Author name: Genevieve Gerard

Breath of Life

Breath of Life

One Life, One Love, One Breath

We are all One by Genevieve Gerard

Many teachers of the Spiritual Path teach about Oneness.

In our world of rugged individualism and self-focus this concept of Oneness is foreign and can be a little threatening.

After all, if we are truly all one, if we truly believe that and begin to live that, we would have to change our behavior to others.

Within this paradigm of thought we would not only be compelled to follow the Golden Rule “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” we would realize that in the Oneness that unites us, harming another causes us harm.

This is a vast and profound concept that as we ponder on it, would by logical conclusion transform all our relationships into right human relationships. It would lead us to the conclusion that Arjuna reached on the battlefield as told in the Bhagavad Gita “I can no longer war against myself.” If by some miracle of awareness and enlightenment every human being on earth began to accept and live this concept, the Golden Age of Peace and Prosperity prophets predict would be immediately ushered in, not just for 1,000 years, but forever.

Greed, war, revenge, selfishness, and forces that move so much of our current reality would become unthinkable. Watching anyone, anywhere in the world die of hunger, a virus pandemic or the diseases of contaminated water would be too painful to bear.

If we grasped the truth of Oneness of which the sages and wise men expound, we would realize that not only are we our brother’s keeper but that by helping our brother we are helping ourselves.
      – Genevieve Gerard

This concept is so vast, so outside of our daily experience, that it is easy to dismiss. We think, “How can we be One since I am clearly me and you are clearly you?” It is easy to reject these thoughts, even among spiritually motivated and inclined people. We quickly ascribe these insights to Holy Men or Saints knowing that to live and embody such a truth would bring so much change and transformation to the world that it is beyond our imagination, beyond our ability to even conceptualize.

Recently, while I meditated with some friends on the issues of Goodwill and the Will to Good, embodied in the past Olympic Games, an image came to me that in some small way demonstrates this principle of unity, of oneness. It was a positive image I called One Breath, One Life.

I invite you to experience this image as you just breathe. To experience this, you must join with your thoughts and your imagination the possibility of the oneness of our being linked with all of life on this planet. That link is through the life-yielding breath. Something we can take for granted.

Recently, while I meditated, an image (and meditation) came to me that demonstrates the principle of unity, of oneness. It was a positive image I called One Breath, One Life…

Breathing Oneness Meditation

As you sit and breathe (no more is required of you than that), realize that the air you breathe is the same air that is available to every living being on earth, purified every minute by plants and trees.

As the air enters your lungs, it infuses your blood, your very life force. The molecules, the atoms the very essence of that breath circulates through you, infuses you, sustains you.

When you exhale, those atoms, those molecules are released back into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide you release is then transformed by plants, maybe as far away as the Amazon or some rainforest. The atoms and molecules that have nourished and sustained you travel on the currents of air to faraway peoples and foreign cultures.

This air, these very atoms, and molecules, are available to other life forms, the plant life of the planet and the animals of the planet. That which has touched you and sustained your life is available to touch them and sustain their life.

As you just sit and breathe in and exhale naturally and effortlessly in this small way we can become aware of the unity of life that exists on this unconscious, pre-conscious level.

Have gratitude and give thanks for the miracle of purified breath and oneness.

 

               – GG

 

As I realized this, pondered on this and imagined this I was filled with a sense of oneness, a sense of connectedness to life that filled me with great peace and with great joy. This is a simple way we can touch this concept through our mind, through our intention, through our heart. If you choose to try this exercise while you are sitting and breathing, make sure you “Calm your Mind, Open your Heart and Invite the Light.”

Pay attention to any thoughts and impressions that may come from your Soul (your Higher Self) and realize that ‘Energy Follows Thought.’ Ponder on this! Your actions or lack of actions can affect others.

In this simple experience you have touched on the unity of life through breath, the oneness of all of life for just these brief moments of time, right here, 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 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 5/20/2020

 

Copyright © 2012-2020 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

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Body and Soul

Body and Soul

-Your Soul as your Teacher

Read Body & Soul article by Genevieve Gerard

This article is part of my ongoing series on the Soul.

Within each of us lies wisdom, an awareness of truth and more important knowledge of what direction we need to travel in our life to grow, to learn and to develop into who we truly are and what we can become, that is our Soul.

Our Soul is an integral part of our Self, but it is not usually that which most readily springs to our conscious mind when we ponder on and reflect upon ourselves. It remains the most profound and in many ways useful part of what for better words we may call our Spiritual Anatomy.

Our Spiritual Anatomy is usually not a part of our everyday consciousness because when we think of ourselves we most often think of our personality. Indeed, our personality is the vehicle that does the bulk of the “heavy lifting” as we move and function in the world of men. Indeed, our personality is usually a most significant part of our being as we live and move and have our being in any given incarnation.

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
            – Mahatma Gandhi

The ancient wisdom tells us that our being is composed of a variety of vehicles that come together to form the fullness of life. These parts of ourselves are often referred to as bodies, and it is in the interplay and integration of these diverse parts of ourselves that we learn to live and express the fullness of our human nature. It is through this interplay, this integration that we learn that we grow, that we come into our full awareness and learn to express the fullness of what it means to be a human being.

It is through the integration of our physical body, our emotional body and our mental body that our personality fully develops and grows. But the adventure of becoming does not stop there. As we increase our awareness and our integration of Self the process of integration grows and expands as we begin to incorporate the fullness of our nature, that of our spiritual nature or our Soul.

It is through the emerging awareness of our Soul that we begin to understand and come to the joy of what it means to be a human being. It is through the “Touch of the Soul” that we begin to understand what a myriad of spiritual paths have taught throughout the ages, that as human beings we are a spark of the Divine. It is through becoming aware of our Soul that we can begin to manifest the fullness of this miracle we call life.

To start to understand your Soul as an integral part of yourself and begin to connect with your Soul as a part of your full being and your true nature, is the beginning of wisdom and the portal to real joy.”
            – Genevieve Gerard

This part of your Self, your Soul, contains within you a jewel of the greatest value we can find in life. The ancients have long referred to it as “the jewel of the lotus.”

What is wonderful and glorious is that this jewel of great value is within you and available to you. It is yours to use and come to know. It is yours to call upon for the wisdom it possesses. It is yours to enjoy and express. It is yours as a teacher, as a guide and as a source of love, joy, and peace, the “peace that passes all understanding.”

