Ways To Relieve Stress

Ways to Relieve Stress

No Matter Where You Are or What You Are Doing

Today you are going to learn quick and easy ways to relieve stress.

First, know that your body gives you tools you can use to overcome stress.

Second, your mind can be used to modify stress.

Third and most important, you don’t have to let stress become distressful. Stress is a normal part of living.

Stress is one of the places you can most see the mind-body relationship active. Because of that you can learn to both control and gain mastery over stress. To conquer your stress, it helps to understand how your mind and your body can best work together.

When thinking about stress you can see that stress has always been a part of life. From the earliest evolution of life, stress has been a reality of life. The stress that is created by the needs of human life for survival has existed since the dawn of time. The fulfillment of those needs fuels most of the stress today.

Educational Psychologist Abraham Maslow created a hierarchy of human needs that explains this relationship brilliantly.

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs leads to reduced stress — Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

The most basic of human needs are food, water, sleep and breathing. Fulfilling those needs for yourself and your family remain the primary causes of stress. Likewise the need for safety and shelter from the elements is a universal need. The failure to manifest those needs threatens survival and can cause stress.

Yet, once those steps of food and water, safety and shelter have been satisfied you can move onto needs over which you have more control. Those first two steps on the pyramid as identified by Maslow are so basically physiological that unless they are achieved they remain the primary needs.

However, even within these very basic needs are decisions and choices that can certainly affect how much you stress. In truth, it is the way you choose to fulfill those needs that create lots of stress. Therefore, discriminating between need and want becomes an important aspect of learning to manage your stress.

I do not wish to be naive or cavalier in considering this factor. Indeed, as the old folk saying reveals, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

So much stress is created by the failure to determine whether something is a need or want.
– Genevieve Gerard

Ponder on this statement.

Being proactive in your choices about the commitments you make is an important way to limit your stress, however; although that is about avoiding future stress. It is more important to find ways to relieve the stress that is challenging you today.

10 Ways To Relieve Stress

Here are some quick ways you can learn to use your mind-body relationship to release stress and be more relaxed and centered, that you can do anytime and anywhere when you start to feel stressed.

1. Learn From Your Lessons. Whatever choices you have made, mistakes or errors of judgment, evaluate them and then let them go. They are as of this moment, now in the past. Let them be in the past. You now have new decisions and choices that require your attention.

2. Let Go of The Past by taking a deep lung expanding bottomless breath as you exhale. This works as a subtle physiological factor that uses the important mind-body relationship to release and relieve your stress.

3. Forgive Yourself and open yourself to receive what the unlimited potential of life is bringing to you.

4. Forgive Anyone Else from whom you are estranged.

5. Say A Positive Affirmation with your whole heart, mind, and Soul. (You may wish to have some favorite pre-chosen for just this purpose.)

6. Consider Your Perspective, is there a shift you need to consider that will shift what you are thinking or feeling.

7. Ask yourself “Are My Expectations Realistic.” You are not perfect and you do not need to be perfect.

8. Monitor Your Thoughts, reframe, and re-write any “Stinking Thinking.” There is a positive side and a negative, side so it is up to you to decide.

9. Look Around You and find something for which you are grateful. Then express that gratitude deep into your heart and mind.

10. Free Your Emotions to find your centered calm. Let go of your hurts and your anger to let yourself clear away any negativity. Open yourself to what life is opening up before you that has never been before.

Highly Recommended For Stress Reduction:

Once a day give yourself the Gift of Relaxation. If you take the time each day to do a 10-15 minute meditation or visualization to let your body and your mind deeply relax you can move through your day more easily before the little things can accumulate and become a primary focus of your time and attention. This once a day helps to reset and re-establish a calm baseline.

Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.
That’s why they call it the present.”
– Eleanore Roosevelt

Open your heart and your mind to the incredible opportunity of life and celebrate the possibilities that are emerging, right here, right NOW. Life is an amazing adventure. Enjoy!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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BE All of You

Genevieve Gerard

BE All of You

To come into your full power as an individual and to achieve success and experience real happiness takes becoming aware of and activating in your life all of who you are.

As a human being, you are a complex and multi-dimensional being who functions on different levels simultaneously. Increasing your awareness and potential within those different parts of yourself can empower you to achieve great things.

The more conscious and integrated you become of the fullness of who and what you are as a human being, the more you can harness your abilities and focus them on fulfilling your purpose and your destiny.

What it means to be a human being may seem to be self-evident, but within each of us are untapped powers and potential that can become manifest when we utilize them with consciousness and awareness.

To activate your full power and potential it is advantageous to understand the ways that the different aspects of your human nature can work together for greater health, happiness and success.

