Body and Soul

-Your Soul as your Teacher

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!

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

An Invitation to Your Soul
Using Meditation to Unite You With Your Soul
The Soul Connection
Recommended Meditation

Bathing In The Light Meditation

A Guided Visualization to Wash Away Your Troubles and
Connect With Your Body and Soul

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.”

Mindfulness

Doug Russell

Mindfulness and
Meditations For Daily Joy

-Taking Mindfulness
to the Soul Level

by Douglas Russell, M.S.W.

Mindfulness meditation and Genevieve Gerard’s work have a lot in common. I know this from personal experience. I began meditating regularly in the late 1960’s. At the time, I was studying spiritual philosophies and transpersonal psychology. I was also learning traditional psychotherapy in graduate school. My meditation practice began with the same steps presented in the Meditations for Daily Joy: first getting centered by relaxing my body and calming my feelings and thoughts, then opening my heart and visualizing a brilliant point of light over my head as a symbol of my soul. I was learning that variations of these techniques had been passed down through generations of spiritual teachers in the East over thousands of years.

When I started exploring mindfulness in the 1990’s, it was also described as evolving from those ancient Eastern traditions, but it wasn’t connected directly to spirituality or the soul. It was popularized in the U.S. through the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts, founded by a man with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, Jon Kabat-Zinn. The basic technique is to sit or lie down, and simply pay attention to your breath or your body sensations. Anytime the mind starts to wander, bring it back over and over to these sensations in the present moment: breathing awareness, and the five senses.

Over the past 30 years, mindfulness has proved to be very effective–not only for stress management, but for coping with chronic pain, depression and addiction, and for improving relationships. In medicine and psychology, mindfulness is still presented as secular: it works just as well for people who are not religious as for those who have strong spiritual beliefs. It seems so different from Touch of the Soul, which is clearly the work of a spiritual teacher who has combined a variety of techniques to guide people toward the experience of higher consciousness. Let’s look at what mindfulness is, then I’ll describe how mindfulness and Touch of the Soul meet and blend so well, as Genevieve Gerard takes us beyond today’s mindfulness practices into the experience of spirituality.

Mindfulness has been explored in great detail by researchers, physicians, psychologists, and religious leaders. Through the myriad of workshops, writings, CD’s, DVD’s and websites, four basic aspects of mindfulness meditation come up over and over again:

1. Being in the present moment. Often our body is in one place but our mind is somewhere else: we’re thinking about the past (would-a, could-a, should-a), concerned about the future, or wanting things to be different from the way they are. But the body can’t travel to the past or future: it’s living only in the present. When you are mindful of your breathing, or what you are seeing or hearing, your attention shifts from your thoughts to your immediate experience. It is only when you are fully aware in the here and now, that you truly experience your life.

2. Doing one thing at a time and knowing that you’re doing it. Modern life often requires that we think, plan, and move rapidly among many activities. There’s nothing wrong with multi-tasking, but it’s not mindfulness. To be mindful is to take a break from all that movement of body and mind, and focus on just one thing–like the sensations in your feet while walking, or experiencing the pleasure of taking one bite of your favorite food while giving your full attention to smelling, tasting and chewing it.

3. Using in-tention to focus at-tention. If your intention is to sit down and enjoy a good meal, your best chance at success is to keep your attention on eating without the distraction of watching TV or reading or constant conversation. Mindfulness involves learning to stay with your intention: you choose to focus on breathing, and every time you notice your attention has moved to something else, you gently return your focus to breathing awareness. During meditation the mind will surely wander. Your body might capture your attention with feelings of fatigue or pain. Sounds in the environment might disturb your concentration. Any number of things could take your attention away from your breathing; but to be mindful is to stay with your purpose regardless of any such distractions. People from all walks of life find that mindfulness meditation helps with productivity and achieving goals. It’s training yourself to stay focused on what you’re intending to do.

4. Practicing meditation regularly. Mindfulness is a skill that improves with consistent practice. The direct experience and insights this meditation provides are called wisdom-based learning, as contrasted with fact-based learning that comes from a teacher or a book. Taking classes or reading about meditation is useful, but it isn’t mindfulness. When you have practiced day-after-day, returning to a calm center of awareness every time there’s a distraction, eventually you can hold onto that state of mind even when facing life’s trials and tribulations. Beginners in meditation may sense a calm and centered state of consciousness only for brief moments, but with continued practice it becomes a habit, a way of life. In mindfulness terms, “states become traits.”

Genevieve Gerard’s teachings on transformational consciousness point toward many levels of mindful awareness and beyond. She sees centering as a stepping stone to higher states of mind which eventually lead to being in touch with your soul and living a life full of love, creativity and joy.”
– Doug Russell

The many facets of mindfulness boil down to this: centering comes about by paying attention to the body and the five senses rather than getting caught up in negative thinking or worrying. We can learn to experience life’s challenges and hardships from a center of calm and kindly awareness. Genevieve Gerard’s teachings on transformational consciousness point toward many levels of mindful awareness and beyond. She sees centering as a stepping stone to higher states of mind which eventually lead to being in touch with your soul and living a life full of love, creativity and joy. Her methods include affirmations–focusing on carefully-chosen positive words and thoughts–plus sensory awareness, and use of the creative imagination, visualizing images, symbols, colors, and energy flows.

Here’s how I see the four basic aspects of mindfulness in light of
Genevieve Gerard’s teachings:

1. In the present moment, I know that I am between heaven and earth,
and I am not alone.

Prepare to meditate by focusing on breathing awareness and inviting your body to relax. You surrender your weight to the pull of gravity, acknowledging that you are being supported by the earth. Continue this move into your centered self by inviting your mind to become calm and your heart to open. As this inner observer you can affirm that you are more than any particular body sensation or feeling or thought that you have. You then sense or imagine your higher self as a point of light above your head shining like the sun. This whole process is an acknowledgment that your life in the here and now exists literally between heaven and earth. You are opening your mind to the recognition that you are much more than your earthly existence–that you are a spiritual being.

