Author name: Genevieve Gerard

Love Yourself First

Love Yourself First

Read "Love Yourself First" Super Serenity Sunday article by Genevieve Gerard

It is one of the great mysteries of life that in order to love others, it is essential to love yourself first.

I have often thought it was interesting that when Jesus, in his role of Rabbi and teacher, considered self-love as a basic element in life he taught that the most important law was to Love God with all of your heart, your mind and your Soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

What good is loving thy neighbor as thy self, if you don’t love thyself?
        – Donald L. Hicks

This famous teaching assumes as self-evident that you love yourself. Unfortunately, in my many years of counseling people and coaching them to live happier and more fulfilling lives, I observed that self-love is far from self-evident.

For many, the idea of loving yourself is challenging. It is not a basic part of self-evident consciousness as it may have been when Jesus walked the earth. It falls into the same category as forgiving yourself. For some reason many of us find it easier to give than to receive, loving yourself, forgiving yourself, being gentle and compassionate with yourself is something we need to learn.

Although this is logically counterintuitive it is a result of societal training and pressures that get confused as we strive to be and become what we are told that we should be. Unfortunately, this is most often seen in women who have been reinforced and rewarded by how self-effacing and self-sacrificing they can be.

Many lessons that are passed through the traditions from Mother to daughter do not consider or understand how harmful and damaging they can be. These are often subtle and specific but when accumulated, result in a message that is toxic and damaging. It is not that there is the intention to harm or limit the full expression of success and joy in the life being molded, but rather, parents are teaching what they were taught without the conscious awareness or consideration of the consequences and the impact of the cumulative effect of these life instructions.

The result is often a belief on the part of the child as they emerge into adult life that to love oneself, to nurture oneself and to let oneself receive, is in some way wrong. The wounding that this wrong teaching and wrong interpretation can result in is so pervasive and so deeply embedded in the myths and culture of our society that to break through to truth is often the most powerful transformation one can do to heal your life and embrace success.

To understand, release and reframe all of the subtle destructive messages that it is wrong to love ourselves and wrong to receive not only love but the vast array of blessings that are available for us is a profound journey that leads to joy, success, and empowerment.

One of the cornerstones of this transformation is learning to love yourself. Inherent in that concept is learning to receive and allowing yourself to receive. Loving yourself and opening yourself to receiving will change your life on so many levels and in so many ways that it may be beyond imagining. The success you can achieve, the joy and happiness you can experience will cascade through your life. As you dissolve the lies and illusions that keep you removed from the freedom of expressing you will enjoy being who you truly are.

Key Elements To Loving Yourself

There are inherent in this journey certain key elements and key experiences that have great significance and have the power to heal you on a very deep and profound level.

The first of these elements is to shed the illusion and reject the lies that you have been taught in favor of a realization of the truth. That truth is that you are an amazing being, a creature of love and joy and this is the natural expression of your being. In coming to the full realization of this truth, it is also an important step to forgive yourself for all the ways you have limited and denied your full power and potential to be all that you were meant to be and all that deep in your heart you knew you could be.

Along with the important act of self-forgiveness comes the act of forgiving those who perpetuated and propagated these untruths and wrong thinking. We can assume that they only taught what they believed or thought was right, handed down through generations. Illusion and lies become embedded in our society.

It takes courage to see the truth and let the truth free you. Forgiveness and even compassion for those who cling to wrong thinking, is a part of affirming and enhancing yourself in this new expression of life as someone who has learned to love themselves and opened themselves to the opportunity to be a being of love.

Forgiveness, both of yourself and those who taught and fostered mistakes and illusion unlocks grace and joy in your life. It is in these acts and affirmations of forgiveness that you begin to demonstrate what it means to not only love yourself but how that self-love results in love and compassion for others.

It is by loving yourself, and honoring yourself, that you manifest your true power and potential as a child of God.
        – Genevieve Gerard

You are an amazing being. You deserve to be loved, not only by yourself but also by others. You are a spark of Divine Light.

Open Yourself To The Energy Of Divine Love & The Love That Your Soul Brings To You with my Gift of Love Meditation MP3.

Learn more about the Gift of Love Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Here are some simple affirmations you can incorporate into your daily practice to allow this important principle of Self Love to manifest in your life. It is best if you can do these quick simple affirmations three times a day, perhaps in the morning as you do your morning rituals, once more during the day, then again as you cleanse and prepare yourself for sleep.

Love Affirmation

Look in the mirror and affirm the following:

  1. I Love myself
  2. I deserve to be loved exactly as I am
  3. I am worthy of being loved
  4. I give my love generously
  5. I accept the love of others appreciatively
  6. I delight in who I am becoming.
  7. I am a beautiful, successful, joy filled being
  8. I open myself to the love that surrounds me and gather it into my heart to support and strengthen me.

[NOTE: Some people prefer typing these affirmations on a small piece of paper that they stick on the upper corner of their bathroom mirror.]

               – GenevieveGerard.com

 

Affirmations are a powerful tool to healing and transforming your life. When I have had my coaching clients add these affirmations to their life practice, their life begins to change, especially their relationships with others and themselves.

To come into the present, freed and unfettered by the past is opening your life to unlimited possibility. This is available to you through the healing power of your Soul and the enlightened embrace of your will as you affirm and accept that you have the power, the promise and the intention to love yourself and open yourself to the many joys and blessings that are available to you for the taking.

The timeless dance of giving and receiving, loving and being loved is before you. Celebrate and enjoy all that comes to you. Your Soul knows the real truth; your heart knows the truth.

Ponder on this. You deserve it.

To Love Yourself is one of the Greatest Gifts, begin right now to give that gift to yourself.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 11-17-2019

 

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 © 2014-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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LOVE Is An Action Word

LOVE is an Action Word

Read Love Is An Action Word Wisdom Wednesday Blog by Genevieve Gerard

This post is part of my ongoing series on Love.

As I am sitting in meditation pondering what to write and teach about, I realize that many people in the world do not understand the relationship between loving as a feeling and love that makes life an exciting and amazing exploration of relationship and togetherness.

The phrase “love is an action word” came into my mind attached to a myriad of lessons and impressions about love and loving.

I shall try to unravel and share the wisdom and implications of this revelation with you today, lessons about love.

Love in action takes love from being just the emotions of love, into being a guide for your love relationships.

It supports and encourages your loved ones in coming into the fullness of their being. It supports their journey, even when it goes in a direction you may not personally desire.

Love is, of course, a powerful and dynamic force that has the power to transform your life and fill you with incredible joy and fulfillment.

Certainly “falling in love” is a peak experience in anyone’s life. For some love lasts a lifetime as cherished support that permeates their lives.

However, for others love becomes a source of agony, riddled with pain and sorrow, marked by disappointment and betrayal.

Love is certainly a complex emotional energy-riddled with a great many differing aspects. Although it is perhaps one of the most important issues in life, it is something that everyone assumes you know how to do.

In my experience, and my many years of teaching and coaching people to have a happy and successful life, I have realized that there is much about love that is not easily understood.

My meditations, and I hope my writings, will open you to a new way of considering love.

What It Means To Love

The very word love has so many variations to it that ancient Greeks divided love into multiple words.

Here is what Wikipedia says about these Greek love words:

Agápe means “love: esp. brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God.” Agape is used in the biblical passage known as the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, and is described here and throughout the New Testament as brotherly love, affection, goodwill, love, and benevolence.

Éros means “love, mostly of the sexual passion.” The Modern Greek word “erotas” means “intimate love.” It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage. Plato has Socrates argue that eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth, the ideal “Form” of youthful beauty that leads us, humans, to feel erotic desire – thus suggesting that even that sensually based love aspires to the non-corporeal, spiritual plane of existence; that is, finding its truth, just like finding any truth, leads to transcendence.

Philia means “affectionate regard, friendship,” usually “between equals.” It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. Philia is expressed as loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality, and familiarity.

Storge means “love, affection” and “especially of parents and children.” It is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring.

Unfortunately, in modern society, we only have one word that is supposed to fit all forms and aspects of love and we have romantic books, films and media products that seem to go out of their way to define love in a way that creates unrealistic expectations about what it means to love.

All too often, this fairy tale fantasy about love leads to the expectation and belief that when you love someone they want exactly what you want, that in some way doing what you need gives them what they need. This fallacy leads to many broken hearts.

As I pondered further about these love issues, the phrase, “Love is an action word” loomed in my consciousness.

To say ‘I love you’ is often easy.
To demonstrate that love in action is much more powerful.
        – Genevieve Gerard

Put Your Love Into Action

What does that mean, put your love into action? How does just considering that concept change how you act with someone you love?

These are all valuable questions to ask yourself. There is no primer for how to love or what it means to really love someone. And, there is a lot of glamors and illusion surrounding love. In fact, in spite of how very important love is in life, there is very little available about how to truly love another.

To love and manifest your love for a beloved in a way that communicates to them that you love them requires action. To act in a loving way in the midst of your needs and their needs often requires sacrifice, clearly involves taking the time and effort to understand what they want that is different from you and what they need that is different from your needs.

Because love is such a vast, multi-dimensional and powerful force in life with so many distinctive and differing forms, it, unfortunately, falls into a category of everyone believing it is something that just comes naturally. However, you only need to consider the number of loves and lives that have crashed and burned, to realize that this is far from true.

This blog post, this concept, is only a drop in a vast ocean of need. Even so, I think “Love is an Action Word” is an important concept and an important way to empower your relationships and your life.

It is important to tell someone that you love them, for to feel loved is a deep longing in the human psyche. To tell someone you love them reinforces a lot of wonderful energies. Moreover, when you back up what you are saying by what you do with them and for them, by supporting and encouraging them, it is powerful indeed.

To make your love into an action word, to behave in a loving way that manifests that love into the world, is a way that can have a profound influence on the success of a loving relationship and the happiness of both you and your beloved. It requires extending beyond your needs to the consideration of who they are and what they need. In this way, you can honor and cherish them.

Immature love says, I love you because I need you.
Mature love says, I need you because I love you.
        – Erich Fromm

To manifest love into action requires stepping outside of yourself, your needs, and your thoughts and take a fresh look at who they are. This honesty with yourself and honest consideration of who they are, and what they want or need that is distinctive and different from what you may want or need, is active loving. It demonstrates the respect that is affirming for them.

Doing this also avoids the senseless sacrifices that are often made in the name of love. All too often people make sacrifices for someone they love without this step.

When sacrifices are made without thought and consideration of what they truly need, or are really asking for, it is possible for you to have made a real sacrifice and find it is not appreciated.

Rather than being hurt or disappointed by this response, consider your sacrifice in the context of whether or not it was what was really needed or being requested.

To demonstrate love in an action that considers who your beloved is, separate from you is potent. It does require stepping outside of your perspective and considering the perspective of someone other than yourself. It also means loving unconditionally. This may not be an easy or natural thing to do, which is why it is so significant. This is why I say, it is putting love in to action.

Unconditional Love Meditation MP3

 

To help you get in touch with your ability to love unconditionally and to be freed by forgiveness I created my Gift of Unconditional Love meditation. This meditation will help heal the hurts in your heart and open you to a source of love and grace that aligns your mind and your emotions with your Soul and invites you into a community of consciousness to help make the world a better place.

 

Sadly, all too often, the giving in a relationship falls into the tragedy of O. Henry’s tragic story “The gift of the Magi.” You may recall that this story of loving sacrifice ends with the irony of lovers both left with less by their great sacrifice for the other.

When you love someone, I recommend considering them,
what they need, what they desire, and
then take the step of demonstrating that love by action.
        – Genevieve Gerard

Think of the little ways you can take action to make the life of your loved one a little better, a little easier. These need not be big things and need not cost money. Little considerations, small kindnesses that honor and support the other are all demonstrations of love.

These little gestures may not even be consciously observed by the one you love, however they will establish an atmosphere of love and support that builds and becomes more tangible with each active expression of your love. To truly understand and acknowledge and honor the person you love as a unique individual, who although they have joined their life circumstances with you, is a dynamic way of demonstrating your love.

It may require forgiving things they have done that you do not understand. Seeing your loved one as who they are, different and separate from you. This differentiation and clarification is the first step in learning to love unconditionally.

This requires thought and consideration. It is all too easy to fall into the pattern of projecting your thoughts and feelings onto your beloved and then expect them to think and feel exactly the way that you do, or to want exactly what you want.