It is through meditation that this part of your being becomes accessible to your mind, to your heart and your personality. This quest to learn to touch your Soul and to incorporate the fullness of your Soul ultimately into the fullness of your being is a journey that has been undertaken by wise men and sages throughout time and is available to reach by everyone.

I invite you to embark upon this journey of meditation to awareness, to wisdom to joy through meditation. As the ancient Chinese saying expresses “every great journey begins with a single step.” As you embark upon this step be assured that your Soul awaits your intention to know yourself to the fullness of your being with such a deep and abiding joy, and such a powerful and profound love, that the best in life is yet to come.

 

Namaste,

   Genevieve Gerard

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.

 

Copyright © 2012-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Body and Soul Read More »

Independence Day

U.S. Independence Day

4th of July

U.S. Declaration of Independence signing

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America developed the principles of our great country as a part of an experiment in consciousness; they supported and encouraged an energetic movement in consciousness referred to by esoteric and wisdom practitioners as the “overall plan of evolution.”

Prior to Thomas Jefferson penning the immortal words “We hold these truths to be self-evident”, the truths espoused in the Declaration of Independence were anything but self-evident in the history of mankind in governance.  Most of our Founding Fathers were influenced by the thoughts and writing of what is known in the development of thought and consciousness as “The Age of Enlightenment.”

Often I have pondered on the convergence that occurred in the development of mankind that brought into incarnation such an amazing group of thinkers who emerged at the time of the American Revolution.  This movement, forward in consciousness, was spearheaded by not only one great thinker or philosopher but rather a group of like-minded men who were not only brilliant but who understood the lessons of the history of human development and the foibles of individuals.  Their willingness to incorporate the fragility of the individual and to understand the dangers of too much power in the hands of too few is seen throughout their dialog and debates.

From the wit and the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin to the poetic idealism of Thomas Jefferson and the profound pondering and thinking of John Adams these were men who were aware of the way the world worked and they worked to build in safeguards to protect this amazing republic they were crafting.  They knew well the dangers of greed and human nature.  As students of history they worked tirelessly to create a structure of government that was wise and compassionate.  Wherever possible they tried to build in safeguards, checks, and balances.

They knew that this Republic they were forming was unprecedented in the long history of humanity.  They knew the importance of these principles, these truths that they were willing to risk their lives to bring into being.  They understood that a government contained would grant unprecedented potential to future generations.

History tells us these men were willing to debate and negotiate tirelessly often far from the comfort and support of their families and loved ones until they had, through dialog and debate, chosen just the right word.

They understood the power in a word and the power of intention and the ways that thoughts have power.  They worked on and on, finding points of compromise that did not compromise their principles.  They constantly held themselves to a higher standard realizing this work in which they were engaged, this sacred task of providing governance, took sacrifice and honor, and they held themselves to that standard.

They certainly did not always agree, but they worked together until they found a point of agreement that did not violate their beliefs for the sake of expediency.  They examined the decisions that they made in the light of an understanding that the best of intentions could have unintended consequences that could be disastrous to the life and integrity of what they were creating.

If we read the letters of the times we see the struggles of these men to work together in spite of vast differences in backgrounds, economy, and values.  One theme that emerges in their writings as a constant value was their belief in the importance of honor and a sacred duty to those they gathered to represent in the present and as best they could project the implications for the future.

They knew this experiment needed organic growth and the ability to evolve and change along with the evolution and change of the citizens.  They did not always agree.  In fact, they often disagreed on not only what to do or how to do it, but even why it should even be done.  But they knew it was important to find that place of agreement, that place of unity and unification for the common good.  In reading their stories and struggles we are given a guide for our modern times.

They knew the people were capricious and selfish.  By entrusting the decisions of the future into the hands of various layers of representation and decision making they tried to develop a structure and a system that would balance out the diverse cries of the crowd.  They built in not only a series of checks and balances in the dual representation process but in the balance of powers between the branches of the government.  They built in a process that would slow the changes that could be made to the Constitution in a way that allowed the time to cool men’s passions and required thoughtful consideration of the issues at hand.

As evidenced by the famous “remember the ladies” exchange of letters between Abigail and John Adams (click here for the “remember the ladies” letters), they knew they could only move forward at a pace that was congruent with the consciousness of the times.

They warned and foresaw many dangers on that day hundreds of years ago when they risked their lives to pen their names on the Declaration of Independence.  They knew the risk.  Benjamin Franklin’s statement on that day right before they signed summed it all up, “Come now gentlemen, we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Come now gentlemen, we must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
   – Benjamin Franklin

They knew that the Republic they were forming would take vigilance to maintain as evidenced by the words of Benjamin Franklin after the signing of the Declaration of Independence; he was reportedly asked by a lady, “well doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”  He famously replied, “a republic madam, if you can keep it.”

The responsibility of keeping a Republic vital and moral was also reflected in the words of Thomas Jefferson when he wrote “Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the surest way to destruction.”

Our Fore Fathers knew that what they were building was only a framework for Freedom.  The Bill of Rights was still to come after the hard work of negotiating the Declaration of Independence, the work we celebrate today was the hard negotiation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Throughout this process of compromise reaching common ground with representatives of diverse belief and different cultures they worked for compromise without compromising their deepest beliefs, and their “sacred honor”.

Today, and in the days to come, as we ponder this gift they gave us, let us take time out to be grateful for the sacrifices they made to create this great experiment in governance that has forever changed what humanity requires of its leaders.  They provide an example that I hope is a renewed commitment to every representative in Congress, to every representative in Senate and to every Judge in every office of the nation, and every layer of the executives of our government from the White House to Main Street in the smallest town.  You have been given a sacred honor, a sacred responsibility that is not to be dismissed for ease or expediency.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

 

P.S. Are you a veteran (military personnel) or know a veteran, send them this link for our Independence Day bonus week giveaway “I’m Free MP3 Veterans Bundle.”

 

Last updated 7-3-2018

 

Copyright © 2012-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul

 

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Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings

Be blessed and grateful by reading Genevieve Gerard's blog on Counting Your Blessings

In an old movie with Bing Crosby he sings a song in which the words give sage advice about falling to sleep.  They are “When you’re worried and cannot sleep just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.”

Counting your blessings, acknowledging and appreciating all that you already have in your life is a powerful technique that works not only as an antidote to worry but also as a way to let yourself relax into the peace and release of sleep.