The next step in meditation could involve focusing your attention on positive thoughts and energies, or on the highest human qualities such as forgiveness or love. In reality, such qualities are often experienced in relationship to others. Your daily life involves contacts with people close to you and with strangers. Even if you are meditating alone, you know that in the here and now, there are many other people going about their lives as you focus on yours. Any meditation technique that promotes personal well-being can be extended for the well-being of others. Start with “joy to myself;” proceed with “joy to the world.” As you continue this practice, you will notice the rising quality of your relationships and the sense of being connected to all of life.

2. My mind can sense and know many things at one time.

Mindfulness emphasizes the physical senses for experiencing the here and now, but there is an acknowledgment of the mind as a sixth sense. The brain interprets what our eyes and ears register in the physical world, while the mind has its own perceptions that are meta-physical. It may be true that the verbal concrete mind does one thing at a time, like looking at a rainbow and naming each color, deliberately focusing your eyes on one color, then the next and the next. But suppose you center yourself, and look at the rainbow as a whole, softening your eyes, perceiving all the colors at once, without labeling them. This is an example of using the abstract mind–the perspective of higher consciousness.

Genevieve Gerard shows us how we can learn through meditation to apply this broader perspective in everyday life. Suppose you go for a walk and as you take a single step you pay attention to the sensation of your foot touching the ground, then build awareness: also notice that you are breathing in, that you are seeing the beautiful colors of flowers, and you are exchanging warm greetings with people you walk by. Suppose you start to eat an egg, and as you bring that first bite toward your mouth, seeing and smelling it, feeling your mouth watering, you pause to reflect on this moment as the culmination of the past, and containing seeds of the future. The egg came from a chicken, was gathered and packaged by ranch hands, taken to market by a truck driver, and placed on display and sold by workers in the market before you bought it and brought it home. After you eat it, it will provide your body the energy it needs as you move through the rest of your day.

3. My intention is to focus on the images, qualities, and thoughts that are pathways to higher consciousness.

As you continue to develop your meditation skills, you can expand the scope and variety of your intentions. To some degree, the chattering mind will continue to disturb your concentration, but you will eventually find that you can return to center more quickly and easily than you could at the beginning. In effect, you’re developing your will, your power of choice. As you choose to give more attention to the image of the radiant light above your head, that alone engenders some of the highest qualities. It’s like sitting in the sunlight on a pleasant day. The sun’s warmth brings a feeling of being nurtured and loved. The sun’s light brings a sense of mental clarity and light-heartedness. It is the opposite of darkness, which symbolizes ignorance, depression or fear.

Subjects for meditation besides the breath could be a single word, a positive phrase or sentence, or a sequence of several steps. A meditation on the word “gratitude” is like holding a precious stone in your hand, looking carefully at all its various facets. You may begin to feel gratitude for each of your loved ones, for anything in your life that you enjoy, for your accomplishments, for the daily moments of noticing that which is good, beautiful, or fulfilling. Expand this idea by meditating on a phrase or sentence from the Affirmations for Abundance, which are positive thoughts that can bring your mind and your life into states of inspiration, celebration, joy, prosperity. Or meditate on a series of steps, beginning with “calm your mind, open your heart, invite the light;” continue by lighting a candle, and as it dispels darkness, hold the thought of faith and hope dispelling fear; then as you get a sense of transcending your own fear, imagine that each moment you focus on the light, it is building and multiplying, and helping to ignite hope for everyone, making the world a better place.

In Genevieve Gerard’s articles and the Meditations for Daily Joy CD’s, you’ll find many examples of going through a set series of steps, on themes ranging from dealing with negative emotions or challenging relationships, to building a broader perspective on everyday experiences like eating, bathing, taking a walk, or traveling. The principle involved here is that energy follows thought: through regular focus on any positive human quality, it eventually becomes a trait–a way of looking at life, a way of experiencing your life that is available throughout each and every day.

4. As I meditate regularly, my soul becomes more familiar to me,
as a part of who I truly am.

The soul is our higher self, that aspect of our identity which has all the highest and best qualities of human nature: unconditional love, wisdom, goodwill, creativity, joy. The soul has a perspective that includes our personal concerns or needs yet goes beyond them. There is a recognition of being part of the larger whole–a sense of the interdependence with other human beings and with all of life. There is a sense that any problems or concerns of the moment can be seen in a new light, free of fear, anxiety or depression.

Among the symbols of the soul to meditate upon are: that brilliant point of light above the head, a wise spiritual guide or master, or an angel. Besides focusing on these during a formal sitting meditation, we can return to these images anytime during the day while involved in other activities. In mindfulness this is called informal practice. In Touch of the Soul work, this is developing a “dual consciousness.” It is applying the principle that energy follows thought. Along with the full awareness of activities and relationships in the physical world, there can be a constant sense of the perspective and influence of the soul–the sense that at each moment, you are a spiritual being, living in the light, with access to the qualities of a higher purpose, love, wisdom, and creativity. Your soul becomes your constant companion on your journey through life.

About the Author: Douglas Russell, M.S.W. has studied esotericism and practiced occult meditation for over 40 years. As a psychotherapist, trainer of healthcare professionals, medical social worker and writer, he specialized in psychosynthesis–a psychology of personal and spiritual growth that combines traditional counseling methods with guided imagery, visualization and meditation. He has been exploring mindfulness practices for over ten years.

About Genevieve Gerard: Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of the soul.” Browse her body of work at www.GenevieveGerard.com. Copyright © 2012 by Genevieve Gerard. All rights reserved.

Please feel free to pass this article on to others who may find it of interest. You may reprint the article by following the Permission to Reprint information below.