To do this let us explore our multi-level nature. Each of us is composed of a physical body. It has very specific very physical requirements and needs. Among the most basic of these needs are water, food, and shelter from exposure to the elements. A body not provided with these very basic needs will not survive long. This is self-evident yet important to understand because the quest for survival and the fulfillment of these basic needs motivates a great deal of human behavior.

However, a human being is more than just a body and both, its needs and its talents are more diverse. In addition to our physical body and our survival needs, we have emotions, a mind, a personality (a merger of our body, emotions, and thoughts) and a Soul (our Divine Spark that makes us more than an animal.) As human beings, we are a most amazing being.

We, in this miraculous merger of the physical body, emotional body, personality, and Soul are stronger than we imagine. To harness the full scope and power of our full potential is what man is evolving to become. Humanity in its present form only has been on earth a relatively short span of time when we look at the history of humankind.

I was listening to a few T.E.D. (Technology, Entertainment & Design) programs published on N.P.R. recently that made this point quiet well. Humanity emerged from the cradle of civilization to occupy the planet a short span of time ago in evolutionary terms. Yet science is looking to a newly evolved type of human being emerging.

As I listened to these two programs, I began to wonder at the deeper meaning of this and consider what all of this means to you and me as we strive to live happier more fruitful and empowered lives.

I began to consider what this all means in relation to principles and concepts I have previously written about in the concept that “energy follows thought,” and a concept I have mentioned previously that we as human beings were created to work in cooperation with the Divine as co-creators of our world. It seems these rather “woo, woo” concepts have a basis in new scientific discoveries. The concepts of what is known as The Ancient Wisdom about how thought can influence material reality are being revealed in the newly explored field of Noetic physics.

I realized that discovering and manifesting the power of thought in the creative expression of your life are important keys that need further exploration and demonstration. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a scientist to explore and demonstrate these powerful principles. You have your whole life as a living laboratory.

You could simply use the powerful tool of affirmation and observe how your life changes. Alternatively, you could watch your thoughts and gain mastery over them in a way that transforms your daily events and experiences. On the other hand, you can practice and refine the tools that will change your life as you hone the discipline of your mind.

It is, in my opinion with the power of your mind and with the focus of intention that you will be able to experience and manifest the next step in evolution. It is in this exciting integration of your Higher Self as a co-creator with the Divine that humankind will evolve.

When you use the power of your mind to empower and transform the events and circumstances of your life, you are joining a movement to bring this new kind of human being into manifestation. When you share your success and wisdom with others, you are actively demonstrating the promise and potential of what being human can be. You become a guide for others on the path to becoming.

This is an exciting time in the evolution of consciousness. This adventure into the awareness of what it truly means to be a spark of Divine Light on planet earth is thrilling. It is an amazing time in which to be alive, grow and thrive.
– Genevieve Gerard

As a resource, I have listed a number of posts that include techniques to create awareness, in the related links at the end of this blog post. There are also other articles and blogs that you can search out on this website. One will undoubtedly work better for you than another. Sometimes a simple shift in how something is said clarifies a concept or grants a new perception.

Most important in any experimentation or exploration that you do is to incorporate your Higher Self and your intuition into the process. In this way, you can use your whole being and your whole self to empower your life experiment as you change your life.

A Brief Technique to Empower You

Sit quietly and receptively. I encourage you to “Calm Your Mind, Open Your Heart, Invite the Light.

Imagine a beam of Light descending from your Higher Self into the top of your head filling your mind with insight and understanding.

Invite from your Soul (Higher Self) the intuition of a clear vision of what you can do better to bring into manifestation the opportunities you desire to achieve the goals you have identified in your life.

Stay with this for about 10 minutes and record your thoughts, your impressions, and direction in a journal you keep for this purpose.

Then go about your day keeping your thoughts positively focused.

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing,
you’re right.
– Henry Ford

Remember that today is the first day of the rest of your life. Celebrate it and enjoy it.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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The Last Step in Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

The Last Step in Forgiveness

This morning in my meditation as I was considering the concept of forgiveness I was granted a new understanding of how forgiveness works. Something I realized is the last step in forgiveness.

Forgiveness has long been a pondering point in my meditations. It is a subject on which I have often written. It is a spiritual work that my life experiences required for me to become free of assaults and indignities that I suffered in my childhood, and sorrows and betrayals in my adult life.

Therefore, to have a new revelation about how the subtle and energetic workings of forgiveness impact life is very exciting for me.

To understand the mechanics of forgiveness in this new light expands the power of what is already one of the most powerful tools of transformation. Forgiveness is a liberation that frees pain and sorrow and allows it to heal. It unravels the chains of anger so that you no longer have to carry the past around and trip over it.