When you’re worried and cannot sleep just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.       – Bing Crosby

By focusing your attention on your blessings, gratitude and appreciation naturally emerge.  By noticing what is right in your life instead of worrying about what could go wrong in your life you are not only shifting your energy in ways that can help you relax and ease yourself into sleep, but you are also applying the principles of “energy follows thought” that in are in keeping with the Law of Abundance as discussed elsewhere on my site and in the book by Esther and Jerry Hicks “Ask and It Shall Be Given.”

By doing this you are energetically drawing to yourself, more of the blessings you appreciate and can be grateful for.  As you acknowledge and appreciate the many blessings you have been given, you are given more.  Gratitude and appreciation act as a magnet to attract that which you enjoy and desire.

To turn the valuable time before you fade into sleep to an expression of gratitude and magnet for the increase of what you most enjoy and appreciate is a powerful technique.  The act of appreciation increases your sense of both joy and wellbeing.  It is a way to end the day well.

Focusing upon the positive by counting your blessings, or using positive affirmations in the fertile time before you fall asleep is an invitation to both your subconscious mind and your preconscious mind to use your dreams as a way to show you insights, solutions and new creative ideas.
      ~ Genevieve Gerard

The use of positive affirmations prior to falling asleep is a technique I recommend in my audio instruction “How to Use Affirmations Effectively” which is available as one track of my Awaken To Success or Soaring To Success Affirmations For Abundance CDs or for free as a MP3 download on my website when you join our community at https://genevievegerard.com/keep-in-touch.  So if you want to unleash the potential in your supra conscious mind check this out.

Read Count Your Blessings by Genevieve Gerard

Harnessing the power of your mind in the fertile period before you sleep unlocks your potential in a different way.  Counting your blessings, appreciating what is good in your life, focusing on the positive, what you have now instead of worrying about what you fear or might need in the future, creates a space for more blessings to come to you.  It opens the door for the free flow of abundance to come to you without effort.

It also calms your mind and emotions and helps your body relax.  It seems a good way to end the day and a good way to enter into sleep.  When you end your day affirming your blessings, you are positive, hopeful and happier.

This simple little technique works on so many subtle energetic levels that need not be explained or explored in this blog.  If you wish more information on how this works, or why this works I have multiple posts on how “Energy Follows Thought.” Also “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen is one of many books that others have written on these dramatic life changing principles.  To receive a complimentary free Adobe Acrobat pdf copy of “As a Man Thinketh” email us at CustomerCare (at) GenevieveGerard.com.

Of course for any truth to be important it must be your truth, so I recommend that you give this little technique of counting your blessings before you fall asleep a try.  Try it and then observe how your life is impacted.  This is simple and actually easy.  As you think of your blessings before sleep you might find your list of blessings multiplying and your awareness of how blessed you really are growing, not only in your time before sleep but throughout the following day and throughout your life.

Gratitude feels so good because it is the state of mind closest to your natural state in which you were born to live.       ~ Abraham-Hicks

Sweet Dreams and may your blessings continue to multiply.

 

With blessings and gratitude,

Genevieve

 

P.S. In order to reduce spam we have substituted “@” in the email address above with (at) on this post.  An email shown as Customer Care (at) MyWebSite.com would actually be [email protected] when you email us.

 

Last Updated 3-10-2017

 

Copyright © 2012-2017 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC, All Rights Reserved.

 

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Happy Fathers Day 2012

Happy Father's Day 2012

Happy Father’s Day

Each year on Fathers Day in June we spend one day to honor and thank our Fathers.  As we set aside this day we consider and appreciate all that our fathers have done for us over our lifetime.  Many things dads have done go without notice and remark as we are children.  As we are adults the gifts they provided, even just providing for us, take on a different value and weight. 

So much of how fathers give to and support their children is not noticed and underappreciated that it is well that once a year we take the time to express our gratitude to our fathers.

Whether it is to say thank you to your father or thank you to the father of your children, it is important to appreciate and understand that fathering in our modern times present a myriad of challenges in today’s world. 

Roles and responsibilities have constantly shifted with the advent of television and movies and changes in the roles and expectations of the modern woman.

Men, especially in their role as fathers are facing transitions in how they parent and what is expected of them as husbands.  Societal changes and shifting responsibilities have made our immediate past a difficult time to live up to the image of fatherhood.

Appreciation expressed on this day set aside to honor fathers is important to help smooth the changes society is making in the roles and relationship of men and women in their ever-changing roles as parents and mates.”  
   – Genevieve Gerard

So, to all fathers everywhere on this day I say thank you.  Thank you for shepherding a new generation of men in your sons and guiding a new generation of daughters.  We live in interesting times, once considered in ancient China a curse.  What has been required of you at this juncture of history has been without precedence in the world.  Through your work and efforts new ways are being forged.  A new world is emerging. 

You have created new ways to be and new ways to fulfill your responsibilities.  It has been difficult but you persevered and remained steadfast to the new consciousness that is emerging in the world.

Thank you and Happy Father’s Day.

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It Is What It Is

It is What It Is

It Is What It Is

Often when events occur in our life we engage in an intellectual and emotional process of trying to determine whether what is happening is good or bad. Although a habitual response to evaluating our life, this is really a waste of our energy. The reality is that “It Just Is”. Because it is the way things are now, does not mean that it is the way things will always be, but right now, whatever is, it is what it is.

The practice of judging what is or evaluating what is, serves no real purpose in our life.

Visualizing the path from what is happening now to what we desire to see unfold is a better use of our efforts. — Genevieve Gerard

As we have explored in a prior article – Energy Follows Thought and other Energy Follows Thought related posts using the powerful resource of your mind to reinforce that which we determine to be negative just adds power and substance to negativity.

Therefore, acknowledge ‘what is’ as a powerful tool for letting it be in the now, in the moment and free the power of your mind to create with intention what you wish to see different in your life.

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Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day 2012


Memorial Day 2012

A Day of Remembrance,
A Day of Gratitude


Once each year at the end of May we set aside the time to ponder and remember those who over the history of our country were willing to sacrifice their lives for others, for us, that we might live a life of freedom and opportunity.

Let us take some time to consider deeply the blessings we have in our country and express our appreciation for those who have both stood for and died for the truths our Founding Fathers considered to be self-evident rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

As we dash about to the parties and sales that have become the traditions of this day let us turn our thoughts to honor and celebrate what is good in our country.