To give your loved one what they want, especially when it is different from what you want may require sacrifice on your part, but if you have taken the time and the effort to consider what they want and need that is truly meeting their needs and wants, you avoid the all too frequent issues of unappreciated sacrifice because what you have given was not really what they wanted or needed.

Taking love from romantic fantasy’s, to the action required by understanding and respecting that your loved one is separate from and different from you, may shift a lot in your relationship that makes it happier, healthier and more supportive and empowering.

…let’s not merely say that we love each other;
let us show the truth by our actions.
        – Bible, John 3:18

So, in this season of love I invite you to explore and consider who your beloved is as a unique person who is different from you; who may want different things and have needs that make no sense to you. Then, act upon that understanding. Make love an action word in your life and in your relationship.

This shift in your behavior, when you express your love, will strengthen and empower your relationship and your expression of love in a dynamic and life-changing way that can increase the happiness and satisfaction of both you and the one you love. Your love will mature and bring you both greater joy and happiness.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 7-22-2020

 

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.

 

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Angels Watching Over Me

Angels Watching Over Me

Open and Invite Your Angels To Watch Over You

“All night, all day, angels watching over me Dear Lord.”

So go the words of an old spiritual.

As I was meditating and pondering the message for this Serenity Sunday post, the words of this song filled me with a sense of joy and a feeling of being both loved and protected.

That there are angels watching over me, night and day was, and is, comforting and reassuring. Therefore, I decided to make this part of my ongoing series of articles about angels.

Angels are a dynamic and powerful Presence in the world. Just because their substance is not of the same essence as matter does not make them any less real. I believe Angels are real. What do you believe? Read on and maybe you will believe.

It is a tradition that since ancient times Angels have served as messengers of Divine Guidance. They reside on the same plane of energy as Devas and your Soul and are a manifestation of Divine Purpose, Divine Love, and Divine Will. They serve as a bridge between humanity and Divinity.

What I love is that Angelic messages can cross the veil to be understood by humankind in special situations. The protection of angels and the quiet guidance and prompting of angels can be felt in the stillness of your intuition or in insights that accompany the observation of life around you.

This tradition has been reaffirmed and enhanced through a series of Divination and daily guidance cards created by Doreen Virtue. Many use these beautiful cards to tune into angelic guidance by using the symbols on these cards.

To connect with your angels and effectively use angel cards you first must open your mind and your heart to the Presence of your own Soul and call upon the Presence of the angels and request their assistance. Any form of using cards to clarify your life, such as angel cards, or any other symbolic cards such as Tarot cards, are a way of connecting with your Higher Self and because of this, is within the control and influence of your Soul. This is important to understand and ponder on.

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 of your temporal and spiritual affairs.
        – Saint Francis de Sales

It is your Soul that has the insight and wisdom to guide you as you shuffle and move the cards around. Your Higher Self knows the meaning of the cards, with all of the significance of the placement of their symbols, and can provide insight and a greater understanding of dynamics and challenges you are facing in your life. I find it a wonderful way to clarify and understand more about your life.

The famous psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung explained this as it relates to all of the techniques and tools of divination. Jung believed that our journey of transformation, which he called individuation, is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a journey to meet the Self and at the same time to meet the Divine.

Understanding the guidance potential, in terms of being available from my Soul, has always made sense to me. Jung included in his theory, I Ching, Tarot, Runes and although Angel cards are a newer manifestation of a portal into higher understanding I am sure that the principle is the same.

Divination as a way of trying to explain and understand the forces that are surrounding you in life, are as ancient and diverse as life itself. The method being used, when understood in this context, is less significant than the process of invoking, inviting and considering the guidance and the wisdom of your Higher Self, your Soul.

Somehow, the symbols, most of which are archetypal, make it easier to consider the suggestions. Symbols speak to both your intuitive mind and your logical mind.

It is interesting to observe that the desire for divine guidance goes back to very ancient times and throughout history ranging from as diverse ways as animal entrails, reading tea leaves or coffee grounds to more traditional forms such as the I Ching which includes the time of Confucius (551–479 BC) or the Tarot which is recorded as a method since the 14th century.

It seems the urge to seek guidance and clarification about what is happening in your life or what forces are shaping events, is part of human nature. However, it is significant to both understand and acknowledge that the very genesis of the word implies that the source of the guidance being sought is Divine. Thus, the intention and connection with your Soul, when seeking clarity and guidance, is what makes the insight most effective.

To open your self to the direction, the wisdom and the guidance of your Soul you need only to invite and invoke the Soul. Your Soul is an integral part of you and is available to your conscious mind when you turn your attention to it. You can do this consciously, when shuffling and manipulating the tools of any divination method, while thinking as clearly as you are able about what you wish to understand in your life.

The more clearly your question is framed, and as much as you can calm your mind and control your mind chatter and amorphous fears, the more clear and helpful the guidance will be. That makes your time with the divination tools a form of meditation and an impetus for aligning with and opening to the guidance and wisdom of your Soul. In meditation, the ability to calm your mind and be open to the promptings of your Soul is always desirable.

Let the desire for clarity and guidance be a stimulus for you in honing your skills. Any way you can gain mastery over what many have traditionally called the “monkey mind” and gain mastery over your fears, is of benefit to you. Learning to calm your mind, open your heart and invite the Light can be a portal to the wisdom and guidance of your Higher Self.

Some use angel cards, tarot cards or even the I Ching as a way to be receptive and listen to the promptings of their Soul. What is most important is not the tool or technique you use to connect with and be receptive to the wisdom and guidance of your Soul, but that you make the time and open yourself to that dynamic and transforming connection.

Meditation, prayer, and journal writing are all valuable ways that you can invoke and invite the wisdom and Presence of your Soul.

Although Angel Cards are newer tools than the more ancient techniques, many have found them a way to be open to the presence and urging of Angels in your life. As the words of the old song imply (“All night, all day, angels watching over me Dear Lord.”) angels are always available and when called upon can be a protection and guiding light in your life.

To open to the guidance and wisdom of your Soul when using the tools or techniques of divination I suggest that you consciously affirm that the wisdom and insight you are seeking is from your Soul. Then, consciously invoke and invite your Soul’s presence to guide and direct you.

The Light of the Soul Descends
Soul Light Descending

 

You might find it helpful to visualize your Soul as a radiant light 3 to 6 feet above your head and imagine that from that point love, wisdom and guidance are stimulating your intuition and insight.

Then be quiet and receptive to the promptings of your Soul. Realize that the language used in this kind of communication may well be symbolic, so interpretation of the symbols is often where the art lies. Listening and opening to the prompting and guidance of your Soul and your angels can be very revealing.

Your Soul has always been, and will always be, an integral part of who and what you are. Your angels, particularly your guardian angel, but also varieties of angelic presences, are aligned with and supportive to you when you invoke and invite the invisible into your awareness.

To see an angel, you must see another’s soul.
To feel an angel, you must touch another’s heart.
To hear an angel you must listen to both.
        – Author Unknown

It may be a prompting or a flash of insight or intuition. It could be a clear understanding of events or circumstances that you did not understand before. Trust yourself. Trust your intuition and incorporate and consider the different perspectives you can now see and touch.

Life is much more varied and diverse than just what we experience through the 5 senses. Open your awareness to what you can feel and sense in the subtle energies that surround you. There is all around you mystery and delight that is beyond the knowledge of your physical awareness into the realm of subtle energies. These impact and influence your life and your world without your conscious understanding or acknowledgment.

Open yourself to be the fullness of the amazing miracle of what it means to be a human being. One who has a body, but is more than a body; which experiences emotions, but is so much more diverse than what your feel; who has a mind whose thoughts have the powerful energy to join with creation as a co-creator. By opening to the realm of the Soul and the world of angels, you are able to experience a reality that incorporates so much more.

Expand your mind, open your heart and invite into your awareness the world of light that the darkness obscures. It is real. From this comes a greater expansion of what life can be. It is available for you, to you, when you open your awareness.

Be an angel to someone else whenever you can,
as a way of thanking God
for the help your angel has given you.
        – Eileen Elias Freeman

Open your awareness to the Presence of your Soul and the Presence of Angels all around you. Life is richer and more profound than the world experienced only through the 5 senses.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 7-26-2020

 

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.

 

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Give Love, Live Love, Be Love

Give Love, Live Love, Be Love

Give Love, Live Love & Be Love Wisdom Wednesday Genevieve Gerard blog post

Love is a powerful force in the world.

To give love and be loved is for many the pinnacle of satisfaction and success. For most people love adds meaning to every action in life.

The giving and receiving of love is a variable in life that may well be the most significant factor in personal happiness and success.

To have love in your life brings joy and a sense of well-being. It is interesting to note that both giving love and receiving love can be deeply satisfying experiences.

Love blesses the life of the giver and the one who receives love. Remember love can take on many forms.

It has long seemed too limiting that in language there is only one word to express a concept that is so complex and manifests in so many different ways.

To give love and live love is much more profound than to simply have a successful romantic relationship. Love can empower all of your relationships in a way that expands and enhances your success and personal gratification.

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.
        – Arthur Rubinstein

The power of love can also be seen all around you. If you stop and take a minute to observe life and think about what you see in the context of love, the many forms through which love is manifested will most likely amaze you.

Kindness, compassion and consideration are all expressions of love. Little things do so much to influence your day’s experience and the experiences of those around you.

When you begin to see love in the essence of its nature and expand your definitions beyond the limitations of romance, family, and even friendship, you can see the dynamic force of love that can influence and direct your life.

Long ago in my academic days when I studied philosophy, I explored the concept of situation ethics. In so doing, I gave great thought and consideration to evaluating in life a vast array of situations and circumstances the question of how is love best served?

Amazingly, that question is very complex. Love is not always simple and is rarely as simplistic as you might want it to be. So, to give love, live love and ultimately be love, involves principles that can both guide and transform your life.

Relationship interactions influence all areas of your life. And, whereas business relationships, casual relationships, and impersonal relationships may not be considered when you think about love, they clearly have a profound influence and impact upon your success and how pleasant and satisfying your daily experiences are.

This makes your capacity to give love a power that can support and affect your life in a myriad of subtle ways that has a profound result.

The transformation in energy that giving love brings to each and every life situation is empowering. Touching, even the most casual of human encounters, with love may have a profound result that you will never know.

Learn more about the Gift of Love Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Download your copy of my Gift of Love Meditation MP3 instantly

A smile to a lonely clerk who recently lost their mate may give them the strength to face the lonely night. You can never know and need never know, the pain and sorrow of another, but when in your encounter with them you express love, you can help support and sustain them on untold levels.

Relationships and our inter-relationships with one another fuel so very much on an energetic level that every time and every encounter in your life that you give love, live love and be a source of the energy of love in the world, you are dynamically making the world a better place.

When you are a source for the precious gift of love in the world, even casual contacts through the day sense the energy you bring and are moved to respond to what you request and need.
        – Genevieve Gerard

Amazingly, the more you share the energy of love in the world, the better, more successful and more joyous your life becomes. That awareness seems to be the genesis of the wisdom that it is more blessed to give than receive.”

It is wonderful that by giving, especially when you give freely with no expectation or demand, there is a spontaneous response for people to give back to the giver.

This is an integral part of the Law of Attraction and an integral part of living a conscious life. Consider for a moment that when you smile at someone, really smile and share your energy through the smile, it is almost impossible for him or her not to smile back.

Years ago, when I lived in New York City, I used to try a little experiment on the busy city sidewalks. I would pick a distance, trying different lengths at different times, to make eye contact with someone coming my way and then smile at them. Since New Yorkers are notorious for hustling and bustling without smiles or eye contact, my behavior was a bit of an anomaly.

What I found was that as they drew near, there was most often a softening of their expression and that by the time we passed each other we exchanged a smile.

This little gift of warmth in our interaction helped me feel more joyful in my day. I think it gave them a little less stress, a little less anxiety, as it seemed that within a space of a few feet, I could make a connection of a smile and they would be a bit more relaxed, a little less anxious. That human touch had an impact.

Your influence, your impact on their life need never be known to you. It is a gift you can give freely with no expectation or demand. You have, by the very act of giving already received. Your world is a little better. You are a little happier. You are a bit more empowered to achieve your goals. Your energy is more open and expansive.

The simple instruction to give love, live love and be love
can have a profound impact upon your life.
        – Genevieve Gerard

Try it! You will ignite a magnetic force to draw to you what you need by sharing what you can so easily give, a touch of love, a simple smile, the grace of contact and community.