Permission to Reprint

You are allowed to reprint articles published by Touch of the Soul, as long as proper credit and citation is given. To reprint an article, you must credit the author, indicate the original date of publication on Genevieve Gerard’s website, and include the appropriate reprint permission language. Content reproduced from Touch of the Soul may not be edited, but you may use excerpts. When reprinting content, you must always include this reprint permission language at the end of the article. If the content will be reprinted on your Web site or blog, you must include a live (search engine followed) link to Genevieve Gerard’s website and the original article Mindfulness and Meditations For Daily Joy.

Reprint Permission Language: Reprinted from Touch of the Soul with permission from Doug Russell, author of ‘Mindfulness and Meditations For Daily Joy’ 06-24-2012. All rights reserved.

Linking Information:

Genevieve Gerard – http://www.GenevieveGerard.com
Mindfulness and Meditations For Daily Joy – http://www.GenevieveGerard.com/articles/mindfulness

Mindfulness Read More »

Love Yourself

Genevieve Gerard

Learning To Love Yourself

— Self-Love from the well that is always full

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!

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

Life is About Learning to Love
The Longing to Be Loved
What Lessons Will Love Teach Me?
Recommended Meditation

The Gift of Love Guided Meditation
Open Yourself To The Energy of Divine Love & The Love That Your Soul Brings To You

Last updated 7-15-2019

Holy Week Reflections

Genevieve Gerard

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!

Be One With the Body of Christ
The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer
Easter Ponderings on Resurrection
Love One Another
Recommended Meditation

I Will Serve All The Days of My Life Meditation

Last updated 3-25-2018

Holy Week Reflections Read More »

The Power to Forgive

Genevieve Gerard

Unlocking
The Power to Forgive

Deep within the recesses of the human heart, at a point of complete and utter peace, exists a power that has within it the essence of transformation that can heal the world.

Take a moment to open your heart and receive this power. It is the power to forgive. By being open to forgiveness, by being willing to give forgiveness, you become a participant in an active role that can transform the world.

The Divine Love that can flow through your life and flow into your life when you open yourself to the power to forgive is life changing. By opening yourself to forgiveness you create a place of peace deep within you that provides a fertile womb for a kind of love to grow that is so amazing, so Divine, so awe-inspiring that you may wonder how you ever lived without it.

To touch the magnitude of forgiveness and to share it with everyone who longs for it and needs forgiveness is to wield a magic wand of transformation that touches everyone everywhere.

The mystery of this power, the magic contained in the power of forgiveness was revealed as a hint in the healing miracles of Jesus when he used the phrase “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:17

Who among us does not long in the secret sorrow of our heart to hear the words “your sins are forgiven”. We all harbor within us a longing to know and truly believe that our past mistakes, our past sins can be forgiven. There is little in life that is as healing and restorative as forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a double blessing because it blesses both he who receives it and him who gives it. Grace is the cloak that garbs forgiveness.

When we have opened ourselves to give forgiveness or to accept forgiveness we have opened ourselves to touch the Divine.”
– Genevieve Gerard

The power, the peace and the transformation that is ours when we unlock the power of forgiveness is so profound and changes our life so completely that the real mystery is why we would ever choose to not forgive or fail to fully embrace being forgiven.

There is no sorrow that forgiveness cannot heal. There is no separation that forgiveness cannot bridge. Forgiveness is not earned. It is received by love through Grace. It is the most profound and most powerful of all spiritual gifts.

By unlocking the power to forgive you are bringing the power of God into your hands. You are demonstrating your unity with God and you are rewarded with a peace so tangible, so deep, that is passes understanding.

In quiet, in reflection, in meditation review those you could forgive and whatever you need to be forgiven. Call upon the Light of your Soul and in gratitude and joy let yourself accept the forgiveness that is available to you and give the forgiveness that is accessible to you.

Then go forth in life with a new opportunity to live the life you were meant to live in joy, in celebration of love for yourself and your fellow man.

Namaste

About the author: Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of the soul.” Browse her body of work at www.GenevieveGerard.com. Copyright © 2012-2018 by Genevieve Gerard. All rights reserved.

For more writings on forgiveness please go to my website and read my other posts on the importance of forgiveness.

The Power to Forgive Read More »

Difference Between Prayer and Meditation

Genevieve Gerard

The Difference Between Prayer and Meditation

This article is part of my on-going series on Prayer & Faith and Meditation.

The spiritual journey, no matter the name of the path or the structure of the belief has always contained the techniques of both prayer and meditation.

Some paths include both prayer and meditation, comfortably vacillating from one to the other depending upon the purpose or needs of the moment.

In many ways prayer and meditation are twins, but they are not identical twins. They differ in subtle but significant ways.

When I was first taught to meditate by a Maharishi Yogi; as I was leaving the instruction called an “initiation” back in the 1960s, I recall pondering about the experience I had just had. I remarked to myself that I had previously known the state of consciousness that I had just experienced at the conclusion of a time of deep prayer; a state I had referred to as “prayer beyond words.” Ponder on this!

Even at that young age the universality of the path we take to connect to our Soul struck me. Beyond the connection to our Soul, which I have come to believe is the hearts desire of everyone, exists the desire to connect with a higher source (God), however, you define God.

Each one of us needs time and space for recollection, meditation and calmness…. Thanks be to God that this is so!”
– Pope Benedict XVI

It is to reach the Soul and connect to God that people along all spiritual paths engage in the practice of both prayer and meditation. And although both prayer and meditation serve a similar function there are differences in both the purpose, method, and outcome of the two practices.

Prayer is you speaking to God & meditation is allowing the spirit to speak to you.”
– Deepak Chopra

Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra on prayer vs. meditation

Prayer has always seemed to be best suited to times when praise or petition is the need. In times of great need, prayer seems to spring naturally from the human heart as we reach out for help and healing in times of danger, distress, and pain, be it physical or emotional.