I shall try to share this new understanding with you because I know it is important. The way that this disclosure that I am calling the last step in forgiveness released the energy around a wrong committed by another released a whole new layer of forgiveness that I had never seen before. If you have read any of my previous writings on forgiveness, you know that I teach that the best reason to forgive another is to free yourself from the burden of the past. This then opens you to the unlimited possibilities of an unformed and now unfettered future that is just coming into manifestation.

As such, I have advised you to forgive another, not so much for them, but for you, for it is your life that is freed from the past, and it is your burden of anger and betrayal that is laid down. All of this is imparted in my prior writings and can be explored in detail in the links to related posts at the conclusion of this blog.

Let me start by saying that Forgiveness is profound spiritual work, it, however, is also one of the most life-transforming tools you can use for your personal growth and development.

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

Today’s revelation and understanding go beyond anything I have ever written about the importance of forgiveness. It is not only something I have never talked about before, but it is also a new understanding of the dynamics and workings of forgiveness on an energetic level that makes the act of forgiveness much more powerful than I have ever realized before.

It works on an alchemical energetic level. It works with the powerful principle that energy follows thought and it relies on the truths expounded in the teachings in the field of Neuro-Linguistics. It requires a new layer in the process of forgiveness that has the power to transform the one you are forgiving.

It speaks to an age-old question about forgiving that has always been intertwined with the concept of forgetting. Yes, it has long been argued I can forgive, but I cannot forget what the other has done. In addition, since what has been done in the past cannot be changed, that has had to do.

We all know that it can be a challenge to forgive, so to forget throws it over the top. It is just too much to consider for most people. What we are forgiving in another are usually the most painful things they have done. Just to forgive something seems to be enough.

Indeed, on many levels it is too much for most people. Nevertheless, the insight that I received this morning in my meditation and indeed the whole purpose of this article is to take forgiveness to a entirely different higher level. A level that can bring about real and lasting change in the life of both the one who is forgiving and the one who needs to be forgiven.

Thoughts, as I have often written have great power. It is a universal principle that energy follows thought. Thoughts, in fact mold the world around us in creating our experiences and our reality. They influence the very fabric of matter itself in the world around us. This is part of the new knowledge that began when the world of physics discovered in recent times the workings of subtle energies that are being explored by the newer field of Noetic Studies. The secrets becoming known are beginning to confirm what have long been the teachings of the occult and have been passed down throughout time as the Ageless Wisdom.

This ageless truth is also the basis for the teachings of many past and present thought leaders and motivational speakers. It is to them that I reach today for the words of how to explain this new layer of forgiveness, this new revelation about how forgiveness works.

My Insight on How To Forgive

We all hold in our mind thought forms about one another, just as we hold thought forms or beliefs about ourselves. These thought forms, these beliefs that we hold onto about ourselves often are a focus of our personal work and often must be removed consciously when it is realized that they are “limiting beliefs.” As any practitioner of N.L.P. can tell you and most counselors, life coaches and therapists would confirm, releasing a limiting belief about yourself or making a conscious decision to revise that belief to bring about a desired change when you can affirm “that was true of me then, but now I am …” is a life changing transformational tool.

What I realized to be true that relates to forgiveness is that these beliefs, these limiting beliefs we have of one another create a reality manifested by our thought forms, expectations and the power of the energy we give to it. To release the negative and/or limited thought form you hold in your mind about the other person gives the act of forgiveness the life transforming power of empowering them to change. Ponder on this.

If we can, when we forgive another, also release the thought forms we have created in our minds about them, there is an energetic discharge that frees the person you are forgiving and empowers them to go on in their life and become the person they are striving to become.

To forgive, without this dynamic extra step in the forgiveness process, dare I say the last step in forgiveness, adds to both the probability and possibility that they will again live up to our expectations (and energetic thought forms) and continue to do exactly what they have always done before that needed forgiveness.

Certainly, the best predictor of future behavior has been past behavior. That very expectation, that limiting belief held by both you and the one you are forgiving creates a huge obstacle to their change. Likewise, when you forgive down to the level of shattering the limiting belief you are holding in your mind about the one you are forgiving, you open the door to real and lasting change for them to take full advantage (and responsibility) of the possibilities and potential of the unwritten emerging future with a real freedom that simple forgiveness without this step does not grant.

So, when you forgive, although you may never forget what was done, if you can within your own mind, with the love of your heart, release the limiting belief you have held of them and hold the image in your mind of how they can be and who they can be, freed from the hurtful and painful behavior they have exhibited in the past, you are by your forgiveness, setting them free.

They can release all of the failures and foibles so that they can be, all that your love desires them to be and all that they desire to be for themselves. Then your act of forgiveness has the power and potential to expand into an act of transformation that will make you, and the one you are forgiving and who has needed forgiveness, much happier.