We have so much for which to be grateful, so many things we take for granted that it is appropriate to express our appreciation in our hearts, in our minds and with our words to all who have given there all that we might be here right now enjoying this moment of holiday and celebration with family and friends.

If you serve(d) our country I wish to Thank You, Bless You
and I Wish You a Life of Joy and Fulfillment of All Your Desires
and Goals.” – Genevieve Gerard

We remember!

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Friends On Facebook

Facebook Like vs Dislike

Friends On Facebook

An Affirmation of our Oneness



Today I had a somewhat unusual experience on Facebook. I added 6 “friends” on Facebook who were actually real life friends who were well known to me. This led me to thinking about the very popular phenomena of Facebook.

It is significant to reflect upon Facebook today, because of the long awaited IPO release of Facebook stock. In the years since its inception Facebook has become an essential part of any one whose work involves reaching out with a message or teaching.

I must admit, I do not really understand how to use it effectively to advance my work. But I do use it. One of the things I have most enjoyed about Facebook is the opportunity to follow the lives, both the joys and the sorrows of Facebook “friends”.

I love that friends can request prayers for healing for themselves and those they love and spontaneously a network of healing light is created from everywhere around the country. This is for me one of the most enjoyable parts of Facebook that I can join with the group of men and woman of Goodwill to help and support others.

The use of Facebook to share positive and inspiring messages is also powerful and inspiring. Of course there are those who use Facebook for political or at times demeaning and destructive purposes, but at least on my news feed that is a small number of posts compared to the many motivational and uplifting posts I receive every day.

Following friends on Facebook also helps form energetic supports for those I may have met only once or twice, or perhaps never meet at all but are linked to others I know and love.

This network of love and support affirms our unity with one another and helps us recognize our common human experiences. We are all more alike than different.

Our connection to one another energetically works through the principle of energy following thought (a subject on which I write a great deal). It also gives us the network through which our support, encouragement and love can flow.

Most of all by this amazing technology we can track the life experiences of those we previously would have lost from our lives as people move around the planet. People can remain a part of our lives without the regular communication of the telephone. We discover adventures as well as can celebrate accomplishment of those outside of our intimate circle of friends.

This phenomena is a reminder that we are one people, one world, One. This connection that goes across our country and across our oceans is a powerful manifestation of our community and our connection through the human experience of life.

To that end I say Namaste to all of my friends both physical and Facebook friends.

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Mother’s Day 2012

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day 2012

The second Sunday in May is designated as Mother’s Day. It is a time to show appreciation and express our gratitude to our Mothers. Remember that the love a Mother demonstrates is special. The unconditional nature of a mother’s love serves as a reflection of Divine love.

Women often find that becoming a Mother changes them in ways much deeper and more profound than they had ever expected. Becoming a Mother is something, which once done cannot be changed for as long as you’re alive. All other roles can change in life, but being a Mother cannot be changed even long after your children have grown and moved into their adult life.

The bond that is forged between a mother and child is unique in our human experience. It is like no other relationship. So as this Mother’s Day approaches and unfolds let us take the time to reflect and remember with appreciation all of the unnamed blessings your Mother has bestowed upon your life. And if your Mother is still with you take the time and this opportunity to express your love and your gratitude to your Mother. It is for this that this day is set aside.

If for just 10 minutes you sit and ponder on what you can appreciate about your Mother, you may find your gratitude and love growing. Let yourself remember the little things that did not seem important at the time that can now be revealed as a blessing and benefit to who you have become, that were provided for you with love by your Mother as you grew into becoming the person you are today.

And if in this recollection you find sorrows that need healing, take this time to forgive and focus on the love and positive blessings that you received. As you express your appreciation and gratitude you will find an increase in understanding and compassion for this woman, your Mother. And if your Mother is still with you take this day to tell her how much your appreciate her. Express your love and your gratitude; it is what Mother’s Day is for.

Mother’s Day Quote

M-O-T-H-E-R
“M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold;
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

   – Howard Johnson

And Mothers, take this time to consider and appreciate your children for the love and the lessons of growth they have brought into your life. Let the experience of Mother and Child fill your life in a way nothing else can. Bathe in the golden warmth of these feelings and enjoy and appreciate them as the special experience of life that they are.

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Love Yourself

Learning To Love Yourself

 — Self-Love from the well that is always full

Love Yourself with open arms by Genevieve Gerard

This post is a part of my ongoing series on Love.

Many paths of spiritual teachings and self-help books speak of the importance of loving ourselves.

It is a common psychological truth that most people are much harder on themselves than they are of others.

Indeed, loving ourselves is often described as a prerequisite for learning to love others.

Although many teachers instruct us to love ourselves and stress the importance of learning to do this, to those who carry within them the pain of guilt, self-recrimination, self-doubt, and lack of self-esteem, this may seem to be an impossible task.

Love who you are, embrace who you are. Love yourself. When you love yourself, people can kind of pick up on that: they can see confidence, they can see self-esteem, and naturally, people gravitate towards you.
    – Lilly Singh

Three Key Elements of Learning To Love Yourself

There are three key elements of learning to love yourself that are often left untouched and unexpressed that are of paramount importance.

Be Gentle With Yourself

One is to be gentle with yourself. Look over your life, your weaknesses and failures with compassion. You are not perfect and more important you are not expected or needed to be perfect to love yourself.

Anyone who told you that you need to be perfect to receive love did not know how to love and set you up to fail. Love does not require perfection. Love is available to hold you, to nurture you, and heal you exactly the way you are.

Forgive Yourself

Two is to forgive yourself. Of course, you have made mistakes in your life. That is a part of the human experience. It is how we learn and how we grow.

Past mistakes have nothing to do with the present. They are in the past. You need not carry them into the present.

As you forgive yourself you can tuck them neatly into the past where they belong. Let whatever residuals of self-blame and guilt you may have been clinging to go. They no longer serve you and have no place in your present life.

Look to the Source of Love

Third is to look to the source of love that is a bottomless well that is always filled to overflowing (your Soul.) It is through touching your Soul and bringing forth the love that is always there for you into your consciousness, into your being, that you are flooded with love and filled with resounding joy.

You have within you a Source of self-love that when you become aware of it is unconditional and profound because it understands all of the motives and misunderstanding that created the mistakes or life lessons you have Learned.

Your Soul has been with you since the beginning of time. It knows you completely and accepts and loves you without condition. It is available for you to access whenever you call upon it, whenever you need it.