In times of trouble we reach automatically for the help and intervention of the Divine, even if we have no sustaining belief in the Divine. It is archetypal in the human experience to reach out, indeed cry out for that which is beyond our human limitations for help and comfort.

Likewise, in times of transcendent joy praise rises spontaneously in our heart. Even if we do not conceptualize what we are praising that welling feeling, praise accompanies the experience of great joy and great love.

I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness.”
– Marianne Williamson

Meditation is best suited for contemplation, deepening our understanding or quieting the chattering mind and engaging the power of our higher source (Soul) to bring about the desired result. One would meditate for deep relaxation, healing and to invoke the power of our intention using techniques such as visualization.

Meditation is more a conscious approach than prayer and as such garners the best result when entered into with conscious intent and regularity. The continuity of consciousness that disciplined practice of meditation grants makes meditation the technique of choice when one desires a specific outcome, which is why visualization is a technique incorporated into most meditations.

There exists a myriad of techniques of meditation designed by spiritual leaders and masters throughout time to bring the student of meditation to the desired state of consciousness, being or understanding.

In understanding the subtle differences that exist between prayer and meditation, we are empowered to draw from these two ways to connect with our Soul and connect with our Source using whatever method is best suited to our desired outcome.”
– Genevieve Gerard

Fortunately, we can choose and use whatever technique best meets our needs at the moment, freely guided by the wisdom of our inner nature and our Soul in any moment of time to receive what we need.

I encourage you to explore prayer and/or meditation and see which resonates with you.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 2,035 times. Checkout our other related posts below.

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Faith, Freedom and Fulfillment
My Prayer for You Today
Mindfulness and Meditations for Daily Joy
Recommended Guided Meditation

I Am Feeling Free Guided Meditation Visualization

Learn How To Calm Strong Emotions and Transmute Fears and Doubts

Last Updated 11-03-2019

To Forgive

Genevieve Gerard

To Forgive

Forgiveness seems to come in layers. Too truly focus upon forgiveness requires looking at events from different perspectives and each of those individual lenses benefits from the act of forgiveness. I use the words act of forgiveness because forgiveness is not passive. It involves both will and intention.

The power and significance of forgiveness in our lives is a source of endless blessing. – Genevieve Gerard

To forgive has so many levels and layers to it that it is an issue to which we can return to over and over again. Moreover, each time we release ourselves from the toxic poison of holding a grudge, or anger or hate we move more toward wholeness and health and open the space for more healing and joy to come into our life.

To forgive completely you need to look at the whole circumstance around the event or incident that requires forgiveness. This is best done from the perspective of the dispassionate observer. The dispassionate observer is a vision of your life when you free your awareness of the emotions and judgments you have held previously, invite, and invoke the perspective of your Higher Self or Soul.

When you observe the act or event that requires forgiveness from an outside perspective, you can become aware of factors that influenced the behavior of the other person that have not been clear to you in previous memories of the event. Your perspective widens, as you can begin to understand factors about the other person that had previously been shielded from your sight by the anger you carried about the event or circumstance.

As you become more aware of the factors regarding one who wronged you, it becomes easier to forgive them. Likewise, when evaluating a past wrong from the insight of the dispassionate observer you usually become aware of how your own behavior, needs or desires, played into the event where you were wronged and you can see the areas in which you need to forgive yourself.

It is often in this step of self-forgiveness that we receive the greatest healing. The greatest release and freedom often comes from the actual act of self-forgiveness. The bonds that have held you to this sorrow are finally severed and you are open to new understanding and new joy as you look forward to new opportunities and experiences.

Often this is felt as a sense of lightness or openness and the spontaneous openness of your heart to more love and more joy than you were able to experience.

To forgive the act of the wrong that was committed, and forgive the one who committed the act, and then to forgive yourself for whatever ways in which you allowed the wrong to be done to you is a powerful tool of transformation in your life. It frees you of the past and enables you to enter into the joy of present time, unencumbered.

Open yourself then to the Grace that abides and the presence of Love in your life. This grace and this love are available from your Soul to aid your personality to live your life more fully and completely. This grace and love is available from your Soul to help in your healing and to help you to live life more abundantly.

To Forgive Read More »

Freedom, Fear and Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

Reflections on the
15^th Anniversary of 9-11

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the attack on Pearl Harbor, a shocked nation listened to his resonant voice on the radio with the words “a day that will live in infamy”. Americans were horrified that without a formal declaration of war, Japan would attack a US Military base in Hawaii. As most of us remember from our history class, if not from our own lives, the surprise nature of the attack without the prior declaration of war was a part of the horror. War had in that event, become different. The old rules no longer applied. It marked a change in how the world worked and required an adjustment in the thinking of not just Americans, but the whole world.

This was also true, on 9-11 as the world watched domestic airplanes filled with peaceful passengers crash into the World Trade Center. Not only was the sudden assault an act of war, but it was an act of war without a clear opponent in a war. Victims were not citizens of a country, but symbols of a society against which a group of people, not a government had created a war, with no declaration or even clear purpose that we could understand.

The fact that this event was watched through the day and night courtesy of 24-hour news coverage made this unique in the history of civilization. An act of war, an act of unspeakable terror was right there with us in our homes. Where we were and what we were doing when the planes hit the towers and then even more unthinkable when the towers collapsed became a part of our ordinary life. The terror, the horror, and the fear this engendered affected everyone in the country and indeed most people in the world. In addition, due to the media, as we relived the experience repeatedly we became a society suffering from Post Traumatic Stress.

That the fear has lingered is not surprising. That the blame has extended to an entire religious group instead of a group of fanatic individuals is potentially one of the most dangerous aspects of the after effects of 9-11 as it is this factor that most threatens our freedom. This fear now threatens to destroy what has made America a people unique in the history of civilization.