You can at any moment open your heart and your mind to love. The love that you share will move through you. It can come from Source where Love is an aspect of the Divine and when you let it into your life, your heart, your mind and into your consciousness, you become a limitless source and force for good in the world, for love in the world, and for “right relationships.”

A Holding Love Short Meditation

A simple visualization meditation you might enjoy is to imagine that you can gather Love into your field and as it gathers you hold the Love.

Call upon Love as a viable energetic force from Source. Your call and your intention are to be a conduit for Love into the world. Open first your heart and your mind to the transforming Presence of Love.

As you call forth the energy of Love, realize that the Presence of Love is unconditional, transcendent and transpersonal. It can be given and received, requiring nothing in return. It is, in this form, pure energy that can flow to you and through you to others.

Take a moment to invite and invoke that Presence into your awareness and your field.

Affirm that you are now connected with Source. That the essence of Love and the Presence of Love flows to you as a radiating glowing Light represented as the golden fiery white Light of the Sun, filling your heart, your mind and your Soul with Love.

Let your whole aura be filled with the sensations of peace and joy and well-being that come with a touch of the Presence of Love. This is a gift to you and a gift that you can freely share. Since it comes from Source, there is an endless stream available to you whenever you call upon it or need it.

Open Yourself To Love by reading Give Love, Live Love, Be Love blog post by Genevieve Gerard
Open your arms as wide as you can to embrace and receive that down pouring Love energy. Gather Love into your arms and then taking your hands as receptacles, bring them to your heart and let your heart be filled to overflowing.

As you prepare to leave this visualization and return to your world and activities, realize that you are a dynamic instrument to give love, live love and be a force for Love in the world.

You are more powerful and more amazing than you know. Embrace the full scope of your being. Be an instrument of love in the world, in little ways throughout the day. It will magnetize people to you and draw to you what you need from the Source of universal abundance and the Will to Good.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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When You Want To Heal Someone

When You Want to Heal Someone

When You Want To Heal Someone - Serenity Sunday article by Genevieve Gerard

This is another article in my on-going series on healing.

Whether you are a novice or a seasoned healer when you want to give healing Light and provide energetic healing there are some important things to keep in mind.

These healing (literally meaning to make whole) guiding principles can increase the effectiveness of energetic healing and protect both you and the one you are striving to heal.

However, there are some ways that you can make sure that in your desire to provide healing you avoid unintended consequences and assure that right action is the result.  These are some of the important understandings that can guide your efforts.  They also can serve as a protection for the one to whom you are giving or sending Healing Light.

You need to remember that healing is a complex process that involves many factors.  Many of the factors and the dynamics that have resulted in dis-ease may be unknown to you as the healer.  There may be a Higher Purpose to the dis-ease or an important life lesson that is being revealed to the person by the disease.

These reasons and purposes are usually not known to the conscious mind.  The reasons may be a result of karma or things the person facing the dis-ease needs to learn through the dis-ease or come to understand about their choices, their decisions or their behavior.

Healing, true healing, happens on multiple levels and may require layers of healing, physical, emotional and mental.

It helps if you understand, all healing is in the sole direction and authority of the Soul.  The Soul is the part of the spiritual anatomy that, in its role as the Divine spark within you, that gathers from Universal Source the atoms that become your body for you to be born.  There are a myriad of miracles and factors that influence this process.  There are universal laws that must be considered as a new life is formed for a new birth.  Your Soul remains integral and essential in all healing.   It plays a vital part in both allowing the dis-ease and healing the disease.  It plays a vital role in bringing to you what you need to learn from every life situation.

Throughout your life adventure, your Soul remains a part of you.  Whether you are ever aware of it, or whether you connect with it as a source of unconditional love, guidance, and support (as I recommend.)  It is always with you from your first breath to your last, where it returns to the Creator.  It is an integral part of you.  It is a part of you as your life is being formed in the mind of God and it is the part of you that is eternal and returns when your life is through, to the heart of God.

It connects you to your Guardian Angel.  It functions unseen and unknown to help you learn and grow in this life’s adventure.  It is fundamental in any healing.  It is the force to which a healer provides energetic healing.  As a healer, you use your energy and your love to enhance and support the work and purpose of the Soul.  I believe any different direction of healing energy will miss the mark.

It is always the Soul that heals.  That is something to be grateful for because the Soul is never disconnected from Universal Source (God.)  The Soul is by its very nature both aware of and in complete alignment with Divine Will.  That is an important protection for the one you seek to heal.  The Soul being united with Divine Source in the process of creating the substance of your life remains as the force that directs and empowers what is good and right.

Not my will, but Thine be done.
        – Jesus

It also speaks to a very important factor for when you are engaging in energetic healing.  It is essential that at all times you remain aligned with Divine Will.  This can at times be difficult when you are providing healing to someone you love, but this alignment and surrender to Divine Will is an essential part of energetic healing.  To provide healing to another without the possibility of harm requires detachment.  This is why effective energetic healing is often incorporated into prayer in which the “healer” prays for healing.  I always use in any request for healing the protective phrase “within God’s will and for the highest good” I invoke the healing of… .

It is true that thoughts are energy and true that “energy follows thought” in every aspect of life, including energetic healing.  However, this ability to surrender to Divine Will is a core part of the responsibility of an energetic healer.  Although it is not always easy to consider or remember, death can be a part of the healing process.

If you have ever been with someone, who has lingered on the edge between life and death too long, you will understand this statement.  Life extended at all costs is not a blessing.  There is a reason they call death an Angel.  If you have ever sat with someone at the end of his or her physical life, you will start to understand what I mean.  Death can be a blessing and a transition to the next phase of life. Ponder on these thoughts.

As I write these words, I am reminded of the last line of the St. Francis prayer, “And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”  It is all too easy to fall prey to the illusion that physical life is the only life.  As one who may provide energetic healing, it is important to consider the whole experience of life, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual or Soul life.

Whenever you are providing energetic healing, you need to be providing the healing essence from the power and wisdom of your own Soul (which comes from Source) to the Soul of the person you are intending to heal.  This Soul to Soul connection takes the healing process into the realm of miraculous and removes your personality and emotions from the process.

Miracles are a part of life.  A miracle is always possible.  As a healer your Soul, and your access to life energy can be used to help facilitate the process of healing.  However, it is only when the energy and intention are attuned and aligned with the Soul of the person you are striving to heal, and aligned with the Light and Love of your own Soul which provides access to the energy to fuel a miracle and the healing is in keeping with the highest good and Divine Will, that healing is right action.

Since you cannot know the highest good or the Divine purpose for every circumstance, the detachment and surrender aspect of energetic healing are of paramount importance.  For this reason, it may be most effective to pray while you are “laying on hands” for healing, or sending healing Light or Love across the miles.

An affirmation that may be helpful to say is:

I stand in spiritual being and, as a Soul, I serve.
I stand within the Light, and as the light shines throughout my form,
I radiate that light.
I stand within the love of God, and as that love streams through and from the heart, I magnetize the ones I seek to aid.
        – Discipleship in the New Age: Vol I, page 213, by Alice A. Bailey, Djwhal Khul

A powerful way that you can safely provide healing energy to someone in need of healing energy and healing Light is to first imagine the Light of your Soul as a radiating Light three to six feet above your head.

The Light of the Soul Descends
Soul Light Descending

Then visualize that golden Light descending into your field of energy (your aura) into the top of your head, down into your heart filling your heart with Love.  You may then wish to let that energy flow into and infuse your hands.

Then imagine the same Soul Light three to six feet above the head of the one you are endeavoring to heal and visualize the Light of their Soul descending into the top of their head and moving effortlessly to the place in their body and there being that needs healing Light.

To further empower your endeavor, imagine the Light from your Soul connected to their Soul and build into your mind’s eye a third point of Light to represent the Light of Divine Will.  You might also want to imagine that, as a pure white Light emanating from the heart of the Christ, or Source.  Let that healing Light flow freely along the pathway activating and empowering healing on all levels, physical, emotional and mental in surrender to ‘Right Action” and the Highest Good of All.  Visualize the other person in their perfected health.

This image of your Soul, sending forth healing Light and healing Love, to the Soul of the one who needs healing, supported and enhanced by Divine Will and Divine Love is the fuel for miracles.

This combination of intention and surrender to Divine Will is what spiritual or energetic healing is all about.

The final step in this is gratitude for the healing that has taken place.  Thanks for the blessing of the healing is an affirmation of faith and assurance that whether you see it or not, or understand it or not, what is right action for that person is taking place.  The expression of gratitude is also an affirmation of faith that the requested healing is moving forward and taking place.

Then go about your life in the deep awareness that you have given all that is needed and the healing Soul Light will continue to work in keeping with your intentions and purpose.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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When The Pupil Is Ready

When The Pupil is Ready, the Teacher Appears

Read "When The Pupil Is Ready, The Teacher Appears" Wisdom Wednesday post by Genevieve

Or as others have quoted it, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

This phrase is a proverb of how things work that has long been touted in the circles of the consciousness community.

Certainly, it is true that readiness is an important part of learning. After all, life is a series of lessons. From the moment you are born, you begin to learn.

But learning happens on multiple levels because you are a multidimensional being. Much of what you experience requires interpretation. It is in the interpretation that the art of life is demonstrated. Your perspective is of paramount importance. Another popular expression that outlines this truth is:

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.
        – Epictetus

Every situation and circumstance in life involve both the stimulus of the event and your interpretation and response to it. It is in the response that deep learning takes place. It is in understanding how to incorporate the situation into your life, especially in your dominant thoughts and emotions, that guidance and coaching are most useful.

This is why the technique of “reframing” can be such a powerful dynamic. It is a potent tool that can be used when activating the principle that “energy follows thought.”

Life is a magnificent adventure. And there is a direct relationship between what you choose to take from it and what you choose to give. This makes every circumstance and every situation have the possibility to bring you more of what you want in life, or make it harder to achieve.

Living consciously becomes a powerful tool you can wield to create the life of your dreams. There is a multitude of techniques and significant ways that you can use the power of your mind to ignite the Law of Attraction to bring what you want into your life. This is likewise true of wielding the potential of the principle that “energy follows thought.”

What you spend the energy of your thoughts on is an important choice that has far-reaching results. You can choose to let fear limit your life, or you can choose to transcend, transmute and release your fears. You can choose to spend your time dreaming and envisioning the life you desire, or you can spin on the wheel of worry and self-doubt.

These are the choices being offered to you every single day. These are choices that you make minute to minute and day to day. These are the choices that have a significant influence on what you create and what you experience in life.

There are many choices that you may have made in the past that might make choosing harder, but the key to that statement is in the past. Right now is a new opportunity to choose differently. NOW it is possible to take hold of the reigns of your life. Now is the time that you can decide to be the cause, the director of your life. You can choose to release your fears and empower your life.

Thankfully, choosing differently, thinking differently, results in different opportunities and different possibilities emerging in your life.
        – Genevieve Gerard

You don’t have to limit your life with fear. You don’t have to waste your precious resources by worrying. The opportunity to change your life and bring to it what you actually want comes to you with every new moment, every thought and every intention. You can change your life in a split second when you change your mind.

For most people their negative thoughts, their fears, and their worries are just bad habits. And, most importantly can be changed. Limiting beliefs are just that, beliefs. Amazingly, you can change your mind and as a result, change your life. This is a gift of living.

You can re-interpret or re-frame every negative situation, and every experience you have ever had.

You can cling to your past mistakes and failures because they are familiar and what is familiar often becomes comfortable. Or you can grow, you can change, you can decide to live a more fulfilling and fruitful life. You can seize the new possibility that each new dawn brings.

For many to have a teacher or guide is helpful. I too have grown from the insights of my teachers and guides. Now I spend most of my life in that role for many individuals who desire a different life, a better life.

In my 40+ years counseling, coaching and guiding people along the path to more enlightened (Soul) awareness, I have found certain keys that are helpful when you are ready to transform your life.