Your Soul needs nothing from you, expects nothing from you and requires nothing from you and it rejoices in the opportunity to fill you with the love it bears for you, to fill you with the resounding joy that spontaneously arises from the touch of the Soul.
   – Genevieve Gerard

From the consciousness of your Soul awareness, forgiveness, Grace, and compassion are available to you. Part of demonstrating that you have learned a lesson in life is letting that lesson be in your past and then, through self-forgiveness and compassion letting it go. Your future is not determined by a past mistake. Your future lies before you unwritten and unformed. It is filled with new possibilities and potential you have not yet had available.

How To Connect

Meditation techniques, visualization, and mantra’s are all available to help you reach for contact with your Soul. This union of Soul and Personality, this oneness with your Source of self-love is the natural state of your being, even if you have never attempted to reach that source before this very moment of time.

In reaching out to touch your Soul you need only be open to receiving the wellspring of Love and Joy that is there to give you all the love your heart can hold, all the joy you have ever imagined.

To be receptive to the experience of the love and the joy of consciously connecting with your Soul, here is a simple meditation to help and support you.

Soul Contact Meditation

If you are ready to open yourself to this possibility, experience this brief Soul contact meditation visualization:

Calm your mind, open your heart, invite the Light.

Sit quietly, open and expectantly and focus your attention on your breath. Observe the natural rising and falling of your breath as you take from life exactly what you need and let go of exactly what no longer serves you. Sit up with your spine aligned. As you breathe let yourself calm your mind and let your attention focus on being right here, right now, totally present in this moment of time.

Be here NOW and open yourself to being aware of your Soul.

Form the intention to touch your Soul, and allow yourself to be open and ready to receive all the love that resides for you in your Soul.

Now visualize or imagine a radiant point of Light about 3 feet above your head. Identify that Light with the Light of your Soul. At the top of your head visualize (or imagine) a fully opened lotus flower. From the radiant point of Light above your head see a golden Light descending, like the Sun nurturing a flower.

Bring that Golden light down into the top of your head and allow it to gently flow down to your heart. Let your heart fill with just the right amount of the Light of your Soul and the Love of your Soul.

Remain open and receptive for as long as feels comfortable to you. Let the love of your Soul for you wash over you. You may be filled with resounding joy or deep profound peace. Whatever you experience is there for you, freely, whenever you want to experience this union of yourself, with yourself.

When you have received from this connection all that you wish or need, return your attention to your breath, noticing the natural rise and fall of the breath and become aware of the world around you.

As you open your eyes and prepare to return to the call of the world, you may notice that you are filled with a love, a joy and a peace that passes understanding. Take that with you out into the world and give that to the world in gratitude for the blessing you have received from the Touch of your Soul.

 

               – GG

 

By taking this brief time to consciously connect with the Love, the power, and the wisdom of your Soul you are declaring your willingness and intention to be and become all that you are as a human being. You are opening to not only being who and what you are as a human being, but a unique blend of a material human being and a Spark of Divine Light that is the hope of humanity.

As a blended being of Soul and substance you can love and express yourself as the imperfect being of humanity, a being that moves through life learning and growing through all of life’s adventure.

As you learn to love yourself you are exploring and manifesting the purpose of life which is demonstrated by learning how to love, how to forgive, and how to merge what is eternal and empowered, with what is material and temporal. Learning to Love is the most important part of life, and learning to love yourself is an integral part of that process.

 

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

 

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Last updated 7-15-2019

 

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 © 2012-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Love Yourself Read More »

Earth Day – Green Day

Earth Day – Green Day

Read Earth Day - Green Day blog post by Genevieve Gerard

There was a time, in the annals of time, when every man, every woman, and every child thought of the Earth as Mother.

She was called “Mother Earth” and mankind was her children. They nourished and cared for her, and through her benevolence, all they needed was provided. Our ancestors lived both on the land and off the land and understood the importance of preserving the balance of resources, taking from the earth only what was needed and taking it only as it was needed.

As we moved away from the land to the cities this close symbiotic relationship lost its relevance to people. Our sense of ourselves as a part of the earth, coming from the earth, and returning to the earth faded in our consciousness. The industrial revolution and the greed and disregard of many industries brought us to abuses of our planet unimaginable throughout the history of man. Species, once abundant began to slowly disappear. Voices from the wilderness of science began to issue dire warnings of the dangers of ignoring the many blessings of “Mother Earth” and abusing the gifts so freely and richly shared with her children.

Carelessly, selfishly, starting from the industrial revolution up to the second half of the twentieth-century man used the vast resources of the earth thinking only of the fastest way or cheapest way to get what we wanted or needed. Earth was no longer seen as the benevolent Mother, but as a resource to be commanded by our ever exploding need to consume. There was no thought to the harm it was creating. Carelessness, profit, and greed were sufficient to bring us to a tipping point. The voices crying out warnings finally began to be heard.

Since spring of 1970, people began to look at different ways our needs could be met. Recycling programs, carbon footprints, green industries have swept across the planet in a unified desire to fulfill our wants and needs in ways more in keeping with the principles of harmlessness.

What is most exciting about the vast education and awareness that Earth Day symbolizes is the profound understanding of people across all nations of our need to come together in a human family that transcends borders in our unity.”
      – Genevieve Gerard

Our need to work together for one unified purpose and one unified goal has galvanized us in the common protection of our Mother, the Earth.

Read Earth Day-Green Day Wisdom Wednesday blog by Genevieve Gerard

Earth Day as an international observance and international purpose, with an international intention, affirms our oneness, our unity and our common good. All around the world on Earth Day celebrations that unite our human family, children of mother Earth will gain strength and power, and create the united thought forms of healing for the planet; new, healthier and better ways to meet the needs of people with greater attention to harmlessness.

This power of unified intention and unified purpose brings us closer together every day and helps us heal this beautiful planet so it can better sustain life and opportunity for all who dwell here.

 

So please remember: Earth Day isn’t a one day event, it’s an every day event.

 

Let’s come together and be encouraged and empowered to take an active part at work and home, through using allocated receptacles for recyclable waste, and being mindful to better reuse, donate and create, rather than waste in the spirit of a greener planet.

If you have ideas on how we can strengthen being green, or would like to share how you made a difference on Earth Day, please reply to this post.

Earth Day is 4/22/… Each of us can make a difference!

Earth Day Trivia

(source Earth Day official website, justalist.blogspot.com, wikipedia.com and google.com)

Here are some interesting facts on the impact we have made already.