This threat to our freedom comes not from the outside world but from our response to our own fears. We must as a people now learn to transcend our fear without offering up our liberty. We must with vigilance and the distance of the passing years look at the effects that terrorism has had on our life and our society and re-evaluate how much power we wish to give our attackers to destroy our values.

As one of our Founding Father’s Benjamin Franklin once commented, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

If we allow our fear to erode our liberties we have surrendered what is most valued and the terrorists would have won a victory that the Nazis and the Communists failed to win. See article “Did Osama Win” by Andrew Sullivan in Newsweek September 4, 2011.

Freedom of religion is a key principle upon which our country was founded. If that principle were reinterpreted to only grant that freedom to popular regions, what it means to be an American and to live in America would be lost. As High School Civics teachers have taught for generations we must preserve freedom for everyone, because the logical consequence of loss of anyone’s liberty is the loss of everyone’s liberty.

Therefore, as we face this milestone of unspeakable horror it is necessary that we begin to focus our efforts upon releasing the fear that terrorism generates in us. Releasing Fear and learning to transcend and transmute our fears is one of the most profound, powerful and life changing aspects of transforming our consciousness.

Downloadable on my website is a visualization (called “Feeling Free“) to help you transmute fear and other negative emotions. This crucial time when our fear is being refreshed with all of the media coverage about 9-11 is a perfect time to begin releasing the fear that this event may have engendered.

Finally, to free your country from the residuals of terrorism you must begin a process of healing. Healing ultimately is enhanced by forgiveness. We have seen the failure of revenge. As Mohandas Gandhi once stated,

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

It is time to let the past be in the past.

It is time as a people to put the fears and the horrors of terrorism behind us and as we begin the rebuilding of our lands and lives remember to rebuild our faith and confidence in our world. It is time to renew in our hearts and minds the freedoms that we have worked so hard to achieve. We can conquer our fears, honor our liberties and our values, and learn to forgive. Yes, even the unforgiveable.

If it were not unforgivable, true forgiveness would not be required.
— Genevieve Gerard

When my friend Alan Scherr was killed, along with his 13-year-old daughter Naomi, in the Mumbai Massacres at the Oberio Hotel his wife Kia formed an organization to honor the sacredness of life. Her leadership in response to her loss is a powerful force in the world to bring peace and transformation out of sorrow and loss. For more information on forgiveness visit her site “One Life Alliance” here.

As our thoughts go to the families who have lost loved ones, let us pray for the healing of the families, the healing of our nation and the healing of the world, that today marks the moment when we as a people move forward to greater understanding of those who live life differently from us with the realization that we are more alike than different and we are ultimately one people, in one world. Peace best serves us all.

Blessings,

Genevieve

Related Posts You May Enjoy Reading:

Freedom, Fear and Forgiveness Read More »

The Physiology of Stress

Genevieve Gerard

The Physiology of Stress

By Genevieve Gerard

Stress is a physiological response to the events of our lives. How we respond to that stress and what happens to our bodies when we feel threatened dates back to times when life was more primitive and the responses to life events was simpler. When we feel threatened or endangered our body responds by producing adrenalin. Blood pumps away from the extremities into the muscles. This is why when you are feeling frightened or stressed your hands and feet are often cold. The heart rate accelerates, and the blood pressure increases. Muscles bunch preparing the body protect itself from the perceived danger by either fight or flight. This is called the fight flight response.

Prior to the industrial revolution fighting or fleeing was an appropriate response to most risky life situations. Threats were clear and involved survival. The natural selection process of survival of the fittest worked well. If you were the strongest or the fastest you survived. This was accomplished by either overcoming your adversary physically or by fleeing to a safe place away from your adversary. It has only been since the industrial revolution and the development of modern society that this fight flight response became a part of the problem, rather than the solution.

Today, when a boss or a co-worker threatens you, it may be very subtle, but your body responds to the time honored response of generating the fight flight response. However, there you sit with your body primed for a physical fight or a survival flight and that is not appropriate to the situation. And you cope with the perceived threat by swallowing your anger and perhaps creating a pithy remark and go on with your day. But, your body still has that energy stored up for the fight or flight from the situation. That physiological response creates health problems if not released. Chronic high blood pressure, tension headaches, muscle cramping and pains are just a few of the body’s responses to unreleased stress.

Because the body creates the fight flight response as a part of the autonomic nervous system, you must use signals that the body recognizes to turn the fight flight response off. Walking away from a confrontation calmly but then reviewing the issue in your mind throughout the day, then telling your friend or spouse about the threat, only kepts the body in a constant state of readiness to fight or for flight.

In order to relax this response you need to use signals that are recognized by the autonomic nervous system by the body. One of the reasons that running or aerobic exercise work well as a stress relief is that exercise is interpreted by the body as fulfilling what it prepared to do. Another way of signaling the body’s autonomic nervous system is to consciously to control your breath. By doing a deep breathing exercise you signal your body that the threat is over and it is time to stand down. This is one of the reasons that regular use of relaxation exercises or meditation work to improve ones health and well being.

A simple exercise that you can use is to breathe deeply into the diaphragm and count your breath slowly by a count of ten. Begin by exhaling sharply and completely, then breath in slowly filling the lungs from the diaphragm up into the chest fully as your slowly count to 10; then release the breath slowly over a count of 10. Repeat this slow full count breathing for about 10 minutes. You will notice that this very simple exercise relaxes you and releases the body from the edge of the fight flight response.

About the author: Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of the soul.” Browse her body of work at www.GenevieveGerard.com.

The Physiology of Stress Read More »

Blossoming Prosperity Paradigm

Genevieve Gerard

The Blossoming Prosperity Paradigm

As we have struggled with the fear mongering of the Washington DC pundits, the issues of prosperity, how it works and why it does not seem to work at times has been on minds across the nation and the world.