As I was pondering this, I saw the image of the person I was forgiving shatter into millions of shards that exploded and released an amazing rush of energy.

Releasing a Limiting Belief

To release a limiting belief, whether about yourself or another, requires being aware of your mind chatter and what you are thinking. Then you need to change the thought “change your mind” and thereby “change your life.” This is done by editing your negative or limiting thoughts and replacing them with positive, transformational or healing thoughts.

As soon as you catch your thought defining someone (including yourself) with an “am” or “is” statement such as “I am . . .”, “He or she is . . .”, immediately revise the negative or limiting thought with a reframed new positive, limitless thought, now free of the negative limiting belief.

This takes vigilance and consistency. Energy follows thought, that is both the rule and the underlying principle but conflicting thoughts undermine the efficiency of the desired change especially when it requires changing ingrained patterns of behavior. Ponder on this rule.

Know that, with this process transformation and change do occur. It begins with the alteration of a single thought, which works its way energetically into manifested substance, until one day you notice that the limiting thought or belief is no longer in your thoughts. Interestingly, it is often only vaguely in your memory and at that point, you truly know that you have exercised your role as co-creator of your life.

I encourage you to experience this last step in forgiveness, releasing the negative thought forms you have held in your mind about the other and watch how their lives may transform.

Know that this new aspect of forgiveness can bring about real healing in relationships when forgiveness is being asked and being granted.

Remember the past is finished. It has no power over you or over them when with your forgiveness you also free them from your thoughts that have held them in that past. The future is now revealed, as the unfettered and unlimited possibility, to evolve as the fulfillment of all of your dreams.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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Perfection Brings Imperfection To The Surface

Genevieve Gerard

Perfection Brings Imperfection to the Surface

In the world of consciousness, among those who have been long upon the path, there is a phrase that it is very important to understand when you embark upon the journey of transformation.

The phrase is “perfection brings imperfection to the surface.”

This is often a very frustrating and disheartening part of the process of growth and change because just when you have started to have greater understanding and insight you are faced with the parts of yourself that are the antithesis to what you are striving to bring into your life.

Your personality now faced with the increase in light that is coming from your soul, often begins to act out like a long undisciplined child who is now required to behave. Faults, long buried or kept quiescent are now visible in the light and stand revealed, warts and all. How you deal with the imperfections that have become known is an important transition in your transformational adventure.

When you strive to be happier and more successful, there is a tendency to be highly critical of yourself. This is particularly true when you begin to be successful in transcending your fears and gaining control of your life. After having ridden a wildly out of control bucking bronco of life, when you finally get the reins in your hands there is a tendency to be self-critical. I caution you that this is just a less damaging version of the negative self- talk that you have just conquered.

Often, the tendency is to rebury the “negative” trait, denying and ignoring the truth that it shows. However, it is in these revelations of your shadow self that the real work of growth and transformation takes place. It is in dealing with these less attractive and less desirable parts of yourself that you have the opportunity for making a powerful difference in your life.

It is in the process of revelation and resolution that you require compassion, and forgiveness in a context of complete profound honesty with yourself. To look at your shadow self and then light the candle of awareness to illumine all of the glaring ugliness of your faults, gives you the perspective of deep self-compassion and self-forgiveness. While this may be painful for you, it also will be profoundly healing and astonishingly powerful.

This interweaving of who you are becoming with forgiveness and compassion for the mistakes and failures you have experienced through your life is a balancing act. It is important to be gentle with yourself.

Whereas insight can be easy, it is a basic truth in life that change can be hard. To change your way of thinking requires both vigilance and attention. Understanding this principle that perfection brings imperfection to the surface can reassure you that you are changing and growing.

It is in this process that the freedom of being in the now is most needed and most appreciated. This weakness of the self that is revealed can be released in the present time and relegated to history, allowing a new opportunity for the future to emerge. You can see your faults and make the choice to put them aside, as a child puts aside a toy it has outgrown. In addition, although there may be parts that are habitual, awareness helps you break the habit.

Once the imperfection has been brought to the surface, accessed honestly, and evaluated in the emerging understanding of growing awareness, the draw and perceived benefit of the fault is diminished. Once the consciousness has made this shift, the “fault” never again has the same lure because your perspective has changed and the excuses for the negative behavior are no longer valid and sustaining.

It is in imperfection that we discover what is perfect for us.
– Unknown

It is a subtle shift that you may not even notice for awhile, but one day you think back and realize that a particular fault has faded into the barely remembered past, and why you had ever behaved that way is vague and unclear to you. This is the healing benefit of seizing the opportunity of self-examination and release when perfection brings imperfection to the surface.

