Genevieve Gerard Serenity Sunday

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!

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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.”

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!

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