Fear may be the most limiting aspect of all of the “sky is falling” talk of the past month. To try to dispel the damage being done I wrote the article Light a Candle for Hope article where I included both a free downloadable meditation on Abundance and an Invocation to Magnetic Attraction. These are gifts to enhance prosperity in this important time.

Through this period, I have been meditating and pondering about the issues of both abundance and prosperity. It came to me that part of the problem is the thought forms we as a society are using. As I have written in other articles, a basic life principle is that energy follows thought. That means thoughts have power and when a whole society holds a thought form it can become very powerful.

A thought that many holds (and have been keeping for many years now) have become, in my opinion, a part of the challenge for creating abundance on a global and national scale. That is the belief in what has been called “Trickle Down Economics.” In pondering our nation and the world’s current economic challenges, that theory which many use to justify keeping taxes low on the most affluent seems to be demonstrating a fatal flaw. As I considered this issue in depth, I realized that prosperity does not “Trickle Down,” it Blossoms.

As I began to work with that new thought, I saw a beautiful blossoming garden where every plant was growing healthy and strong as it reached for the light and reached out to touch everything that grew near it. In addition and more importantly, produced seeds that create new flowers and new blossoms around it. As I hold that image in my mind, it seemed to reflect truth.

I am not an economist, but I do understand the basic principles of money circulation in the world and feel that focusing on the image of prosperity blossoming is a powerful metaphor for how abundance and the world of money works. The growth from the touch of the blossoms to others and more importantly the release and planting of new seeds in the garden of life are all a part of an image and thought that can help rebuild prosperity in the world through the energy of creation. The petals from our blossom caress the flowers that are nearby. The pollen from one flower helps the fertilization and pollination of all of the flowers in the garden.

Every flower in the garden is beautiful and has its place in creating the lush abundance and beauty of the garden.

This prosperity blossoms image is very powerful because it contains within it a fundamental principle about abundance. When there are good times, not just for those at the top but for all levels of society is when we see the economy blossom and grow. Entrepreneurship brings new ideas and solutions to society. The seeds of new ideas can be planted and create jobs and opportunity for others, who then as those businesses blossom spark new ideas and new growth, spreading out and increasing as far as our thoughts can imagine.

Jobs and opportunity are the solution to our debt crisis. This is reflected in the old adage, as goes Main Street, so goes Wall Street. The very rich need the prosperity of the less rich to move the wheels of commerce. Job creation rather than resource hoarding is a part of how prosperity can blossom. Rather than waiting for prosperity to trickle down, those who have the resources need to think how they can blossom forth.

It is just a single thought. However, we all know, thoughts are powerful things.

So I suggest as a nation and as a world, we consider changing our thoughts and our paradigm to Prosperity Blossoming so the petals of prosperity and the seeds of growth can reach the fertile fields of creativity and potential.

In the Light,

Genevieve Gerard

Blossoming Prosperity Paradigm Read More »

Key to Freedom and Happiness

Genevieve Gerard

Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness

by Genevieve Gerard

I often said I would write an article entitled “Forgiveness, the Ultimate Act of Selfishness.” However, this morning as I sit down to write it seems a more appropriate title would be “Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness.” We have all seen the results of a failure to forgive in mean, embittered old people who live lonely lives, blaming others for their misery and their lot in life.

Shakespeare shared his insight on forgiveness’ grace in these lines from the
Merchant of Venice:

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”[1]

Forgiveness may be a blessing to the one you forgive, but to you it offers a healing and freedom to move forward in your life that is much more powerful for you than it is for the one who is forgiven.

When I have said this to people they frequently ask if forgiveness is warranted even when someone has done something that is unforgivable. They ponder whether it is right to forgive someone of a truly heinous act. My answer to this is always a resounding yes. In forgiving someone there is always the possibility that the grace of forgiveness will allow them to truly see the error of their ways and thus bring about transformation.

However, far more important is the grace that forgiveness offers you in freedom from the burdens of anger, hate, resentment, or sorrow that is harbored inside of you. Carrying these old feelings burdens you in the present. If past wrongs are continually brought into present time they are never really over. As long as you carry the burden of your anger, hate and resentment the past is dominating your present. You become inextricably bound to that old wrong as you carry it with you into the present, into the now. By not forgiving and letting go, you allow the old wrong or hurt to color your whole life.

It is reminisant of an old Zen parable from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones called “The Muddy Road” about Tanzan and Ekido, two Buddhist monks, who were renunciates.

Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection. “Come on, girl” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms he carried her over the mud. Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer restrain himself. “We monks don’t go near females” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and beautiful ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”

“I left the girl there.” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”

So it is with us when we fail to forgive past wrongs. We are required to carry them long beyond their time. If you fail to forgive, the past limits your ability to fully appreciate and experience the gifts of the present, because these old harbored wrongs are filling your present time with useless baggage from another time and place. In order to fully experience the freedom and the happiness that is granted to those who live in the now, it is necessary to let go of what you are bringing with you that is not a part of the now. To do this you must forgive the people who caused all the old hurts, wrongs or resentments you are carrying with you.

Of course, there is often another element that must be faced. In order to fully forgive you must make an honest assessment of any responsibility you may have had in the situation that resulted in your being hurt. If after an honest assessment you find that you share any of the blame in bringing about this situation, you also must forgive yourself.

One final step in any situation where you find mutual responsibility is to allow yourself to be forgiven by the other. All that is required is simply your openness to the energy of forgiveness from the other and does not require their active participation.

Forgiveness of old hurts and forgiveness of yourself is like dropping a heavy load that you have carried for far too long. Once you have let go of it you may well find yourself wondering why you chose to carry it for so long. Once you have let go of the old hurts, resentments and pains you will be free to experience what is happening and what is possible in the now.

There is a tremendous freedom that comes from being able to cope with the challenges of the now, in the now. Burdens are lightened and your perspective becomes clearer. Today’s challenges become sufficient for today. And, at last, you have the freedom to live your life fully, one day at a time, one moment at a time, blessed by the freedom of the eternal now.