On the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, take a look at how the celebration—and the planet—have changed.

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, was the brainchild of the late Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson and was celebrated by participants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform.

Here’s a look back at our Earth Day roots.

20 Million: Number of people who celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970

200 Million: Number of people who celebrated Earth Day in 1990

500 Million: Number of people who celebrated Earth Day in 2000

192: Number of countries worldwide that celebrate a designated Earth Day (was 175 in 2016)

3.7 Billion: World population in 1970

6.8 Billion: World population in 2010

7.8 Billion: World population in April 2020

225,000: Number of people Earth Day Network brought to the National Mall in 2010 for a Climate Rally

2,688,209,868: Environmental service actions toward the goal of A Billion Acts of Green®

1,590,000,000: Number of Google hits for Earth Day

12,180,000,000: Number of Google hits for Green Day

Google has celebrated Earth day with many animated Doodle’s on its home page.

Earth Day 2015 included a cleanup of the Great Wall of China, beach-litter removal in Lebanon and an attempt to protect 25,000 acres of rain forest in Indonesia.

What is the Earth Day 2020 theme?

Despite that amazing success and decades of environmental progress, we find ourselves facing an even more dire, almost existential, set of global environmental challenges, from loss of biodiversity to climate change to plastic pollution, that call for action at all levels of government. – Denis Hayes, Earth Day Network’s Board Chair Emeritus

The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. The enormous challenges – but also the vast opportunities – of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary year. At the end of 2020, nations will be expected to increase their national commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, so the time is now for citizens to call for greater global ambition to tackle our climate crisis.

Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable. Unless every country in the world steps up – and steps up with urgency and ambition – we are consigning current and future generations to a dangerous future.

Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day. It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.

Earth Day Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Earth Day Meditation

To celebrate Earth Day, take a meditation pause to tune into the loving and abundant Presence of Mother Earth, who is often known as Gaia. She is a part of the Divine Mother, the Divine Feminine, and a part of the Creator nature of God.

Calm your mind, open your heart and invite the Light as you invoke the Presence of Mother Earth.

Take a deep breath, filling your lungs with air, which is always abundantly available to you to satisfy your need in exactly the measure of your need.

Appreciate the miracle that what you need is freely available without effort or toil, a generous blessing from Mother Earth to provide for life spontaneously without restrictions.   Give thanks for this blessing.

Then consider all of the amazing beauty that surrounds you that is teeming with life. Appreciate and enjoy the vast array and diversity that fills this world. Take this moment to express your gratitude for the miracle of life that has been so generously granted to you.

Pause and for the next three minutes think of as many wonderful and amazing things there are here on earth that you can appreciate. Then give thanks to the creator and earth mother for this myriad of blessings and miracles that are so unreservedly available.

To honor earth day, open your mind and your intuition to receive from your Higher Self any ideas and impression of how you can serve this world and your fellow man to help maintain and sustain these many blessings that have been provided so freely to provide for your needs in life.

This gift of life has been generously given to you. Celebrate that gift and show your gratitude in the little ways that you can help.

 

Walk gently on the earth. Be conscious and considerate. Even little efforts can have positive results. This earth is your home. Honor it and cherish it.

Namaste,

   Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that You Do!

 

P.S. QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 2,195 times. Please share it with friends and then check out our other related posts below and in the “Hot Topics” sidebar.

 

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Genevieve - Soulful

 

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

Read more details…

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Last updated 4-22-2020

 

Copyright © 2012-2020 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Earth Day – Green Day Read More »

Gratitude

Gratitude

The expression of gratitude releases a power in our life.

Gratitude opens the door to letting ourselves receive the blessings that surround us, right here, right now. Gratitude is an antidote to worry. It works on subtle energetic levels to invite into our life what we greet with gratitude.

Expressing our gratitude, turning our attention to all we already have for which to be grateful for opens our minds and our hearts to releasing joy in our life.”
      – Genevieve Gerard

For just the next minute, the next 60 seconds of your life, see how many things you can find for which you are grateful and express that gratitude. It could be as simple as the cool caress of the air on your skin as the wind stirs, or the easy availability of clean water at your fingertips. It could be for the food that is available to you for today, or the rich smell of your coffee.

What you are grateful for need not be big or important. What is important is that you touch within your heat and within your mind the feelings of gratitude and appreciation. You might wish to make a list to just brainstorm as many things as you can find in your life that bless your life.

Time your minute and begin now. . .
 

You might notice how much more peaceful and calm you feel. You might notice a joyful fullness in your heart. You might notice how very full and blessed you are in your life and add that to your list of “Little Gratitude’s”.

As you go through your day be aware of the abundance of blessings that fill your life.  Celebrate and give thanks for the abundance that is already yours.

Gratitude Read More »

Holy Week Reflections

Holy Week Reflections

Time For Reflection photo by Genevieve Gerard from Holy Week Reflections

The week that leads up to Easter is referred to as Holy Week.

In the Christian Calendar, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus coming into Jerusalem to the accolades of the people. To the man Jesus, who traveled as a master teacher, a rabbi, teaching about God’s love for us, it must have been a time of celebration. Finally, the people were listening to him.

At last, they understood what he had been traveling around teaching and preaching. His message about God being more than a stern taskmaster to be appeased through adherence to the law and animal sacrifices, but rather a loving Father who was available for a deeply personal one-on-one (I-Thou) relationship with the people, His beloved children.

Imagine the relief and the joy of finally having His message be heard. Having worked so hard, traveling and teaching every place where people would gather to listen to him preach about God. They must be listening and learning he would have concluded, for as he entered into Jerusalem, they ran forward cheering him, throwing palm fronds in his pathway. So his feet were protected from the dirt and dust of the road.

Not only were they finally listening to his message, but they were also finally acknowledging him as the teacher and leader he was. After sacrificing so much of his personal needs and desires to travel from place to place to bring this message to humankind; often without even shelter from the elements, people were paying attention. He was achieving success. The part of Jesus that the theologians tell us was fully human must have felt all of our emotions of relief and pride and satisfaction that this work he had undertaken for the Lord was finally reaching the people. He must have had joy in his heart as he considered how this change in understanding their relationship with God would comfort the people and give them new hope and new promise in their lives.

This event, this celebrated entry to Jerusalem was after all the culmination of high risk. He had stood before the religious leaders of his time and defied the conventional thinking of his day, chastising the Pharisees for their pompous ways, even criticizing how they prayed and condemned their use of commerce in the house of God.