You can observe a behavior, thought form, or limiting belief you have held, but after you have let the light and awareness of your Higher Self consider it and consciously decide to reject it, then you can become free to be different, to be who you know and desire yourself to be.

Each and every time you act congruently with the way you are now choosing to be; each time you catch yourself in old thought form patterns, each time you let the imperfections come to the surface and then conquer them, you are reinforcing and manifesting the change you desire.

Change, growth and evolution are an ongoing process of giving up as you take up. Each time you catch yourself in old negative thought patterns, stop it and then change them. You win. These little victories are ways to achieve the peace of mind, the success and the release from fear that were out of reach when you began to grab the reins of your thoughts and decided to stop letting your fears, insecurities or limitations control your life.

The more you grow, the more you know.

To transform your life into the life of your dreams is a choice only you can make. It is your life to spend as you wish.

Three Things to Ponder on Today to Make A Difference

Realize that your thoughts are a power you can use to create the life of your dreams.
Consciously be aware of the content of your thoughts (about yourself and your life.)
With clarity and intention, affirm what you belief to be true about yourself and your life.

Follow these steps and you will begin the energy of change and transformation. Add to them an underlying expression of desire and intention and give your creative mind the attention of focus and affirmation and you will be on your way.

Remember, this is a new way of thinking and a new way of being. If you find yourself falling back into old patterns of self-recrimination and negative thinking be gentle with yourself. Consider objectively what is coming to clarity.

Often negative self-talk is the “voice” of someone in your past. Evaluate and consider what comes to light in your process of becoming who you want to be. Let the Light of your Higher Self bring your mistakes and failures into clarity so that you can put them behind you. The Past cannot be changed. Let it go and be free of it. The present is offering you gifts that have never been available before. Open yourself fully to receive them. The future is before you as an exciting adventure that is unfolding right here and right now.

Remember, you are not limited by what has ever been before. Let the future stand revealed. You now have the opportunity to clear away any of the imperfections that your invitation to your Higher Self may have revealed so that you can embrace the unlimited possibility and dynamic potential of being, who you want to be, and all that you are meant to be.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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Ways To Change Your Life

Genevieve Gerard

Ways to Change Your Life

and Experience Transformation

Many tools are available to change your life and increase your joy.

By your conscious decisions with your awareness and intention, you can have a dramatic impact on the joy you experience in your life.

Today I give you my list of actions you can take on your own to change and transform your life and have better relationships, greater joy and happiness.

1. Love Someone Unconditionally

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance. – Brian Tracy

When you transcend your own needs sufficiently to love someone without expectations or conditions you are opening your heart to a bond that can comfort and sustain you all the days of your life. To truly honor, cherish and treasure another without criticism or judgment is a way of loving that supports the good and the growth of the beloved. This is a powerful gift that is a transformative touch of the Divine.

2. Forgive Yourself

Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
– Les Brown

When you forgive yourself you are freeing yourself from the pain and bondage of the past, and are opening your life to the unlimited possibilities that all you have ever desired can manifest for you. You no longer need to bear the shame of past mistakes. You are now free to live your life in a way that is new and different from what has been to express your full power.

3. Forgive Someone

When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future. – Bernard Meltzer

When you forgive another, even of what may seem unforgivable you are creating a grace that frees you from past hurts as you enter into the NOW, no longer bound by what used to be. You are, by your forgiveness releasing both you and the other from the limitations of the past. Forgiveness changes everything. When you forgive you are enfolded in joyful grace and compassion. The one you have forgiven is now freed to become what they are meant to be.

4. Express Gratitude

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
– Brian Tracy

Your expression of gratitude and appreciation opens a portal for abundance and blessing to flow freely to you from Source. It magnetically draws to you what you need to receive more of what you desire and what you need to manifest your Higher Purpose in Life.

5. Align with Your Higher Self

When you connect with your Soul, also known as your Higher Self, you become aware of a part of yourself that is so glorious and magnificent that experience is often transformational and profound.
– Genevieve Gerard

By consciously aligning with and inviting your Soul presence into your life you are opening your mind to the wisdom and insight of your Higher Self. When you call upon Your Soul to guide you and listen in the silence to its promptings and guidance you are opening your life to living in a co-creator relationship with God.

6. Practice Harmlessness

Make a habit of two things: to help; or at least to do no harm.
– Hippocrates

As you move through the events and circumstances of your life this week consider your words before you speak and the potential impact they may have on others in light of the principle of Harmlessness. Thinking of the impact of your words and actions on others transforms your relationship into stronger, healthier and more mutually supportive and loving bonds.