[1] The Merchant of Venice, Act 4 Scene 1

Key to Freedom and Happiness Read More »

The Value of Keeping a Journal

Genevieve Gerard

Keeping a Journal

by Genevieve Gerard

As I spend time away from the United States I am reminded that journaling is a wonderful tool to help us in the process of transformation.

A journal is a friend you can share with, knowing there is no judgment.

Many years ago when I began journaling, I resolved to live each day so that when I looked back at it when I got older, I would smile. Now, no matter what sorrow or loss I may have been experiencing at the time I was writing, when I pick up an old journal to read, I find I do smile. The love and compassion that the passage of time has granted puts everything into perspective. I did survive, I did prevail, and I have arrived in a different moment of time, bringing with me the wisdom that those events long ago imparted.

The very act of journaling has brought magic into my life with the healing way it has brought me through the dark night of many experiences into the light. Early in my experience of journaling, I began to notice that no matter how unhappy or unsettled I was when I started write, the process of writing would start to clarify things. By the conclusion of the writing, my perspective had shifted, and I was able to understand life and events with a greater depth and clarity.

The times in my life when I have neglected or discarded the discipline of keeping a journal I have regretted the loss of that piece of my journey, for our memory fades and without keeping a journal the lessons we have learned tumble into the mosaic of our life. The mosaic is still beautiful, but without the fine detail and clarity.

To keep a journal does require a commitment and a certain amount of discipline. What I found works best with how to journal is to make a daily entry, even if that entry is simply “To tired to write today” or “Nothing to say right now.” The advantage of this is to keep the energy flowing. Otherwise, it is all too easy to drop the disciple and then lose the habit altogether. When the flow and the continuity are lost, one is no longer keeping a journal, merely writing at will. That is very different, and it serves a different purpose in our life.

As I write these words, I confess that I have slipped into that trap, and I sorely miss the blessing, and continuity journaling has brought into my life. I fell into writing a great deal, but not journaling. And although I have been prolific and writing a great deal these last few years, as I write this article extolling the virtues of journaling, I acknowledge that keeping a journal is significantly different than any other kind of writing, and I resolve to take my advice, and return this well-worn tool of transformation to my life by returning to the discipline of journaling today.

I have found that for me a lovely journal and an old-fashioned fountain pen works best. I have on my shelf a brand new beautiful journal and in my drawer a fountain pen. I feel excitement and pleasure in this decision as if I have found a cherished old friend I had lost contact with along the way of life, to be reunited within joy.

UPDATE: Click To learn my Top 10 Tips On How To Write In A Journal.

The Value of Keeping a Journal Read More »

Energy Follows Thought

Genevieve Gerard

Energy Follows Thought

by Genevieve Gerard

Energy follows thought is a profound principle of man’s spiritual traditions. It is a truth of the Jewish tradition from the Book of Proverbs reveled in the words “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”¹. It is echoed in the New Testament and it is a basic premise of the Ageless Wisdom. It is also a key to understanding the premise behind Napoleon Hill’s famous book, “Think and Grow Rich”, and Norman Vicente Peals “The Power of Positive Thinking.” More recently, it is the core of the very popular book and movie “The Secret.”

Within this simple truth is hidden great revelation. Within this simple truth is hidden great power to create the life you desire. This truth is the principle behind the use of affirmations. It is why in meditation we identify with our Higher Self. It is a way of bringing into manifestation and expression the fullness of our being.

There are in this saying some key points. “As a man thinketh in his heart” is a deep expression that involves the whole being.

The mystery that this truth unveils, discloses not only the power of your thoughts, it is also a guide and lesson on the importance of disciplining your thoughts. Because your thoughts have the power to bring energy into manifestation, it becomes important to harness this principle for your benefit. This is why worry and fear have such a harmful impact on our lives. The more thought and energy is expended in the creation of negative thought forms the more likely what is feared and worried about will happen.

In order to bring positive transformation into your life using this principle you must harness your thoughts. If you truthfully observe your thoughts for even a brief period of ten to twenty minutes, really looking honestly at what thoughts flitter across your mind, you may be shocked at how many negative and negating thoughts you find emerging. If, in the light of this experiment, you ask the question, “Why can’t I have what I want?” You would have to answer, “Because I don’t think I can.”

Years ago, there were a series of post cards with short poems by Bernie Gunther and lovely art by Sister Coretta called High Cards. One of these that I kept stuck on my mirror to remind me to harness my thoughts said, “There is a positive side and a negative side and at each moment, you decide.”

To have the life you envision, the life of your dreams, you can use this ancient principle “energy follows thought” to work for you. Simply notice your thoughts and revise your thinking. If each time you hear yourself say, “I can’t,” you just consciously shift your thinking to “I can,” you will notice your life changing and transforming. If you then add positive affirmation and positive self-talk to replace that limiting expression, you will feel a subtle change that begins to shift your entire perspective.

You can start small, just 5 or 10 minutes a day and see what happens. As you approach your thoughts with awareness observe the power of thought in your life. Then you can decide how you wish to think.

Energy Follows Thought Read More »

Calming the Waves of Emotion

Genevieve Gerard

Calming the Waves of Emotion

by Genevieve Gerard

Learning to calm the pervading turmoil of emotions is another benefit of learning to meditate. Much like the chattering mind, the emotions impact our lives constantly throughout the day. The turbulence created by our emotions can make us unable to truly evaluate what is transpiring in our lives. We find ourselves behaving reactively without thought because something someone has said or done triggers our emotions. By calming the emotions even for only the brief period of meditation we begin to gain perspective and control in our lives.