He knew he had made many enemies. The religious leaders criticized him. They considered him an upstart. They asked who he thought he was to take on the mantle of teaching the people about God. He was after all just a carpenter’s son from an outlying province of Galilee.

So we can certainly understand the relief and validation Jesus must have felt on Palm Sunday as he heard the people greet him with Hosannas. At that moment all of the work was worth it. People were getting the message. Lives would change, minds would change, and the most important relationship people had in their life, their relationship to God would change. The relief Jesus must have felt, the joy Jesus must have felt on that Sunday before Easter, the initiation of Holy Week is to those of us who know the story of what follows, bittersweet.

For we are aware, the story did not end there. And the real work of Jesus’ teaching was lying just ahead, out of sight, not yet fully revealed to him until the important events and revelations that were to follow in the span of time we have come to know as Holy Week.

I would like to think that Jesus was able to rest, relax and bask in those feelings of success and achievement that following Monday and Tuesday. Certainly by Wednesday when he instructed his disciples to prepare the Upper Room for the Passover dinner on Thursday he had begun to realize that more would be required of him. Much more would be needed than he could have imagined; much more than we could ever imagine having to give.

And I am sure that as it was being revealed to Jesus, the mystical understanding of the sacrifice he was being asked to make was not clear. Of course, he knew he had made many of the traditional religious leaders of his time angry at him. He condemned their lifestyle and accused them of misleading people about the relationship to God. But this intuition, this impression he was now receiving in his prayers and meditation that they would put him to death, seemed unfathomable.

As he pondered on this and prayed on this and wondered on this, the man Jesus did not understand all of the revelation, all of the choices of the coming week. All that would be required from him as he faced the ultimate tests of surrender and obedience was still to be revealed. The purpose of this sacrifice, the deep magic as C.S. Lewis called it, the transformation and gift to the world that would result from the events of the next few days, was not yet revealed.

As the hurt and betrayal of realizing one of his disciples would turn him into the Pharisees was revealed, Jesus knew deep in his heart, in the core of his being that his relationship with God required of him total obedience. Although he did not yet know what that would mean in the very real terms of life and death, he knew his faith in the Lord was strong, and he made the commitment to be faithful and obedient, no matter what the result. He knew that God was Love. He knew that to the very core of his being. And, whatever Love required of him, he was willing to give.

This brings us to what in my mind is the most important part of the Easter story. The most significant decision in the life and death and ultimately resurrection story of Jesus all happen on this Thursday before the events of Good Friday and before Easter could even be imagined. Here were the events that make the life of Jesus amazing as we ponder on the stories of Holy Week. At this time the events had not yet reached a point of no return. The outcome was not assured. A thousand possibilities could emerge to change things from what seemed to be the consequence of unfolding events.

There are those who believe that Jesus went through this most important night of his spiritual life, acutely aware of what was happening and what would happen from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross and even to the Resurrection of Easter Sunday. But to me, that dilutes the significance of Maundy Thursday and the strength demonstrated on Golgotha and the Cross. It is the humanness of Jesus that makes this story unique. It is the humanness of Jesus that makes a reflection on this Holy Week what gives us as disciples on a spiritual path hope and power. It is the humanness of Jesus that calls us to follow him and try to live up to his example.

As the Passover feast began, on Holy Thursday, Maundy Thursday, Jesus knew he had to do some extraordinary things. First, he must confront his betrayer. To have his intuition and spiritual insight reveal to him the betrayer and not speak out seemed wrong. After all this man, this betrayer had followed him, walked with him and worked with him for three long years.

And as Jesus looked out over his beloved friends and followers he must have realized that no matter how much he had hoped the logical consequences of that betrayal might not come to fruition, if the powerful did their worst to him he had to leave those who had followed him so faithfully some remembrance, some ritual to guarantee that all he had taught about God in the three years he wandered were not forever lost. If the worst result were to occur, the act of betrayal by one of his own made possible, He wanted to leave his disciples one last act, a ritual, a symbol to express the message he had taught.

Fortunately, Jesus was a biblical scholar. A Rabbi well versed in tradition and the scriptures. What he understood about this new way of understanding God, this profound astounding Love that God had revealed to him, represented a new kind of relationship with God. A relationship based on Love, a relationship of forgiveness and grace; a new covenant. So what he needed to leave these loyal friends and followers was a ritual to convey a new covenant relationship with God, a relationship much more pervasive and profound than the old covenant of “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” He needed a new covenant that demonstrated Divine Love; that showed love in a tangible, visceral manner. And since, if the consequences of this night were what he feared, he would show his love for God and his love for all his fellow man by making the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of his life. It is said greater love has no man than this that he would lay down his life for others.

Since this ultimate sacrifice was certainly possible with the way events were conspiring, he would use the willingness to sacrifice his life, his body and his blood as the symbols of this new covenant, this ritual of remembrance.

As the time of his betrayal approached; since Jesus could well foresee the possible consequence of the traditional religious leaders getting him in their hands, he felt the need for prayer. He wanted to be surrounded by his loyal followers who loved him before he surrendered himself to his enemies. So he went with them to Gethsemane. He asked that they wait with him and pray with him. The hour was late. It was dark, and he needed the comfort of the love of his friends as he turned in complete obedience and surrender to the God he knew so well and loved so fully in prayer. And considering the devastating consequences of the events that seemed to be conspiring against him, he petitioned God that what he was seeing, as not only the possible but also the probable result of this night, could pass him by.

Imagine the hurt and betrayal he felt as he rose from prayer to find his followers sleeping. Here at the most painful and dangerous point of his life and his mission, they could not stay awake with him and pray with him. As he returned to prayer he made his ultimate decision, his final choice to demonstrate love. Perhaps he did not fully understand the reason his life must be forfeited to demonstrate this. If this is what was required, he surrendered his will to the will of his Father in full trust and obedience that he would give, whatever was required of him, even his body, even his blood to demonstrate Love.

Having made this decision when his captors came to claim him he went without resistance. The torture and indignations of what is called Good Friday were born with as much dignity as he could garner. Circumstances were no longer in his control. Having made the decision to follow this all through to its conclusion, he took up his Cross and carried it to the Hill of Golgotha. Jesus, being the teacher that he was, could not help but share his perspective of the events on the way to the hill of crucifixion. I am sure he struggled to understand why this sacrifice was necessary. Perhaps God needed to demonstrate a miracle as the scriptures told of miracles with other teachers and prophets who were faithful to God.