Here is a list of 10 Keys To Transform Your Life
that you will likely find helpful:

  1. The past is past. The only power it has is the power you give it. You can let it go and move on to live a happy, fulfilling life.
  2. We have all made mistakes in life. What is important to take from a mistake is what you have learned from it. Then, you never need to make that mistake again.
  3. Sometimes it is important to forgive. This means to forgive yourself and to forgive others. Forgiveness helps free you from the limitations and restrictions of the past.
  4. What you think and what you believe is more important than you imagine. “Energy follows thought.” What you think is what you create in your life. Your thoughts have great power.
  5. Nothing is ever too much to bear when you keep it limited to the moment, to the present, to the NOW.
  6. What you say to yourself or think about yourself is especially powerful when it starts with “I Am.” You can choose to use that fact to positively transform your life.
  7. Affirming and clearly stating your intentions is a dynamic way to gain control of your life.
  8. Fear and worry are a colossal waste of time and effort. You can choose to wallow in them and invite bad things into your life. Or you can choose to live your life with intention, affirming and inviting what you want. You need to trust yourself to handle and resolve bad things, if they happen, realizing they are just one more lesson to learn from along the adventure of life. Worrying, as I have said before, is like praying for what you don’t want.
  9. Realize that you are a powerful and dynamic creation that is both a human being and a spark of Divine Light. You are on this planet and in this life to learn and ultimately demonstrate and experience Love. Love is the portal to joy and enlightened Soul awareness.
  10. Your Soul is the intrinsic part of you that connects you with the Divine and integrates your personality, your mind, your emotions, and your physical body. You are an amazing being with incredible promise and the amazing possibility of enlightenment.

Ponder on these!

               – Genevieve Gerard

 

Go forward in this school of life, committed to growing and thriving, being and becoming all that you are meant to be. It’s your life. Live it fully and joyously knowing that when you are ready, your teacher will appear.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

P.S. If you are “ready,” you might want to consider life guidance coaching. I offer my services by Skype worldwide, in person or by phone.

Thank you again for your time, talents and mentoring.
It has been priceless and I am grateful for the
gift of your presence in my life.”
        – Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California

Read more about what other people are saying about my Life Guidance Coaching.

 

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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.”

 

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 © 2015-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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What We Can Learn From A Childhood Prayer

What We Can Learn From a Childhood Prayer

Read What We Can Learn From a Childhood Prayer - Super Serenity Sunday article by Genevieve Gerard

The prayer that I am going to share with you is one that children have been taught to say before sleep for generations.

Importantly, there are deep meanings in these ritual words that should be pondered.

Although a short, simple prayer, it speaks to lessons and an understanding about life and relationship with a higher source.

This prayer was written over three hundred years ago and has endured the test of time.

So today, let us ponder and consider the deeper meaning of these words and what they teach about life and how they help you go to sleep in faith and with confidence.

Consider how this prayer with the faith and affirmation it provides, can help you surrender to sleep with assurance that you are safely held in the arms of love.

You have probably guessed by now what prayer I am talking about. It goes like this…

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my Soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my Soul to take.

Meaning of the Childhood Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Now is the time to transition to sleep.  It is the intention to leave the day behind and enter into the peace and the blessing of sleep.  Sleep is a time of rest and restoration for you.

In sleep the body heals, emotions are processed and the mind reinterprets and gives insight through the process of dreams.  It is a very valuable and potent time in which your conscious mind rests and re-evaluates the experiences of the day from a very different perspective.

The process of sleep and the dreams that come are a very important part of your human experience.  Although well studied, the ultimate purpose of sleep and all of the levels on which it takes place is not fully understood.

What we do know is that sleep is essential for good physical health, emotional health and mental health.  Sleep is an integral part of your life experience and so to enter into the state of being that is sleep, is important.  To use prayer as a transition from waking to sleep is a way to calm your mind and prepare for the part of living that is sleep.

I pray the Lord my Soul to keep.

This phrase is a very simple affirmation that you have a Soul and you are, as you enter from conscious (waking) thought into sleep, reminded that your Soul is your link with the Divine and in God’s keeping.

Although you may not think much about your Soul, it is an integral and essential part of your being.  This most important part of you, the eternal spark of you, is placed in the safety and love of God’s keeping.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my Soul to take.

This phrase is a reminder and acknowledgement that you are an eternal being and that your Soul is the eternal part of you.

You are more than just a physical body, a mind and a personality; you are a miracle.  This understanding of the nature of life and death and the reality of eternity is a comfort as you are surrendering to sleep.

By the words “If I should die before I wake” you are addressing humankind’s deepest fear, the fear of death followed by the faith and reassurance that you are an eternal being when your say “I pray the Lord my Soul to take.”  This simple statement helps to release the illusion of death.  It speaks to a deep and eternal truth.  Life is eternal, you are an eternal being and your Soul forever rests within the love and grace of your Heavenly Father.

The Deeper Meaning of the Prayer

This simple prayer was for many of you, a nighttime ritual of childhood.  Rituals can be helpful and comforting in your adult life.  Recently I posted a Wisdom Wednesday blog to help people with sleep, in which the ritual of prayer before sleep was a recommended technique.

If you used the “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” prayer you probably also followed it with a list of those you asked God to bless.  This blessing of and praying for others is a powerful affirmation that God is in control of our life.  This makes the act of prayer an act of faith.

You may have repeated these words, as taught, without stopping to consider their meaning, their importance of what was being subtly said or affirmed.  You may have engaged in this nightly ritual without any consideration of what you were being taught about life, what you were being taught about God, or what you were being taught about your Soul.

Consider the very concept of using prayer as a way of connecting with God before you sleep.  Realize that once your conscious efforts of the day are over and you prepare to enter the peaceful healing state of sleep, you can turn everything over to God.  Your day is finished, your watch is concluded, you can now surrender control to God.  This opportunity to surrender to a Higher Power can be very comforting, allowing you to both relax and release the day.

This process of surrender is a way to let the day be past.  This putting that past into the past opens you to the unlimited potential of the next day.  It marks the line between what has been, what is now and what is emerging in the future.

Focusing upon your Soul, that Divine spark of your being that is for all eternity One with God can be both reassuring and inspiring.

Then, with the last line “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my Soul to take” you are stating and affirming that your Soul, that which is eternal in your being, is returned to God when your life has passed.  This is true whenever this life is finished.  This becomes a simple statement of faith and what is real and true that you know on a very deep and archetypal level.

These simple statements of faith, assurance and surrender offer powerful truths that can be asserted as you transition from waking to sleeping by engaging your relationship to God as we release the reins of the passing day by calmly transitioning from day into night.

In this simple childhood prayer, you have affirmed deep principles and eternal truths that can be a comfort to you.

As you lay down to sleep, you are now free to let your body rest and be restored.  There is nothing you need to think about anymore today.  You are safe.  You have given those in your care over to God with your blessing.  You have let the past go with the conclusion of the day.

You can now be at peace.  You are embraced and held within the eternal as you let yourself receive the restoration and strength that sleep brings.

You can safely enter from the consciousness of waking, in which you try to be in control of your life, into the state of sleep with its dreams.

The “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” childhood prayer offers several significant affirmations of truth and faith and provides comfort and reassurance that you are an eternal being for whom life, sleep and even death are simply transitions of consciousness.

This prayer is, although mysterious, an amazing blessing you can celebrate as life, a gift beyond measure, a gift with which you and your loved ones are blessed each day.

Amen

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Surrender To Slumber

How To Surrender To Slumber

Read "Surrender To Slumber" Wisdom Wednesday Blog by Genevieve Gerard

Sleep is a unique function in life. It is one of the most powerful tools for the body to rest, rejuvenate and heal. To surrender to sleep is a blessing of peace and relaxation.

Unfortunately, for many people it is a challenge to get to sleep and stay asleep.

More than 70 million Americans report they have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep every night.
        – National Sleep Foundation

The purpose of sleep is not fully known, and it is still studied intensely today. What we do know for sure, though, is that sleeping regularly is essential for survival.

What is especially significant about sleep is that it has an impact on so many different levels of your well-being. In sleep the unity of the body, mind and emotions are all inter-related.

Quote about sleep by Thomas Dekker

 

The peace of sleep and the way that it works with your organs, your glands and your hormones make getting a good night’s sleep very important. While your body rests, balancing, healing and restoration takes place.

 

 

Today I would like to offer you some pitfalls to avoid and some things you can do to help you get the best sleep.

PITFALLS TO AVOID

Sleep Medication

When I think of pitfalls to avoid the very first thought that comes to my mind is using medication to go to sleep.

Since I first released my guided sleep meditation in 2011 to help people get a restful deep sleep, I have observed something that I think is very significant about people when they struggle to sleep. Those who regularly use medications to go to bed are less receptive to a natural way to go to sleep. Although using medication to sleep may not be addictive, it is habituating. In fact, of those who have told me they tried the meditation and were still unable to get to sleep, 100% were regularly using medication.

It is interesting to note that among those who were using medication to sleep, most of them reported that even with the medication they still had a significant problem getting to sleep. Frequently they told me they needed increasing doses. Still, they report that even with medication they fail to have a deep and restful sleep. This shows that the habits you practice to go to sleep can have a significant influence.

The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.
        – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Not Letting Go

I often wonder what it is about sleep that is so difficult. After frequent consideration on the matter, it seems that one factor is that to fall asleep involves a letting go, or surrender to sleep. Even the common phrase to “fall asleep” implies a letting go.

Being multi-dimensional in nature, in order to go to sleep you must let go on different levels, your physical body, your emotional body and your mind. These layers of release must all take place to achieve a truly deep and restful night’s sleep. Perhaps this is a clue to ponder.

Then into the mix goes the nature of your dreams which are often a way that your Higher Self tries to guide you while you sleep.

Fear

As with so many experiences in life, fear seems to play a part in the problem with sleep. Some fear their dreams or the possibility of a nightmare. Many seem to fear the fact that when you are asleep, you are not in control.

I believe that it is an illusion that you are in control during your waking hours; however, this illusion seems to contribute to the resistance to sleep. You will sleep best if you let yourself relax your body. There are a number of ways to relax your body before you go to sleep.

Since regular rituals or habits seem to enhance the transition from waking to sleep, it is often helpful to incorporate some regular activities into your pre-sleep time. For the ease of consideration, these can fall naturally into focusing on the different parts of achieving a good night’s sleep.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Here are some practical things you can do to incorporate into your nighttime pre-sleep rituals that can help you surrender to slumber.

Breathe

Your breath is a part of a complex interrelated system that is run by the autonomic parts of your nervous system. Therefore, you can use your breath and this integration of the body, mind, and emotions to help you relax sufficiently to enter into sleep seamlessly.

Breathing in through your nose and filling your lungs fully, dropping the diaphragm and filling the lungs from the bottom up to the very top lobes of the lungs and then releasing the whole breath through your slightly pursed lips, is known as a deep and relaxing breath.

These kinds of breaths signal your autonomic nervous system that you are safe and not threatened. This kind of breath, especially when repeated induces a relaxation response that can prepare you for sleep.

When you find it difficult to relax, repeating deep relaxing breaths can be beneficial. Sometimes it helps to count the breaths. For most a repetition of 10 deep breaths put you into a state of preparation for sleep. In fact, you might just naturally drift off to sleep before you have finished the count.

Put The Day Behind You

When you lay asleep it often helps to consciously create an endpoint for the day. If you consciously release the demands of the day that have been met or have been left unfinished and enter into the present moment in your mind, you are making an important step in preparing to rest while you sleep.

The past is now over. It has no more power over you. You can let it go. Between the past and the future is the peace of the present and you can use that peace to let yourself surrender to sleep.

Tomorrows tasks, tomorrows challenges, will all be there waiting for you when the new day dawns. The promise and potential of tomorrow are part of the miracle of life because that future is uncreated and not yet formed.

By putting the past behind you, you are opening to the power and the promise of a new day unfettered by the limitations of the past. You can, as you let go of the old day, be assured that anything left undone can be incorporated into the tasks of tomorrow if they are important.

Prayer

Perhaps because many of us prayed before sleep as children, or as a way to surrender the cares and concerns for which you desire help, praying to a higher power (God) before sleep is an effective ritual.

I have often recommended a gratitude prayer before sleep which in the words of the old song recommends counting your blessings instead of sheep. This focuses your mind on what is good and positive in your life, and the gratitude stimulates and activates the Law of Attraction to bring into your life more of what you want.

Meditation

A meditation, guided or self-directed, can be a dynamic tool for transitioning from your waking state to a sleep state where your Soul and Higher Self are accessible. It allows you to breathe, focus in the moment and relax. There is between waking and sleeping a fertile time when you can open your being to the impressions and guidance of your Soul.


