another 10% at checkout.
Reserve my seat at my Living In Joy Workshop

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Bringing Joy To Your Life

Bringing Joy To Your Life

Bringing Joy to Your Life

Joy in life is even more important than happiness.  Many issues can impact whether or not you feel happy.  And, although I have often said and long believed that happiness is something you bring to life more than you receive from life, joy is a spontaneous expression that can permeate your life, adding depth and dimension to the most mundane events and activities.

Joy springs forth in your heart and your mind, not so much from what you are doing but from the way you are being.  When you are being appreciative of the myriad of little things in life, joy fills your heart.  It may be as simple as enjoying the cool caress of a breeze on your skin or the fresh smell of the air after a rain.  Thousands of little things in life that could easily be ignored as we hurry and scurry through our busy lives, when we stop to notice them and appreciate them can be a wellspring of joy in your life.

Awareness of the world around you seems to be one of the key and essential elements to bringing joy to your life.  Likewise, gratitude for what comes to your awareness also seems to be a portal to experiencing joy.

What is amazing is that these awareness’s and gratitude’s need not be about major happenings in life. The little pleasures, the simple pleasures, serve to stimulate the wellspring of joy as a natural result of living a normal life. 

By being aware and being appreciative of what is available for us in life, we bring into our life hundreds and even thousands of moments that are joyful.”

By the time the day has passed we find that we are, through these simple techniques, living in joy. It was the realization of this fact that led to my development over the past 35 years of a collection of (12) twelve activity based awareness meditations that I published as a 4-CD set called Meditations for Daily Joy.

In my own spiritual and meditative life I began to observe that engaging in life with greater consciousness, focusing my awareness, expressing my gratitude and expanding my understanding of the connectedness of us to one another lead to my life becoming more joyful everyday.

This did not mean that I never became upset or sad, or walked through life inside a protective bubble, but that the pervading experience in my life, in the midst of the challenges and trials was one of joy.

Gradually my experience of joy increased.  I was able to see the many blessings in life.  Celebration, praise, hope and promise became common experiences in my life drowning out the voice of fear and leaving in its stead trust and faith. 

Knowing that no matter what touched my life each day I could bring forth so much joy that was wonderful and special that I drew the strength to face each dawn excited by the potential of what beauty and blessings were in store for me today.

In all of my work and in all that I teach, I wish you an abundance of joy in your life.

 

Bringing Joy To Your Life Read More »

Keeping A Journal

Keeping A Journal
Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight

Read Keeping A Journal Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight by Genevieve Gerard

The very process of writing in a journal can help you find more joy and spiritual insight in your life.

This may sound strange, but after many years of keeping a life journal, I began to discover a benefit that I would not have been able to imagine when I began. That is the benefit of keeping a journal that naturally emerges in your emotions and perspective by the process of journaling.

To help you achieve the maximum benefits of how to write in a journal and take advantage of the wisdom gained over the many years of my experience I have prepared some tips on how to journal.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you,
pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
        – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keeping a journal can be a pathway to spiritual insight and awareness. It is a discipline much like meditation. It is a technique to help you get in touch with your Higher Self (what is also called the Soul) and gain mastery over life’s everyday emotions. The very act of writing in your journal can become a gateway to help you calm your mind and gain a perspective of deeper understanding. Journaling can become a way to open your awareness to your inner wisdom.

 

10 Tips on How To Write In A Journal

1.) I have found that having a special book for your journal is important. This helps you develop a mindset (trigger) that when you sit down to write in your journal you are engaging in a special and important activity.

How to write a journal
2.) I have also found that having a special pen is helpful. Personally, I prefer a fountain pen for journaling. I also like the look and feel that using a consistent ink color brings. These little rituals are not important but have a subtle impact on the experience of writing.

When I look back over old journals, I realize that even the color of ink I choose during a particular period in my life can be significant. The color often followed a theme of the issues I was dealing with at a particular time of my life. It is symbolic of a mood or tone with which I faced my growth and challenges.

3.) Making a daily entry seems essential. We all live busy lives, but for me, it seems the discipline of making an entry in my journal on a daily basis is important. Even if all that I write on a given day is “too tired to write today” or “too busy to write today,” those little entries keep the continuity in a way that helps maintain the discipline of keeping a journal. It is all too easy to drop away from the practice of maintaining a journal, especially in times of stress when the writing is often of the greatest benefit. This little technique helps show you are in control of your life and supports the process.

4.) Do not be concerned about ending the journal entry because of interruptions. Keeping a life journal can be an integral part of your being. Interruptions happen, and it may not always be easy to return to your journal. Depending upon the nature and scope of the disruption you may well be in an entirely different mindset when you do return. A series of three dots can symbolize that the thought needs further exploration. It demonstrates that your process was not finished.

5.) As you write, suspend judgment. Let your thoughts flow free of your internal censorship. It is more important to record your thoughts and feelings than you spell things correctly or don’t leave a participle dangling. If you choose to use what you have written for another purpose, give yourself permission to edit it later. While journaling, you are looking for a stream of consciousness that is an energetic flow.

Journaling is by its very nature a work in process,
not a final product.
        – Genevieve Gerard
             Tweet: Journaling is by its very nature a work in process, not a final product. @Genevieve Gerard #journaling

6.) As you write in your journal, you often find that your understanding of the events about which you are writing begin to shift you into a greater wisdom, a greater understanding. Expand into this greater awareness. Let this insight guide you.

7.) The process of taking up your pen and writing helps you be the detached observer of your life, inviting the insight and perspective of your Higher Self. As you write, you naturally begin to resolve any uneasy feelings you may be having now as the very act of writing shifts you into a state of greater awareness and understanding.

8.) Keep your journal in a private place and make sure that those around you understand that your journal is for you, not to be shared with even the most intimate other.

9.) Allow your journal to become your closest confidant and advisor. The freedom from criticism and judgment it can offer will open you to a greater insight and understanding of yourself that reveals more clearly than a conversation with another, the deeper issues behind your thoughts and feelings.

10.) Over time be sure to return to your journal and read past entries to get a profound confirmation of your growth. When I began to journal, I resolved to keep a journal so that when I was old, I could look back on my life and smile. Re-reading old journal entries often showed me how I had developed and evolved over time. Recognize you have the capacity to grow and develop and rejoice in it.

With the wisdom of hindsight realize you will now be able to see that much of what concerned you in the past just did not matter in the long run. This is a lesson that helps when you think about the issues you face now. This is a way to encourage you to trust in yourself to weather life’s challenges.

Learning how to write in a journal will become a pathway to letting you experience the joy inherent in all the little pleasures and adventures of life.

 

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 5-8-2019

 

Copyright © 2011-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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