7. Give Generously of the Gifts You Have Received

True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share. – Suze Orman

When you give to others freely and without fear, you open a portal of abundance and blessing into your life. An important part of abundance is the multiplication factor of giving and sharing. Each time you freely share and freely give you are demonstrating your faith in the future and reinforcing the powerful thought form that you have enough and you are enough for whatever the future brings.

8. Surrender Your Personal Will to Divine Will

Whatever I will become will be what God has chosen for me.
– Elvis Presley

When you surrender your personal Will to Divine Will your life is guided by a sense of purpose and joy that is sustained. By this mighty marriage of doing all that you can do with the alignment of your physical acts of doing, with action, your emotions freed from fear and your mind with clear intention, surrendering an affirming that God’s Will and God’s wisdom are greater than what we can see and know from our human perspective you are imbuing and empowering your life with a Higher Purpose as revealed from your Source of Higher Power.

9. Release Your Fears

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones. – Thich Nhat Hanh

When you release your fears, you take your place as a co-creator with Source in your life manifesting what you need spontaneously. Your mind is the most powerful creative force on earth. When you release your fears, you stop creating what you don’t want and you are empowered to create the life you are meant to live. Each time you release a fear and replace the negative thought with a positive thought from your mind, and align with your Soul and life purpose, you are gaining power to manifest the success an abundance that you envision and desire.

10. Love Yourself

I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line. – Lucille Ball

When you love yourself, you are affirming the truth that you are a beloved child of God and will be nurtured and provided for with love. When you accept and love yourself, you are aligning to empower your life with the guidance and wisdom of yourself to help you be and become all that you are meant to be.

When you bring your body, your heart and your mind into unity and relationship with your Soul, the universe expands to incorporate a vision that is timelessly and endlessly sustained by love.

By opening yourself to the love of your Soul you realize a state of oneness and unity that transcends the material world so that you may fly on the wings endless bliss, peace and joy beyond time or space.

When you are aligned with the power and the purpose of your Soul, magic, and miracles manifest. You are able to use the fullness of your being in the joyous expression of your human adventure as a Divine child of God here on earth.

If you open your heart and your mind and your Soul to each of these thoughts and intentions each morning of the day as a part of your spiritual practice, you are tuning up your life to use the gifts you have received to have a happier and more fulfilling life.

By focusing on your intention to manifest these qualities in your life this week, you will find more joy, more peace, and more prosperity in your life by this time next week.

I wish you the best as you open up to ways to change your life and experience transformation.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

Ways To Change Your Life Read More »

Gratitude Works Magic

Genevieve Gerard

Gratitude Works Magic

The way of life has little secrets in it that once revealed and practiced have great power to influence and affect your life.

Gratitude is one of those secrets that influences your life.

Amazingly, gratitude is one of the most powerful portals to a life of joy.

To practice gratitude and to incorporate it into your daily habits will transform your life.

This is true on multiple levels. From our youngest days, we were all taught the importance of saying words like “thank you” and “please.” In fact, I remember a children’s rhyme from my own childhood that said: “these are the keys that will open any door with ease, thank you so much and if you please.”

However, since these simple phrases often can be layered with demand, criticism and judgments it is easy to avoid saying them to one another. Worse than that, you may end up saying the words without really meaning them, which from an energetic perspective could be worse than not saying them at all.

To begrudgingly express gratitude, not from a sense of real appreciation but because of a demand or simply because it is “manners” or expected from you, dissipates the impact that gratitude has.

Gratitude and appreciation are the handmaidens of “The Law of Attraction.” When dealing with Universal Laws, like the “Law of Attraction” or the universal principle that “energy follows thought” you are inside of the very matrix of creation. Their insincere words expressed without the heartfelt spirit with which the words are usually infused are automatically ignored and therefore lack the power and energy to have an impact.

Therefore, to unlock the magical power and profound impact that gratitude can have in your life I caution you to make sure that your expressions of thanks are sincere and heartfelt. We have all received a perfunctory or polite “thank you.” You have probably ignored them or didn’t even fully register them. They can turn into a meaningless social communication with one another.

When I say that gratitude works magic I am not talking about the results of automated heartless responses. For the magic of the Law of Attraction to be truly released, the expression of gratitude and feeling of appreciation must be real. When you genuinely feel grateful, it is accompanied by your heart feeling full and love energy is ignited in a transpersonal and unconditional way.

If you pay attention to the feeling that you have in your heart (chakra) area when you are feeling genuine gratitude and appreciation for someone or something you will know what I mean. It is that energetic spark that ignites the magnetic impulse of the Law of Attraction that brings into your life greater abundance of exactly what you are appreciating and enjoying. This is the secret power that unlocks the deep magic of gratitude.

When you send out a magnetic impulse, to bring into your life more of what you have truly appreciated, you invoke an energetic response that is a manifestation of your co-creator role of your life with the Divine. It is through this mystical mechanism that thought leaders and spiritual teachers have said that you are responsible for what you attract. Ponder on this.