Checkout Sleep In Heavenly Peace CD by Genevieve GerardBecause sleep is such a difficult issue for so many people, and the failure to get a restful and restorative sleep has such far reaching implications in life, sleep was one of the very first challenges I addressed when I started publishing my guided meditations. My Sleep In Heavenly Peace meditation CD remains one of my most successful, widely distributed, and reviewed products I have ever created. Click learn more here to check out this MP3 download and glide effortlessly into sleep.


Warm Bath

Take a warm bath before you get ready for bed relaxes the body and gives you the opportunity for reflective time before you get in bed. Combining the warm bath with a relaxing meditation can be very helpful.

Affirmation

Affirmations are powerful tools that speak to your creative mind to direct the life that you desire. Using a positive affirmation before you sleep sets the creative power of your mind toward what you envision for your life.

Ultimately, let it be. What filled today is enough for today. What will come is still evolving and being created. It is enough to release the day and take the time to rest, to relax and restore yourself with the healing blessing of sleep.

Sweet dreams!

Namaste,

Genevieve

 

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Last Updated 11-13-2018

 

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Surrender To Slumber Read More »

Love Is The Greatest Law

Love is the Greatest Law

Love is the Greatest Law - Serenity Sunday article by Genevieve Gerard

In every spiritual journey, there come questions about how to live your life that is best in keeping with living a conscious and Soul infused life. Of course, humanity has pondered these questions since the dawn of time.

There are in every religion guidelines and rules that were created to help in those decisions of what is right, what is good. These guidelines often direct what is expected in a variety of situations or circumstances.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

In fact, many religion’s Holy Books contain a myriad of rules and regulations, laws that must be followed or at least considered by those who wish to live a spiritual life. However, guiding your life by laws and rules does not guarantee that you do what is right.

Some of these Laws are timeless. Some of the Laws are archaic and seem irrelevant in modern times, needing interpretation even to be understandable. It may be easier to think that all that is required of you to live a spiritual life is to “follow the rules” however, there is a higher calling. That is to let Love be your guiding law.

Although it is helpful to have guidelines for your behavior, sometimes rules can become an obstacle to living a life that brings you into ever-increasing awareness and expression of your Soul. As I write this post and meditate upon what helps or hinders us as human beings, it seems that just following laws takes you away from what living a spiritual life is all about.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LAWS

When you consider these laws, I find it easiest if you divide laws into different types of laws.

Some laws are rules and guidelines for right human relationships, such as the 10 Commandments, a mix of guidance for what you should do and what you should not do.

There are also ancient laws from the Ageless Wisdom that direct you to live by principles, which are paramount, such as Harmlessness and Right Speech. These are not “Thou Shall or Thou Shalt Not” rules of conduct, but rather ways to lead your life for greater success to bring you into Right Relationship with others.

There are also in life and nature, Laws that govern life that cannot be changed or overruled. They always apply. They are impersonal but can be used to benefit your life when you understand them and grow in consciousness and live in harmony with these laws. A simple example of this would be the Law of Gravity, which can be harnessed to help you relax in meditation. It is always there. It is always true. You can count on it.

Similarly, some universal laws or principles can be harnessed for your benefit like The Law of Attraction or the principle that “Energy Follows Thought.” These can be life enhancing and life transforming but have much broader reach than just living your life by following rules. Understanding these laws can help empower your life.

Nevertheless, there is so much more than just following rules to living a joyful, happy and prosperous life. It is much easier to follow the rules and since you do not blatantly break the rules conclude that you think you have done all that you need to do. The rules, the laws, then take the place of you needing to be in right relationship with God, with your Soul, with your fellow man.

LOVE IS THE GREATEST LAW

These thoughts and considerations between the law and love are not new. St Thomas Aquinas wrote hundreds of years ago extolling the virtue of following, not a series of rules but Love as the guideline for right action and right relationships, between people and between you and God. His teachings have often been summarized into saying, “Love God and do as you please,” or in some translations, “Love God and do as you will.”

Certainly when Jesus was asked to clarify what was most important of the many laws that the Hebrews followed when he walked upon the earth he replied, “You should Love God with all your heart, your mind, and your Soul and you should love your neighbor as yourself.” I have always found this passage in the Bible most instructive for my life.

I have long strived in my spiritual journey to let Love be the guiding principle for how I live. To use Love as the determining factor in relationships with others and with my relationship with God seems a much clearer principle than a legalistic list of rules and laws. Jesus concluded, as St. Augustine later wrote, that Love was the most important guideline for your life, not Law.

To let love be the guide in your life and behavior is a higher standard. When St. Augustine wrote, “Love God and do as you will,” he concluded that if you truly loved God, what you do would honor and respect both God and others. This is also in line with many of the guidelines that are extolled in the Ageless Wisdom of Harmlessness and Right Speech as right action.

As Jesus taught, “God is Love.” When you express Love, you are aligning with the Love that God gives to you and the Love that is the nature of your Soul. It is Love that is the nature of your Soul and Love that is the basis of the “I-Thou” relationship with God that demonstrates the unconditional grace and forgiveness that so bless a spiritual life.

There are those who say that learning to Love is the whole purpose of living. What you learn when you truly love is one of the most valuable things in the universe. It is said that Love is the most powerful force in the universe and it “sets the spheres in motion.” Learning to Love, striving to Love, especially loving unconditionally gives you a truly extraordinary life.

When Love is considered as the way to conduct your life, many positive and significant factors fall into place. This is particularly the case in relationships with others and in what is experienced in your relationship with God and relationship with your Soul. Being in right relationship with God brings with it “The Peace that Passes Understanding.” Being in relationship with your Soul brings Love into your life for Love is the very nature of your Soul. Your Soul loves you completely, understands you completely and as it aligns with your personality, your mind, and your emotions bring to you a sense of well-being that is unique and powerful.

Joy is the spontaneous response to being in right relationship with your Soul. Being guided by Love, and the wisdom of your Soul opens your life to happiness and wonder.

Your Soul is the part of your spiritual anatomy, the spark of Divine Light that has created you, that is eternally One with the Divine. No matter what you do. No matter where you go. Whether you make major failures or mistakes in life or whether you are successful beyond your dreams, this unity of your Soul with God is unlimited by space or time. It is your birthright, and it is your essential nature. And Love is the nature of your Soul and the nature of God. THEY ARE INSEPARABLE.

This basic truth makes Love always the answer, no matter what the question. If you consider this, any ethical decisions you must make in life will be the right choice when you let Love be the guide. To demonstrate Love to others in light of what is truly loving is often a challenge. To make decisions in your life that demonstrate loving yourself is often a challenge. To extend that to showing your Love for God is an even higher standard. It is these considerations that are inherent in Jesus’s two great laws and St. Augustine’s moral shortcut of “Love God and do as you will.”

It is in the consideration of Love as the director of your behavior, that all the laws of any religion are fulfilled. To let Love guide you in your decisions can transform your relationships and can transform your life into a life of greater satisfaction and joy than you can imagine. So many aspects of what is so often frustrating in relationships disappear when you give Love and return Love.

Issues of forgiveness, compassion, and understanding fall naturally into place when Love is applied. If you love God with all of your heart and your Soul and you are loving to others and loving to yourself you are automatically living in agreement with the Ten Commandments, and the rules and codes of conduct created from ancient times into the present.

By doing this you honor the “Golden Rule.” Your actions follow the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom of harmlessness and right speech. Right action and right relationships are automatic when Love guides all that you do.

Let Love be your guide and it will fulfill all the laws.
– Genevieve Gerard

Love is not passive. It is an active and dynamic force for good in the world. It is strong and supported by the Will to Good. To live Love, you are bringing peace and goodwill to the world. It starts a chain of events that makes the world a better place for all.

In today’s often violent and dangerous world, it is good to consider the strength of Love and the power of Goodwill and the “Will to Good.” Love is not weak, and it can stand up for and protect with power, but never hate or negativity. Learning how to live this aspect of Love is vital to a peaceful world. Helping others to not harm themselves or others is a part of loving intelligently with will and wisdom.

LOVE AFFIRMATION

Since “energy follows thought,” it may be helpful to say and use this affirmation when you consider how to relate with another.

“I Love You.”

 

By Loving You I wish for you
only what is good and beneficial to you.

 

In all that I am and all that I do with you
I strive to honor and respect who you are.

 

I know we are different people with different needs.

 

I love me and strive to honor and respect myself
doing what is good and beneficial for me,
physically, emotionally and mentally.

 

I Love God and in all that I am and all that I do
I strive to express and demonstrate that Love.

AS YOU USE THIS AFFIRMATION, CONSCIOUSLY CONNECT WITH YOUR SOUL.

Using this affirmation as a guide to determine how Love is best served in any situation in life will be empowering for you. Ponder on this!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 4-21-2017

 

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Love is the Antidote

Love is the Antidote to Criticism and Judgment

Love is the Perfect Antidote by Genevieve Gerard

 

Criticism and judgment may well be one of the most damaging ways you hurt the ones you love.

Sadly, it is one of the most common ways that couples destroy the love that should be the greatest blessing and joy in their lives.

It is a trap of inter-relationship, which has seeds in the psychological concept of projection, but more importantly in the dynamics of how people often “fall in love. Unfortunately, our media manufactures unrealistic perceptions of what it means to love another.

PROJECTION

During that special magical time of falling in love, it is human nature to project all that is good and wonderful onto your beloved. Just as later in the relationship, it is human nature to project your own faults and failures onto your beloved.

Both of these experiences are illusions and neither of these has anything to do with love. Although, if you consider any of your failed relationships, beginning middle and end, you will most likely recognize this pattern.

Too truly love accepts the other as who they are, supporting and honoring them in their unique life journey, although it may well be different from yours.
                  – Genevieve Gerard

At the beginning of a relationship, you may have been drawn to your beloved, from the impulse of your Soul (whose nature is love) or your karma with the person. When you meet that someone, you may feel a connection that is special. This may even have to do with a bond of love that has been forged in eternity.

You may feel understood in a way you do not feel in most of your daily relationships. You could feel a sense of unity with the other, a coming together in a way that transcends the mundane. You know and acknowledge that this relationship is different. With your beloved, you are more alive, more real, more fully in touch with your full being than you normally are when you are alone.

You feel connected, content, and joyful. You may even feel more connected and in tune with your Soul, your higher self. Since most of us do not always feel connected, content and joyful, it is easy to assume that these feelings come from the other and the process of projection begins. You say to the other “you are wonderful.” The other says to you, “no, no, you are the one who is wonderful.” Feeling validated, appreciated and loved, you both feel wonderful.

This process of feeling wonderful, supported, validated, appreciated and even complete provides a hint to the aspects that compose a positive and successful relationship. Ponder on this!

This positive and supportive relationship can then grow and expand into the declaration of love for each other. This unconditional understanding and acceptance is what you long for and expect from love. This is what we have grown to expect of “falling in love.”

The two keys in this concept are unconditional and acceptance. To receive life-affirming love and acceptance are powerful and life-affirming. It gives you the impetus to be the best that we can be. In addition, when you are willing and able to give your beloved unconditional love and acceptance that brings you together, you move forward in life to have the true strength and joy that comes from a loving union.

Thankfully, you can use this illusory period of projection to truly let love blossom and mature into true love. Armed with the blessing and the strength of love you are then able to move forth in life to be and become all that you can be, knowing and trusting in the benevolence of that love.

CRITICISM and JUDGMENT

Sadly, for many loving unconditionally is too much. Forgiving the little hurts and the real or imagined slights that could sustain the love is just too hard. Unfortunately, what follows next in the pattern of relationships demonstrates why learning to forgive is such an essential part of love.

The unforgiven slights and hurts build up and become criticisms and judgments. No longer do you say to your beloved, “you are wonderful and I love you.” Rather, the message becomes, “you have failed,” “you are wrong.” “You are less than you could be, ought to be or should be.”

No longer does the confidence and faith in yourself that came from being loved and understood give you the strength and courage to go forth in the world to be all that you can be. No longer do you feel strengthened and supported. Sadly, what has disguised itself as love now has become harmful, limiting and demeaning.

Having the one who says that they love you, or who has vowed to love you, be critical and judgmental can be very confusing. Often this transition starts a pattern of criticism and judgment that ultimately destroys the love that was once created. It may take a lifetime to destroy because love is a powerful positive force.

Receiving, in return for your love, criticism, and judgment, from the one you love and from whom you once received love, is devastating. It creates pain and often undermines your self-confidence. You cannot understand how you can love someone and receive back the toxic criticism and judgment where you once received love and acceptance.