He need only suffer what pain this path offered remembering his purpose to demonstrate love. This was certainly a dramatic way to do it. But his faith and trust that it was necessary and important were absolute. He had prayed for this cup to pass by him and here he was, so it must be substantial. He knew God loved him. He knew he loved God. If this was the best way to demonstrate that love, he had faith that whatever the pain and the sorrow of this moment in time, it had a purpose. Although he might not understand it all, he had come here of his own agreement, his own surrender, his own willingness to be a symbolic sacrificial lamb to this new covenant he had come to understand.

Nailed to the Cross, between two thieves, pierced in the side, finally realizing that the miracle he expected would not be a dramatic rescue to demonstrate God’s power. He cried out to God, the first lines of a Psalm, Psalm 22, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.” But as he did this he knew the words of the Psalm ended with an assurance of God’s faithfulness.

And then Jesus gave up his life.

We are told that at that moment the veil of the temple was rent. A mystical event had taken place that opened the separation between God and Man. Divine Love, the Love of the sacrifice that Jesus chose to make was anchored on the earth. The full meaning of what happened on that day in symbolic and mystical import may not be understood by our conscious mind. We know it was something special. We are aware it changed the way man reaches out to God and the way God reaches out to man.

The miracle that Jesus counted upon to save him on the Cross, the true miracle and meaning of the story of Easter occurred after the events of Holy Week in the astounding, unprecedented occurrence of the Resurrection. Jesus could not have predicted this for this miracle was outside of the understanding of mortal man. It was, however, a miracle that demonstrated something so filled with love and embedded with a grace that it had changed life as it was known 2000 years ago into something that could not be imagined when Jesus placed the Cross he had been forced to carry to the hill of his death.

The life of Jesus, the choices and decisions he made empower us as humankind even if we do not understand them; it shows us the potential and the power that we can possess as human beings.”
        – Genevieve Gerard

This lesson, this victory over death itself may be beyond the comprehension of man. It remains today a promise of hope, a promise of eternal life, a miracle of love and sacrifice that impacts the world and continues to affect the world today. And no matter what else humanity may learn in his quest for God. No matter what is demonstrated on the spiritual path. This demonstration of love, given by Jesus will remain unparalleled, unique and worthy of the honor and the glory. That a man can choose to sacrifice his whole being to bring love to the world continues to astound us today and will amaze us in the ages ahead.

Namaste,

Genevieve Gerard

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 3-25-2018

 

Copyright © 2012-2018 by Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC, All Rights Reserved.

 

Holy Week Reflections Read More »

Mega Millions Magic

The Mega Millions Magic

Open Yourself To Mega Millions

As the time for the drawing of the largest U.S. 44-State Mega Millions Lotto jackpot in history draws near, there is something magical happening on an energetic level.

The hope that this nationwide event has inspired in the hearts and minds of people has created a tangible energy of openness to possibility, openness to promise.

The vast change that a jackpot of this size would bring to the life of an individual is staggering to imagine.

What seems to be a theme that is running through the minds of people, as I have heard ‘man on the street’ interviews, is the good that could be done with the money.  Just the thoughts of these many people of a better life freed from financial strife, combined with the thoughts of how they could help others, their family, and their friends enrich our life and brings us closer to the promise of hope.

Mega Millions Bringing Joy To Life

 

Worthy causes, create the healing energy of hope touching the lives of millions of people who are participating in this event.  That hope, that ability to envision a life of abundance is worth the $3 price of admission.

Who knows what new ideas or solutions to life’s difficulty will come from the creative dreams of how my life would be if I won the Mega Millions Jackpot.

So to all who joined this group consciousness of the hope and promise of prosperity I say good luck.  And if the morning after the draw your numbers are not printed on the winning ticket take a moment to review the dreams you dared to dream for some idea you have never had before that could bring you success.

Hope and the unfettered creativity of the human mind are magic.
    – Genevieve Gerard

Open yourself up to the promise of a new day, right here, right now, win or lose, you win.

You may just awaken to success.

Regards,

Genevieve

 

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Last updated 10-20-2018

 

Copyright © 2012-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC, All Rights Reserved.

 

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Oprah | Transcendental Meditation

Meditation and Oprah

Tonight at 6pm PT, Oprah will air an episode on ‘Oprah’s Next Chapter’ (on her OWN [Oprah Winfrey Network]) regarding Meditation. It will tell the country about her newfound devotion to meditation and focus on the technique of meditation called Transcendental Meditation introduced to the United States by The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In this ‘Oprah’s Next Chapter’ episode Oprah interviews locals and shares video of a six-hour visit to the Maharishi University of Management last October in the City of Fairfield, Iowa.

Transcendental Meditation is a great entre into discovering the benefits of meditation. It was my first exploration of meditation 44 years ago. You have probably heard of it because the Maharishi became known in the 1960s as the Guru of the Beatles band and the guru of Deepak Chopra.

Over the years the techniques of Transcendental Meditation have impacted the lives of many. The work of the Maharishi lives on today through his worldwide organization. Certified teachers of the Transcendental Meditation technique are available all around the world. Click here to find out more about Transcendental Meditation.

The practice of meditation has been a core experience in my life that has impacted every area of my life bringing me to a life of joy.”
    – Genevieve Gerard

Although in the 44 years since I began meditation, through the practice of Transcendental Meditation, my experience with mediation has grown and expanded and I will always be grateful to the Maharishi for his life and his work in bringing such a valuable gift to the Western World.

To thank and honor our teachers who have come before us and their teachers who have come before them is to understand that meditation has emerged from the ageless wisdom through time as a guidepost to mankind’s spiritual journey.

Through meditation we can integrate our mind, our emotions, our bodies and our Soul and become all we were meant to be, to live fully in harmony and joy.”
    – Genevieve Gerard

Please tune in to Oprah’s episode today and support her and the millions across the planet who are opening their hearts, their minds and their souls to the life changing and life enhancing experiences of meditation.

Sneak Preview:
Oprah Visits America’s Most Unusual Town



Oprah Winfrey on Transcendental Meditation

On December 7, 2011, Oprah Winfrey was featured in a candid, one-on-one interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz and discussed how all 400 employees at Harpo Studios now meditate and how much of a difference meditation has made in her life and the lives of her staff.


To view this short video on YouTube directly click Meditation and Oprah.


Namaste I wish you joy

 

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