Just as thoughts, send out vibrations to which there is a creative and attractive power, gratitude stimulates the field of etheric energy that surrounds you on a subtle level to bring into your life more of what brings you joy.
– Genevieve Gerard

These universal principles, such as the law of attraction, energy follows thought and countless others, are the subtle dynamics that impact energy in the alchemy of our role as co-creator whether you choose to use them or not. The laws of the universe, although they can be used to work for you, continue to work even if you never attempt to utilize them to have a better life.

Much like the Sun shines the same on the rich and the poor, these creative principles, such as the law of attraction, energy follows thought, and the law of repulse affect the laws of physics. Their true nature is just beginning to reveal itself with the study of noetic science. This has been changing the understanding of the world since the revelation of quarks and other unseen factors of energy that are just coming into our conscious awareness. Interesting enough, this new science is proving many of the truths long held by the esoteric teachings of the Ageless Wisdom.

As more and more understanding of this subtle world reveals how thoughts, gratitude and fear and worry impact the world of our experience and manifestation there becomes an increase in the understanding of how much you can impact your life experience by using these subtle laws to create the experiences you desire. Likewise, you can see your responsibility in creating what you experience.

Principles such as energy follows thought and the response to expressions of gratitude are some of the easiest ways to demonstrate the truth of these universal laws and principles because they react so quickly to manifesting. Almost everyone who has begun to practice gratitude and appreciation in their life can tell you a story of how their life has become more joyful, happier and they have ever-increasing reasons for which to express gratitude. This is why I call gratitude, magic.

For some reason gratitude has an accelerated noticeable response time, perhaps because it is much easier to express gratitude, than to stop negative thoughts, fears or worries, although the subtle principles of energy field theory are exactly the same. The key is learning to manage your thoughts to what is positive and what you desire and not what you fear or worry about.

A technique that can powerfully transform your life to align with these subtle laws and principles is to increase your awareness of the content of your thoughts and then, once observed, take an active creator role with them, focusing on what you are enjoying and appreciating. Then, immediately express with that deep sensing of gratitude your delight.

What you are appreciating will range from simple to complex. The response of the increased joy is significant. All around you, everywhere you go today, there are opportunities to practice appreciation and gratitude. These sensations will be so strong that they can dispel fear or worry and bring you into greater alignment with your Higher Self and your Higher Power.

Therefore, I invite you to practice the magic of gratitude. I know your life will respond. Enjoy.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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Be The Director Of Your Life

Genevieve Gerard

Be the Director of Your Life

The nature of thought is that it directs what is created in your life.

This is the subtle principle behind the Law of Attraction and the teaching that “energy follows thought.” This is why thought leaders of diverse backgrounds tell you that to change your life you need only change your mind.

In this simple statement of truth about the nature of reality and the nature of life is a powerful tool that you can use to create the life of your dreams.

Universal laws, such as the “Law of Attraction” and the principle that energy follows thought reveal how the world works. And, it works that way whether you believe it or not, whether you choose to use this information or not. The workings of these forces can be something you bring to your conscious awareness or ignore. Whatever you do, whatever you choose does not change the law. It works and operates with or without you consciously doing anything at all.

Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right.
– Walt Disney

Your mind and your thoughts are always sending out messages that affect the creation of what you experience. That may be a painful thought for you to get your head around because most certainly in your life you experience both situations that you want and enjoy, and circumstances that you do not want.

As you read these words you might find yourself arguing with what I have just stated as you think about some particularly unpleasant situation and contend, “well I certainly didn’t want this or that.” However, whether you were conscious of your thoughts or not, this is how the world works. It is not personal, but it is real.

In fact, it is the very impersonal nature of these laws that contain both the blessing and the curse of this fact. The idea that you had anything to do with or were involved with creating the experiences in your life of sorrow, pain, suffering or failure can be a frustrating and frightening thought. However, if you stop to think about it, it can also be very empowering because then you realize that to change your life you need only change your mind.

It sounds simple, but if you examine the content of your thoughts, you realize it may not be easy. In fact, the technique I will be presenting to you today is all about examining the content of your thoughts. It is by using the technique that you can become the director of your life and leave behind the role of actor and reactor to a life that happens to you unconsciously.

You are already the co-creator of your life. That is part of what came with the spark of Divine Light that animated humanity from the dawn of creation. It is what it means when they say; you are a child of God. And deep principles such as free will make that something you can choose to use, or you can choose to ignore. Your choice doesn’t impact the nature of personal reality, but it does affect the life you live.