The harm of criticism and judgment is immediate. You may feel betrayed by life and love itself. The ability to trust in your love is in some way fatally damaged. The lack of trust and the betrayal it brings may take years to destroy the relationship because the criticism and judgment is often interwoven with loving and positive messages.

It is important to realize a truth I first read in the seed thoughts of “A Course on Miracles.

judgment is the opposite of love

Judgment fails the life direction of harmlessness because I can imagine little that you can do to another that is more harmful than judgment. It undermines confidence; it destroys the celebration and self-assurance that could come with every success by holding it up to an impossible and imaginary standard of perfectionism. It is a toxic poison in relationships, especially and most importantly in relationships that are presented as loving relationships.

Unfortunately, judgment and criticism are all too often the results of your own feelings of failure. The very projection that was so active at the beginning of the relationship, of declaring the beloved to be so wonderful, is now in full manifestation of a constant process of faultfinding or blame.

Also sadly, on some level you probably realize that the process of projecting feelings of failure on your beloved is damaging. This increases your feelings of failure. When you are actually trying to be loving and supportive, being the critic results in more self-criticism and self-loathing. On a very deep level, you know you are failing to love and are hurting the one that you love. This failure to demonstrate love only escalates this cycle of judgment and criticism. It is easier to blame the person you love than to take stock of yourself and face yourself with truth.

Recognition of how you have failed to love, by being critical and judgmental, is important. Asking for forgiveness, and/or repenting are all important parts of forgiving.

Committing to break the behavior habit of criticism and judgment is significant. Watching and evaluating what you say, with the consideration of harmlessness and right speech in future communication with the beloved, can help rebuild and re-establish the environment in which love can thrive.

THE FORGIVENESS PROCESS

Learning to forgive is of course the answer. Forgiving yourself, not only for your failure to love unconditionally but also for all of the little ways you have failed and fallen short of your own self-critical expectations of perfection or success is important. This is a very important step in stopping the toxic treadmill of criticizing others.

Self-forgiveness can open the door to loving yourself because loving yourself is essential to you truly loving another. Forgiveness is a way to heal your past. It can wipe the slate clean, and open before you all of the possibility, hope and promise that you have ever dreamed of. Self-forgiveness in your failure to love, and asking for forgiveness from your beloved, are key parts of rebuilding and reestablishing the promise of love you gave.

To forgive yourself you must open yourself to your Soul, which both now and always has loved you unconditionally. You do this by calling upon your Soul to help you with this awesome task.

Your Soul knows and understands all of the reasons you have failed to love. It knows what challenges resulted not only in your failures to love but also in all your failures in life. When you sincerely call upon its help, it can and will reveal to you clarity about your life and your choices that may be painful to observe. This often strips you bare of all of the excuses and justifications you have used.

Check out How To Forgive Yourself: Let Go Of The Past and Release Your Pain and Sorrow guided meditation by GG

 

Learn to forgive with my, 4.8/5.0-star reviewed,
“How To Forgive Yourself” Guided Meditation.
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As you invite the higher vibratory energy of your Soul Light in, it moves through your consciousness and you are, by its revelation, able to know forgiveness and the higher nature of real love. Most important with insights from your Soul comes a clarity that shatters the behaviors of the past and opens up an unformed future that now lays before you, free from what has been.

The tears and horror of what you have done may need to be released, but the grace and peace of truly forgiving yourself are so powerful that you can now look at your old behavior patterns with compassion. You can emerge from this a new and much better person.

You realize that when you have forgiven yourself, you can now honestly ask for the forgiveness of the person you have failed to love unconditionally. You can stop criticizing or judging. Instead, you can give true love from the depths of your body and Soul. You can give unconditional love!

This journey to the Soul, to the self and too forgiving yourself may well be the most powerful and transforming decision you have ever made. In the act of self-forgiveness, you can silence the voice of self-criticism and judgment that you projected on your beloved and miraculously change your behavior.

Without forgiveness and love, you will live with resentment, bitterness, malice, and strife which result in more pain. You can never love without forgiving. Forgiveness deepens your ability to love and frees you from pain.
                  ― Kemi Sogunle

The final step in this forgiveness process and returning love to your life is to ask for the forgiveness of your beloved. Forgiving the hurts and slights, that happened along life’s way is important. It is an essential ingredient in any loving relationship. Without it, love cannot be sustained and thrive. Amazingly, forgiveness is so powerful that it can restore the blessing of love in a relationship. It can renew both your hope and your joy.

It is never too late. Forgiveness and love both live in the “Now” and so can be restored in the moment. Such is the unlimited power of forgiveness, the promise of living in the presence and the miracle of love.

When you ask for forgiveness, let the truth that the Soul’s Light reveals guide you. Forgiveness comes from Love and Grace. It is a gift of your Soul.

As Church traditions teach, there is a powerful impact of contrition and making amends. These do much to solidify and manifest the changes in your life that self-forgiveness desires. In forgiving yourself, you seek the capacity to transform both yourself and your life in a dynamic and substantial way. This is available to you. You are not limited by your past.

Forgiveness is the handmaiden of Love. By forgiving, you express and manifest Love. Love is more than a romantic excursion but a momentous guiding force in your life. Learning to Love and learning to forgive are supporting pillars of a spiritual life. Through these two important acts, you can increase your peace of mind, find satisfaction and lasting happiness. These are the keys to a life of joy and serenity.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

 

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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 2-12-2020

 

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

 

Love is the Antidote Read More »

Namaste Means

Namaste Means . . .

Namaste Means - Genevieve Gerard - Super Serenity Sunday Article

Namaste is an ancient Sanskrit blessing.

It is said that Sanskrit is the most ancient of languages.

Sanskrit has been called the Universal language, as the basic building block of all language is contained within Sanskrit. It was the language created to communicate with God. The Gayatri, which is known as the first and oldest prayer, was created in Sanskrit.

Simply, Namaste is derived from namas = salutation, bow + te = to you.

You might have noticed that I end all of my posts and meditations with this ancient blessing. Today I would like to share with you the profound and essential meaning of Namaste.

Namaste is both a greeting and a blessing. It is an acknowledgment of a deep truth about whom and what we are as human beings, especially in relationship to the Divine and with one another.

It is pronounced “Na ma stay” with the first two a’s like the first “a” in “America” and the ay as in “stay”, but with the “t” pronounced soft, with the area just behind the tip of the tongue pressing against the upper-front teeth with no air passing.

When you say Namaste to someone, you can press your two hands together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close to your heart (or brow chakra) and bow your head gently as you face them.

Thus, it is both a spoken greeting and a gesture, a Mantra and a Mudra. The prayerful hand position is a Mudra called Anjali, from the root Anj, “to adorn, honor, celebrate or anoint.”

The hands held in union signify the oneness of our dual cosmos, the bringing together of spirit and matter, or the self meeting the Self. It has been said, that the right hand represents the higher nature or that which is divine in us, while the left hand represents the lower, worldly nature.

Great power is released when we greet one another with Namaste because using that greeting is an affirmation of an old mystical truth of our essential nature. Excavations for Indus civilization have revealed many male and female terracotta figures in Namaste posture. These archeological findings are dated between 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Namaste is simply interpreted to mean, “The Divine spark in me recognizes and honors the Divine spark in you.” This is a powerful thought because it affirms that as human beings we are One with the Divine. In many cultures, the Namaste greeting is acknowledge by a bowing of the head and in some cultures even a bow.

I honor the place in you where Spirit lives
I honor the place in you which is
of Love, of Truth, of Light, of Peace,
when you are in that place in you,
and I am in that place in me,
then we are One.

It is good at times to transcend the habit and ritual of things to consider their actual meaning. I have often thought it is significant, that this bowing and ritual greeting is so widespread across cultures. This greeting speaks to your unity in the human experience as all being children of God who are endowed with the spark of Divine Light as an integral part of your being. It affirms your humanity and your Divinity as co-creators with God.

The reason why we do Namaste has a deeper spiritual significance. It recognizes the belief that the life force, the divinity, the Self or the God in me is the same in all. Acknowledging this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we honor the God in the person we meet.

In saying Namaste, we greet, honor and acknowledge that great truth. And, as we bow or greet another, we celebrate the unity in our human experience. The logical conclusion of the Namaste acknowledgment is in the awareness of the fellowship we share as the children of God. We are One Humanity.

As we acknowledge this essential brotherhood, compassion for our fellow man ignites in our hearts. We are united by this profound understanding of life. Our perspective can expand to consider how to relate to one another in light of this identification of the other, as a walking living breathing manifestation of God.

It makes all of humanity your brothers and sisters and makes every good and service that you can provide to them an act of service to God. It encourages the important principle of harmlessness as the guide to your actions and relationship.

Namaste is not a meaningless or simply a ritual greeting. It is the declaration of a great truth. When you treat others in a way that expresses and honors that truth, you have made a significant step toward right human relationship which includes right speech and right action.

These dynamic ways of interacting with our fellow man and women, of harmlessness, right speech, and right action can become a guidepost for all relationship behaviors. Relationships guided by these principles are in keeping with the Namaste greeting. The more you live by these principles, conscious, aware of your Divine spark, and the Divine Light within others, the more you create a world of peace and joy that allows fulfillment and success for everyone.

When you walk through your days, as your eyes meet others, greet them with a silent Namaste and at that moment offer the recognition and affirmation of the Divine spark within.
      – Genevieve Gerard

As you say Namaste to those you meet, you are also acknowledging and aligning with the Divine spark that is within you. You are confirming and asserting the truth that we are all Divine Light, beloved and blessed, as you bless and greet others.

This simple greeting and gesture is an affirmation and an invitation to great joy.

This little thought takes very little time, it happens as fast as “energy follows thought.” Doing this sets up the basis for more harmonious and satisfying relationships. You are in this way also serving as a beacon of Light in the world. You are sharing your Light and joining your Light in acknowledgment and community with others. You are blessing them and blessing yourself. Ponder on this!

You may also find that this greeting and affirmation will increase your personal sense of joy and wellbeing. Connecting with others through the conscious expression of the meaning of these ancient words will serve to increase your sense of unity that reminds you that you are not alone in the adventure and journey of living.

Giving a blessing, or greeting someone with the acknowledgment of Namaste, has an incredible impact on your day. I invite you to try this and observe how it influences your experiences.

To further support your understanding of the meaning of Namaste, I would like to share with you a YouTube video recently shared with me in response to my “Mystery of Eternity – Magic of the Soul,” article.

To watch this 4-minute video on YouTube directly click Namaste.

It was the sharing of this beautiful YouTube on Namaste, that prompted me to finally write and share with you my thoughts on the meaning of Namaste.

With my heartfelt appreciation, I bless and honor you and appreciate you as the Divine Light that you are from the depth of my Soul, the Divine Light and Divine Spark within me.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that You Do!

P.S. The word “Namaste” can also be used as a closing notation (without the accompanying prayerful hand and bowing head gestures) in written communications similar to “sincerely,” “best regards” or “love.”

 

QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 4,876 times. Checkout our other related posts below.

 

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Last updated 9-9-2018

 

Copyright © 2015-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC, All Rights Reserved.

 

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How Do You Measure Success

How Do You Measure Success?

How Do You Measure Success - Wisdom Wednesday blog by Genevieve Gerard

There are many signposts you can use to measure what success means to you.

It is valuable to consider what is important to you in life when you are striving to be successful.

It is all too easy to sacrifice things that enhance your happiness and give joy by focusing only on material “stuff” and let the gathering of toys become a priority to the exclusion of what is really important to you.

We have all met miserable and bitter people who upon achieving great wealth realize that money could not buy them happiness. So, clearly success is about more than money.

Defining success is unique to you. As you embark upon life’s journey it is valuable to consider what is important to you and your life. Along the way, you will be presented with many choices and decisions that you must make. Understanding your desires and values will be a great asset in making those choices.

I encourage you to take some time to consider what you want from this adventure of life. Knowing what you want is the best way to assure that you achieve success. Many profound energy laws and dynamic principles are activated by your desires and your intentions. Learning to harness them and use them to your advantage is an important life lesson.

In order to accomplish and experience what you truly desire, it is important to know what you want. How do you measure success in your life? The amazing thing about life is there are many byways you can take to get to your ultimate destination, so it is helpful to focus on what you wish to achieve. This is a part of being successful, for without that you could fail to recognize success, or its value, once you have accomplished it.