The respite of meditation gives us a time where we can be free of the force of our emotions and begin to see how they impact and influence our lives. As one enters the meditative state the dual process of quieting the mind’s chatter and calming the roiling emotions begins. As the quiet emerges, the Self experiences freedom from the constant chatter of the mind and the impact of the emotions. This creates a sense of peace, a sensation of centering, and allows us to touch the awareness of life with another part of ourselves in control.

Once we experience this we can imagine what our life would be like if the Higher Self, the Soul, which we can contact in moments of meditation, were to gain control over the chattering mind and swirling emotions all the time. In moments of meditation we can ask ourselves from the perspective of the Higher Self to explore decisions we are making to see what is influencing our decisions. Often we discover that fear (the most powerful and damaging of all emotions) or a series of “shoulds” and “oughts” (the most pervasive negative judgments of the chattering mind) are the major influence in determining how we live our lives. As we explore our potential to live our lives free from these pervasive influences we can see new possibilities and we begin to develop new perspectives.

Here we begin to realize how much of what creates unhappiness and distress in our lives is a result of our own undisciplined thoughts and feelings running amok in our consciousness. Through the simple choice to enter into a meditative state we can receive a respite from the constant barrage of judgmental thoughts and pervasive fears. We can for the time in meditation become aware of the possibility of life operating from a centered peaceful place that focuses on the now. We can begin to understand the benefits that await us as we take control of our life from the perspective of the Higher Self.

Although at first this seems to be a Herculean task, each time you make the decision to meditate, each time you allow your Higher Self to bring the mind and the emotions to a calm quiet, you are demonstrating your personal will in choosing where you want your life to focus. The more regularly you meditate the easier it becomes and the more familiar the Higher Self becomes as a part of who you truly are.

Calming the Waves of Emotion Read More »

Quieting the Chattering Mind

Genevieve Gerard

Quieting the Chattering Mind

by Genevieve Gerard

Meditation is practiced for many different reasons and purposes. One among these is to quiet the mind of the endless chatter in which an undisciplined mind engages. This chatter is usually negative self thought that creates negative feelings. The mindless chatter is filled with unfulfilled desires and critical judgments of the self, with “should have,” “could have” and “ought to” as repetitive phrases. This chatter goes on and on, never being satisfied with what is because it is always focused upon desires that are based on imagined ideals. These imagined ideals are created and fed by popular music, movies, advertisements and impressions of what it believes to be going on in the life of others.

This chatter can destroy the chance for peace and true happiness, because in the constant noise that focuses on what “should be,” the fullness of what is happening is missed. Feelings of despair can be generated as the mind compares real life to these fantasy ideals. In the noise of the chatter, moments that offer the opportunity for joy or peace are drowned out by the criticism of one’s life, that there aren’t more of these moments of joy or peace.

The nature of this mindless chatter is to never be satisfied. If something wonderful happens the mind can quickly becomes fearful of the loss of the wonderful moment, thus diminishing, and ultimately blocking the experience of joy. The mind chatters on and on, “Why can not every moment, person or event be this wonderful? Why must I loose this?” On and on the mind spins discontent, even in the happy events of life, judging each experience and fearing that unhappiness is lurking behind every joy. As this chatter fills the mind it obliterates from the consciousness the experience of the moment.

Through the practice of meditation the mind becomes free to experience the moment. In the moment, joy can emerge to be experienced and appreciated. In the awareness of each moment feelings of deep peace can replace the feelings of discontent that the mind chatter manifests.

The longer one can quiet the mind the deeper and fuller this experience becomes. At first one might only be able to quiet the mind for a brief moment, but that moment is a timeless celebration of what is. The Soul is freed and the spirit soars. In the peace within, the mind is able to experience an awareness of life in all of its fullness. For even in just a moment without the nagging distraction of the mind’s chatter one can glimpse the incredible freedom and power of living in the moment.

There are a myriad of meditation techniques that have been employed for thousands of years to teach quieting the mind so that the aspiring student can experience the moment. In just one moment in which one can fully be in the moment rests the wisdom of the sages and the wisdom of the ages. Once you have found your way into that moment you can begin to assert the mastery of your Higher Self over your lower mind and come to know the joy, the peace and the freedom that are available to you.

The lower mind, the chattering mind, will struggle to stay in control of you and your life. A combination of the practice and discipline of meditation will teach you to quiet the mind over the objections, tricks and distractions the lower mind will offer. Each moment of quiet you achieve is its own reward. And with practice and discipline you can extend the quiet, bringing you joy and the fullness of life.

Quieting the Chattering Mind Read More »

Awesome… Thank You ☺️✨

I recieved amazing grace... By just simply reading the write ups... Encouraged and blessed. God bless.

Thank you Jake, When we pray for others especially at this time of world crisis we are empowered and aligned…

Thanks for sharing is there any way i can help?

Thank you for the inspiring words.

Article

Body and Soul

-Your Soul as your Teacher

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

Mindfulness and Meditations For Daily Joy

-Taking Mindfulness to the Soul Level

by Douglas Russell, M.S.W.

Learning To Love Yourself

— Self-Love from the well that is always full

Three Key Elements of Learning To Love Yourself

Be Gentle With Yourself

Forgive Yourself

Look to the Source of Love

How To Connect

Soul Contact Meditation

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

Holy Week Reflections

You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

Unlocking The Power to Forgive

Deep within the recesses of the human heart, at a point of complete and utter peace, exists a power that has within it the essence of transformation that can heal the world.

The Difference Between Prayer and Meditation

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Recommended Guided Meditation

To Forgive

Reflections on the 15th Anniversary of 9-11

The Physiology of Stress

The Blossoming Prosperity Paradigm

Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness

Keeping a Journal

Energy Follows Thought

Calming the Waves of Emotion

Quieting the Chattering Mind

Mindfulness and
Meditations For Daily Joy

-Taking Mindfulness
to the Soul Level

Unlocking
The Power to Forgive

Reflections on the
15^th Anniversary of 9-11