Now, before you go any further down the path of life, is the perfect time to take the time to consciously consider these issues and questions. Taking the time to focus and clarify your values and desires will help you create the life you wish to live. Now is the time to make the choices and goals that will bring you happiness and satisfaction.

I recommend that as you ponder these questions you look at them from the perspective of fulfilling your life’s purpose, your Soul purpose. I suggest you ponder on and meditate upon what success means to you. By doing so you can give your intention the attention it needs to fulfill your dreams and manifest what you desire.

I suggest that you take 10-15 minutes a day to meditate upon what you want in order to clarify it. During or just after that meditative time, while you are calm, open and receptive, record your thoughts and impressions in a special journal that you use for that purpose. This will support you in living a more conscious and purpose directed life.

You can then choose to make use of the many techniques and tools available to enhance and bring into your life the success and experiences you choose and desire. There are several categories that are worthy of being considered. Among these are:

Relationships

All people live in relationship with others. How you choose to be in a relationship with others is a key element to evaluating what you experience as a success, or conversely failure. For some, intimacy, marriage or family are essential to feeling successful. Certainly being in positive and supportive relationships with others influences one’s personal happiness. These may mean marriage and family or friendships and working liaisons. Consider what you consider success in this vital life area. Then nurture and develop those relationships.

Satisfaction

In life most of us attach meaning to how something makes us feel. We don’t really just want a house, we want the feelings the house can give us, a sense of protection over the elements, a place for family to gather, the enjoyment of seeing what we have manifested and accomplished.

Reflect on what you want to experience. What makes you happy? What are you passionate about? For me, finding ways to live in joy is one of the things that really excites me and makes me feel successful when I have reached this state of being in joy. More importantly, is my connection with my Soul, and the oneness I feel when joined with the universal presence of source. Ultimately, I find great satisfaction by being of service and supporting others on their journey.

Career or Life Purpose

Identifying what you want to generate and create in your life is a primary psychological developmental task in life. Psychologist Erik Erikson lists generativity vs. stagnation (whether you produce anything in your life or don’t) as one of the eight essential life stages that determine success in life. According to his paradigm, failure to address this issue can result in despair at the “end of life” stage. Choosing what you wish to create in life is an important part of becoming successful.

It is my observation that the more aligned with your Life Purpose and your Soul purpose you are in what you choose to experience and create in your life, the greater the sense of personal satisfaction, and happiness. For many, that is the definition of success. It gives your life a sense of meaning and purpose that empowers and supports you.

What Do You Want Your Legacy To Be?

Each of us in any individual life leaves behind a legacy of memories and significance in those whose lives we touch. Considering what you wish your legacy to be, how you wish to be remembered when your life is over, is a powerful way to get in touch with what you consider being a success. This is a time-honored way that you can let your ultimate death serve as an advisor for your life. Ponder on this as you determine what success means to you.

Once you have determined what you consider success to be, you can draw from the vast array of tools and techniques to help you achieve it.

Among these are using the power of your mind to achieve success, using affirmations to focus your intention, igniting the Law of Attraction in your life and understanding the power of appreciation in co-creation of your life.

You Must Take Action

Success in addition to intentions and direction requires action. So once you have thought, meditated and reflected on what you consider to be the measure of success for you in your life, it is time to put your plans into action.

Then the dynamic principle that “energy follows thought” can be activated as you make plans and set the goals to achieve the life and success that you desire. Let your thoughts become a roadmap for achieving what you want. Then you can plan your work and work your plan using the active creative power of your mind.

Dare To Do

It is equally important to dare to do, as it is to dare to dream. Deciding and doing is required. There is a guidance phrase from the Ageless Wisdom that advises, “to dare, to do and to keep silent.” Once you have decided what to do you need only go about the doing of it, not dissipate your energy talking about it. There is a hint in this advice.

It is also essential that you not waste your energy in the process of only researching and deciding what to do. It is a trap to be so caught up in overthinking and over evaluating how to do something that you end up not really doing anything except thinking about it, instead of accomplishing it. It is important to avoid this glamor of being busy.

Edison is quoted as saying,

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends, there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
      – Thomas A. Edison

Action is essential to manifesting. It is my experience that in the process of actually doing something, the “how-to” often is clarified. Therefore, I caution you on your quest for success to remember that, “not to decide is a decision,” a decision that can stand firmly in the way of your success.

Most of the time, that you decide and move forward in dynamic action is much more important than what you decide. It is easy for your fears to disguise themselves as thoughtful consideration, but they are really just the fear of making a mistake. Making mistakes is a part of life and most certainly a part of the creative process of achieving success. In business and in your personal life it is ok if you fail forward.

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
      – Theodore Roosevelt

Once you know what you wish to achieve, as the saying goes, “just do it.”

Be bold; be true to yourself and the purpose of your life. Dare to dream, dare to do and celebrate your success with gratitude. It is your life. You have the power to create and experience what you want. Shed your fears. Seize the moment, which is right here and right now.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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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 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 8-29-2019

 

Copyright © 2015-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

How Do You Measure Success Read More »

Mystery of Eternity – Magic of the Soul

The Mystery of Eternity – The Magic of the Soul

Read The Mystery of Eternity - The Magic of the Soul by Genevieve Gerard

There is no deeper conflict in the human experience than the profound knowledge that you are, on some level of your very essence, an eternal being.

Contrast that with the stark confrontation that we all know that we will experience a physical death.

This conflict is the seat of most fear. It is often unexpressed, yet it colors and controls many life decisions.

What happens at death is unknowable and unknown. This mystery permeates the desire to understand the meaning of life. This division of your dual existence as a child of God and a Son of Man is one of the great insights of what it means to be a human being. It is integral to the miracle of life. For you, accepting this duality may be an act of faith and as such requires no further understanding. For others, it is accepted as being unknowable and thus occupies very little thought or concern. Yet, whether with a conscious quest for understanding or a resignation that this is just an unsolvable dichotomy of life, this mystery can fuel a great deal of your experience of life.

It can come into a primary focus when in the human experience, we are faced with the death and loss of those we love. The pain of that loss may bring you to a longing for greater understanding.

Yet, what if I said that as you journey through your life there are a vast array of clues that reveal the deeper truth of this mystery? What if I said that the truth that you have always sensed and hoped and prayed was true?

What if you could finally understand how this mystery works and what it means in your relationships and decisions in life? Would that be of value to you? Would you be willing to take some time and make some effort to open your life to experience what is real and true?

Much of what I call the clues is subjective. You can experience the truth but not prove it scientifically. Although there is recent, from the field of quantum physics and noetic sciences, more validation that is scientific of what has been kept secret since the dawn of man. These secrets have been buried in the esoteric teachings of what is known as the Ageless Wisdom.

Questions about the eternal nature of life are dismissed as unknowable and relegated to being issues of faith. Yet, it seems as human beings we have the capacity to better understand the aspects of life that are revealed to us by the use of meditation as a bridge between the material world and the spiritual world. We can in the worlds of the ancient mantra, “be led from the darkness into Light, from the unreal to the real and from death to immortality.”

The Bible’s prolific writer St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians: 13 12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”   It is interesting that this statement is a part of his inspired teaching about the real nature of love, for it is Love that reveals the most about what is true in life. It is love that most reveals the nature of eternity. Ponder on this.

On a deep almost preconscious level we know, not with our minds but deep in our hearts the truth of the words, love never ends.”
      – Quote by Genevieve Gerard

When you love someone, there is a bond of Love that is a connection of Souls. That makes Love a gateway to experiencing your Soul. The nature of your Soul is Love. It is your Soul that connects you with God, whose nature is Love. When you touch your Soul, you experience a love that is unconditional and eternal.

The soul is birthless, eternal, imperishable, and timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed.
      – Bhagavad Gita

Your Soul is not only what connects you through Love to others and to the Divine; it is the dynamic part of your being that is eternal. It is in coming into relationship with your Soul that the mystery of eternal life is solved. It is by developing a relationship with your Soul that great wisdom and insight in your life is revealed. It is your Soul that is available to guide you to understand your purpose in life. Ponder deeply on these words!

Your Soul is much more than a vague concept. It is a source of dynamic power and deep Love that desires a relationship with the wholeness of your being, your personality, your mind, and your emotions. It is in the integration of these aspects of your human experience that a fullness of life, love, and real joy can be expressed. It is through your Soul that you are connected with God throughout your life.

We are told in the esoteric writings of the Ageless Wisdom, that when a human life is ready to incarnate, it is the Soul that draws together the atomic substance that will become the physical vehicle for the life. To do this it draws upon the one permanent atom that remains in a continuity of consciousness from previous life experiences. The Soul then merges it with a permanent atom that creates the emotional body with another permanent atom that becomes the mental body and finally with the permanent atom that forms the personality.

This phenomenon may explain why at birth, instead of a new life being a blank slate, as many believe, an astute observer will note that the personality nature of a baby, the way that they think and how they respond emotionally is already inherent in their being.

This mysterious role of the Soul in eternity opens our minds and our hearts to the unfathomable aspect of the mind of God and the nature of man as a being that is both material and Divine. Under its guidance, your human life is created and at the conclusion of your human life it is returned to and reunited with God in the Oneness of Spirit.

Ponder on this and consider what it reveals and explains in a way that resonates with you as truth.

Meditation, quiet reflection combined with the intention to open your conscious awareness to your Soul, not only empowers your life but also provides clarity and revelation that helps diminish the pain of loss that is so integral to the human experience when a loved one pass away. Touching the edge between the material and the eternal is just one of the blessings of meditation. It has been said in many spiritual circles, “you are a Soul having a human experience.”   That is much more powerful and exciting than the perspective that you are a human, having a spiritual experience. This little shift in your understanding can be significant.

Consider how this perspective is different from the thought that you are a material being striving for a spiritual experience. This shift in understanding, this expansion of your identity, opens your heart and your mind. It is the single simple step that can begin a journey to live less controlled by fear and more open to an active co-creative relationship with your Soul and ultimately with God.

This consciousness shift can create changes and greater empowerment in your life. It is a shift in identifying who and what you are. It is a portal to embracing and experiencing the Divine Love that is your birthright. Meditation is the practice that can open your mind and your heart while benefitting the health and wellbeing of your body. It is a way of integrating yourself into being all that you can be.

I Encourage You To Meditate

As you ponder the mystery of the eternal and the magic of the Soul, I invite and encourage you to incorporate the practice of meditation into your daily life. In the world, and in my work, there are wide varieties of meditations available. Many meditations, and most of my guided meditations that I have published, can be experienced in just 10-20 minutes. In many of my articles, I also provide mantra’s to ponder on and meditation techniques to experience.

I always suggest that to begin you “calm your mind, open your heart and invite the Light.”   Inviting and invoking the Presence of your Soul while quiet and receptive will yield amazing results.

Just know that there are many ways to meditate and none of them are wrong. An intention is important. A very simple meditation technique, which comes from the mindfulness community, focuses simply on awareness and breath by repeating the phrases “I am breathing in,” “I am aware that I am breathing in.”   Followed by noticing, “I am breathing out,” “I am aware that I am breathing out.”

Focusing on your breath, and observing your breath, are simple ways to enter the meditation experience. Setting aside quiet time in prayer after using words can also serve as an entrée to a meditation experience.

Try out different things. Guided meditations are often easier. One of the most challenging aspects of meditation is quieting your mind chatter, particularly the negative and self-destructive or fear elements of your mind chatter. Experiment; try different ways and different things. Find what works for you. Let your Soul guide you.

Once you have chosen a particular way to meditate, give it some consistency by setting aside 10-20 minutes daily to practice the meditation. Let your intuition and your Soul guide you.

Meditation is opening a door and if you are open, it will guide you in finding what you need from the experience. Peace of mind, emotional calm, and physical relaxation are some of the benefits of setting aside some time out of your material life for your spiritual evolution.

I also encourage journaling after a brief period of calming your mind and focusing on Love opening your heart energy, then recording your thoughts and impressions.

In my life meditation has been the tool that has enabled me to live a life of joy and spiritual relationship with the Divine and my fellow man. There is no greater gift that I can offer you than to provide you with the resources to connect with your own Soul and explore the mystery of eternity and the magic of your Soul.

To support you on your quest I have identified some other articles that may be of help to you and provided a link to one of my guided meditations that I feel would give you the experience of the gift of love and the magic of the Soul.

Namaste,

Genevieve

 

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P.S. You can always search my website for more information about the concepts you have seen in this post.

 

Last updated 10-14-2018

 

Copyright © 2015-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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Dare To Dream

Dare to Dream

Read Dare To Dream by Genevieve Gerard a Wisdom Wednesday blog

A key element of being successful is that you dare to dream.

Ultimately, you can only achieve what you have dared to dream.

Now is a good time to spend some conscious thought on what you want in your life. Then let your mind free as you dream the details.

Dreaming is an important part of creating success in your life because as Napoleon Hill wrote long ago,

Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve.

That makes dreaming not idle fantasy but an integral part of the creative process.

Imagining is a powerful tool in achieving. Imagination reveals things that you may just sense intuitively that are often integral to your success.

Dreaming and imagining open the consciousness to your Higher Mind and ultimately, your Higher Self, your Soul. Therefore, I encourage you to dare to dream and to dream in as much detail as you can.

As you do this, it is a good time to journal so that when you are dreaming, thoughts and impressions of how to create the life you desire, you can write the details as they emerge and have the ideas to develop consciously.

Dreaming and imagining, followed by conscious consideration of what actions help bring your dreams into manifestation is powerful. Napoleon Hill also said that, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

Achieving what you want in life is empowered by an integration of the forces of your desire and your intention. It involves planning and then putting your plans into action. When aligned with your life’s purpose you are not only manifesting your dreams, but you are also fulfilling your destiny. You have available to you, not only the power of your mind but, the wisdom and guidance of your Soul.

Success, when aligned with your Soul purpose, is spiritual work.
      – Genevieve Gerard

As you strive to bring your dreams into manifestation, you may notice thoughts, or encounter beliefs, that limit you or work against your success. It is in facing these challenges that the practice of meditation can be of great value. Meditation is a practice that belongs in the midst of life to help and support you in living a life of success and joy. It is not just for bringing calm to your mind and body. It can be an active force to help you grow into the full integration and the full glory of being both human and a spark of the Divine Plan of Evolution.

Meditation uses many techniques to help you live a conscious life. The more you are aligned with your Higher Self and are living with conscious attention and intention, the more successful and empowered you become. Meditation can influence your perspective in ways that bring greater joy and freedom from much of the negative self-talk that carries emotional pain and often result in dis-ease.

If you have followed my previous writings, or explored my meditation products, you will notice some very significant interwoven themes that are available to give you ways to live in joy. I hope these writings help you have a better life, a more joyful successful life.

Life is both an amazing gift from God and an amazing adventure in being and becoming all that you are meant to be. Being happy and successful are a part of the very best of what life can offer.

Meditation is Integral to Success

For me, meditation is integral to success on multiple levels. That is why I have created guided meditations to help you deal with a wide variety of life challenges. It has become a bit of an inside joke among my friends and family that when someone is expressing a life problem I often respond by saying “I have a meditation for that.” I think that is because I have used meditation in my personal journey to resolve most of the challenges limiting my success and happiness, a practice I continue to this day.

When I identify a difficult problem in my own life, or in the life of someone I am coaching or a friend, I ponder upon it and usually create a meditation to help bring greater perspective and understanding to how it can be approached differently, or reframed to eliminate the obstacle. Over the years, this has resulted in a wide range of meditations that help with all kinds of specific life challenges.

Involving my Higher Self, my Soul, in an active role has led to an integration of my body, emotions, mind and personality that incorporates the best of me, with the rest of me, resulting in a full and joyful life.

It is my dream and my life’s purpose to take the challenges, difficulties and even sorrows and pains and produce from them what can help others along their path. When I write and share my thoughts, my insights and solutions then it reframes my experiences into a service to help make life better for others. It is my Soul purpose and my joy to share with you the techniques and tools that come from my lifetime study of meditation and the Ageless Wisdom; to provide a practical application in life of the gifts of the spirit into integration to empower the experience of life.

Many obstacles along the journey can help or hinder your success. How you deal with these obstacles, the growth, and mastery you achieve, are all a part of conscious living and fulfilling your purpose in life. Using meditation to enlighten you and grant you the wisdom of your Higher Self, by learning to cope with life’s many challenges, is a way that you can direct and control your destiny.

Achieving success requires an integration of many aspects and elements. It is best achieved through the full integration of your whole body & being, for taking action is essential. Emotion and desire can fuel the fires of achievement, and your mind can be your most effective power as energy follows thought. When you add to this strong influence the dynamic guidance of your Higher Self, you have a winning synergy. Ponder on this.

Daring to Dream is a significant step in living the life you have envisioned. It is, however, only one step. Many have found their dreams shattered or never even started because of the limitation of letting your fears control your life. Learning to transmute, transcend and transform your fears so they are not a barrier to your success and happiness is a significant part of a spiritual path. Conquering your fears and overcoming your limiting beliefs is a task that requires discipline and vigilance. It is one of the best uses for meditation; it is one of the most transforming and empowering gifts that meditation can give.

Fundamental aspects of creating the life you envision include being successful in a variety of life’s trials. Some of these are basic. However, when you gain mastery over these challenges, life can be happier and healthier. Some may come easily to you; others may provide a greater challenge. It is in the integration and mastery of these life issues that growth and progress are demonstrated.

On my website, in my many articles, blogs and among my guided meditations, are a variety of spiritual tools that are available to help and empower you along your path. Dare to try something new.

To help you more easily find the articles and products from my body of work, type in any topic you are looking for into the Search Site bar on the top right-hand side of most of my web pages. It is my profound hope that these results will provide you with ways to move forward to accomplish your goals.

If you find a gap or have a need that I have not covered, I always welcome feedback and requests. I also work with a small number of individuals as a Coach by Zoom, Skype or telephone as well as personally. In this relationship, I can create custom prescriptive meditations to address your personal life challenges.

Results from doing a search on my website will direct you to articles, blogs and guided meditations, many which are offered for free, some are available for a modest fee. Most products are available on my website or through Amazon or iTunes.

It is my deepest hope that these articles and meditations will give you ways to move forward on your path to accomplish your goals. As always, I welcome your comments and your sharing with your friends and family. We are all on this adventure together, learning, growing, developing and becoming. Dare to Dream!

Namaste,

     Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 2-18-2023

 

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 ten years that are available on iTunes, Amazon, 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 © 2015-2023 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Dare To Dream Read More »

I Will Fear No Evil

I Will Fear No Evil

Meditation Insights of the 23rd Psalm

I Will Fear No Evil Serenity Sunday post by Genevieve Gerard

Recently I was meditating in the morning and asking for guidance on what I could share with you that could empower your spiritual journey at this time.

I found the 23rd Psalm running through my mind with a new understanding and insight of the meaning, intention and power of those familiar words.

I would like to share those impressions with you today.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Tradition tells us that David, who was a shepherd, before becoming a King, wrote this Psalm.

Whenever I read the Psalms or the story of the life of David who became a King I am struck by several things. One is David’s strong sense of the joy and relationship with his Soul and the other is the powerful relationship of communion and faith in God.

Those dynamics are expressed and exalted in the 23rd Psalm that has been used as a comfort to so many for so long.

If we consider the words thoughtfully, there is a deep and underlying meaning in the words of the 23rd Psalm that can be pondered on and of benefit to you in your life.

The first phrase:

The Lord is my shepherd

This is a powerful statement because it implies being in a guiding and protective relationship with God.

This relationship is one of a human being, “I”, being in a close communion with God “Thou”. It speaks to a willingness to be directed by the higher wisdom of God as he has a greater vision of the whole scope of your life. The surrender to this wisdom and this guidance is a part of what makes this Psalm so comforting. God as a shepherd has the big picture and will provide direction. You are not in this adventure of life alone; you are connected with the Divine who loves and cares for you.

I shall not want

This is a powerful affirmation, not only of faith but also in keeping with the Law of Attraction. This affirms that abundance is yours to the point that your needs and your wants are provided for.

He makes me lie down in green pastures

There is no greater gift to a sheep, who is guided by a shepherd, than a green pasture filled with more than enough to eat.

He leads me beside still waters

It is in the still waters that thirst can be quenched easily. I have often thought of the still waters as symbolic of the waters of life that quench not only physical thirst but a spiritual thirst for knowledge and love. In this stillness continues the affirmation that what you need will be provided for by the wisdom and guidance of the Lord as your shepherd.

He restores my Soul

This speaks to the dual relationship that you have with God. As a Soul you are a being who is not just a physical body with material needs, but a being who has a Soul that is united with God, in an integrated union, an “I-Thou” relationship.

You are not alone in your spiritual quest. You are together with the Divine. In the creation story of the Bible, we are told that God created man in His own image to be in a relationship. That part of our being that is in the image of God is our Soul. This is the Divine spark that resides in each of us.

This spark of Divine Light is the essence of your Soul. It is your essential Light that holds you in constant connection with the Divine. I believe this so much that in the very first affirmation of my “Awaken to Success” – affirmations for abundance collection, I wrote, “I am a spark of Divine Light, it is my nature to shine.” This remains one of my favorite affirmations and one I frequently use in my own life.

As a human being whose spiritual anatomy includes not only a physical body, but also emotions, a creative and conceiving mind, and also a Soul, you are a unique part of creation. It is this dual aspect of human nature that separates man from animal. It is through the connection of the Soul that the exalted co-creator relationship with God is demonstrated.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

To me the path of righteousness means right action and right relationship with others. This includes the principles of harmlessness, and right speech.

Your actions and behaviors as a child of God and as a member of his flock witness to others what it means when you are in right relationship with the Divine. Every step you take and every move you make can be a demonstration of this right relationship.

Even though I walk in the valley and the shadow of death,

We have all had difficult times in life when we were emotionally down or may have had problems with health that reminded us that we are mortal and “the shadow of death” is a reality in human life.

Yet, it is a great comfort in those darkest of times to know that even if death is overshadowing, God is with you. You are not alone on the path in the valley of life’s experiences. Your Soul is eternal, and your relationship with God is eternal. This is a great comfort and an incredible blessing.

I will fear no evil

Certainly conquering your fears is one of the most freeing aspects of living a spiritual and conscious life. In the immortal words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Fear is the most limiting force in most lives. It can keep you from fulfilling your life’s purpose and destroy the happiness and joy that is your birthright as a beloved Child of God. It is the work of evil in the world.

To free yourself from fear is the fruit of spiritual growth and evolution. It is an essential element in the journey to conscious living. It is the desired outcome of the discipline and practice of meditation.

Check out I Am Feeling Free Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

 

For Thou Art With Me

This speaks to the assurance that you are not alone in the challenges of life. God is always with you. You are supported and sustained by the Presence of God in your life. You can be comforted and reassured by that connection that is always available to you.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me

You may not understand how a shepherd uses his rod and his staff and how that provides comfort to the flock, but I have always thought that this refers to the way that God works to gently guide us in our life to the right path. This sense of being directed and guided in my life is always a comfort.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies

I have never seen the world in terms of enemies, so this phrase has never held that much meaning for me. I have always thought that this was a way that David expressed his sense of being protected by God while being blessed with abundance, a way of expressing his faith and assurance that his life was being directed.

Considering the political aspects of David’s life, even when he was a shepherd, this sense of enemies and God showing high favor to them by “preparing a table” is symbolic of God demonstrating his Love and Grace as he guides David to his destiny.

Thou anoints my head with oil

This is a reference to David being chosen as King. In olden times, there is a ritual in which the prophet anointing the head with oil meant God’s favor. For you, it might mean being promoted or offered a new position that is more aligned with your life’s purpose. This, in modern terms, is the demonstration of success.

My cup overflows

This is certainly an expression of great gratitude and affirmation of abundance. It is interesting that at the beginning of the Psalm is an affirmation of abundance and at the end a statement of appreciation for the abundance or success received.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life

This is both an insight of David’s deep relationship with God, one of both goodness and mercy, but is also a statement of faith.

And I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever

This statement also affirms the eternal nature of the relationship that David shares with God. A child of God dwells forever in the house of his Father. This speaks to a commitment that spans time.

A Psalm is more an affirmation than a prayer. In saying this Psalm, you are expressing and affirming a deep relationship with God. This Psalm is one of the most popular because there is comfort in affirming the surrender to God and support of God as a guiding force in your life.

I invite you to fear no evil and enjoy the peace and comfort that this kind of relationship with God brings into your life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

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Last updated 2-4-2018

 

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