It is our choices that show what we truly are,
far more than our abilities.
– J.K. Rowling

That said it is important that you consider the nature of the thoughts that you are sending out to create your life, your personal reality. It is to help you consciously bring to your awareness what you are thinking, that I created this exercise.

The First Step – Observe your Thoughts

It is the nature of thought that it is quicksilver-fast and has within it many layers embedded with emotions. Herein lays the challenge. What you are broadcasting from your mind is all too often, what you don’t want to happen. If what you are sending out with your co-creator power, consciously or unconsciously are your fears and worries then you will most likely create more of the same.

In a recent blog called “Why Let Worry Waste Your Time,” I make the point that worrying is like praying for what you don’t want. When your thoughts are sending out your fears or worries, the universe usually responds by providing situations where those thoughts will be manifested.

Therefore, if you choose to be the director of your life and harness the incredible power of your mind this first step of observing what you are thinking is essential. It has long been the goal and purpose of meditation through diverse methods and techniques to help the meditator gain mastery over what is often called “the monkey mind.”

The exercise I offer you today is a technique I have taught for years to help people gain mastery in their life so they can be the director of their life and manifest the positive power as a co-creator.

I Am the Director Exercise:

Spend Just Three Minutes a Day to Change Your Life

and Observe Your Thoughts as the Detached Observer

I recommend that you pledge to yourself that you will do this for
3 minutes each day.

To be the detached observer requires that you consciously drop all judgment and criticism of yourself as you observe your thoughts. It is helpful when you start the clock on your observation of your thoughts that you consciously connect with your Higher Self and you open your heart and your mind to the promptings of your Soul.

This makes your observation a meditative experience and automatically adds more power to the experience.

Sit quietly with your spine aligned as you:

Calm your mind, Open Your Heart, Invite the Light.

Then just listen in the quiet to what you are thinking. It is important that as you do this, you suspend judgment and self-criticism or those may become your thoughts.

Then, as soon as you recognize a worry thought, a fear thought or a limiting belief, take the conscious role of director in your life and edit it, correct it, stop it and reframe it with the thought of what you want or desire.

As the director command “Cut,” and rewrite the script (thought) reframe it and affirm the thought that is now in keeping with what you want to create. Then you can use an affirmation to help you to bring the new thought into greater clarity and focus. Then you can take action to bring what you have chosen into full manifestation.

Continue this process on to the next thought until you observe another thought that contains worry, fear or a limiting belief. Do these processes repeatedly as many times as you can in the 3 minutes you have set aside.

If you are like most people I have taught this technique too, you will be astonished at how much of your unedited, and uncorrected thoughts are fearful and if allowed to go unchecked would result in what you do not want to happen.

Although you can continue this exercise as long as you wish, I have found that 3 minutes is a significant amount of time to discipline and harness the mind. Although this is much easier for experienced meditators, I have found that the regular practice of this technique for 3 minutes a day is sufficient that you will see a transformation in your life.

As such, using this technique where you take control as the director of your life is sufficiently empowering and rewarding that you begin to monitor and edit your thoughts on an ongoing basis consciously. In this way, you manifest the power to “Change Your Thoughts to Change Your Life.”

This power is your birthright. This power is yours to use or ignore. This technique is a tool in your quest to “Be and Become All That You Are Meant to Be.”

Namaste,

Genevieve

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.”

Read more details…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last updated 10/27/2021

Be The Director Of Your Life Read More »

You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

Genevieve Gerard

You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

Or, more realistically, you can be perfect exactly as you are.

That does not mean that there aren’t things you could have done better. There probably are.

Yet, the amazing thing about the adventure through life is you get another chance to try a different way to handle almost any situation that life brings your way. Perfection only exists moment to moment, situation to situation.

Realizing this can be very freeing. Life as it unfolds offers you the unlimited opportunity to learn and grow from your mistakes. If you never make mistakes, you may be denying yourself the valuable opportunity to learn and grow. So much of what interferes with your ability to be happy comes from self-judgment and harsh self-criticism that it is important to consider this aspect of life experience.

Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. Own your quirks. And know that you are just as perfect as anyone else, exactly as you are.
– Ariana Grande

Perfection, the whole concept of being perfect is a paradox. On one level, you are perfect exactly as you are. On another level, you could use a little improvement. No one is perfect. If you ever meet someone who thinks they are perfect, their imperfection is hubris and pride.

When writing this post, I went to a site to pick a photo to go along with it. I put the word perfection in the search bar. There were 233,000 pages of photos available, many of specific body parts designed to be used for Photoshop (photo editing) versions of unrealistic standards of beauty or perfection. That mere fact showed me how important it is for someone to not hold his or her life up to unrealistic and false standards of excellence.

You might recall that I explored this aspect of our tendency to hold ourselves up to unrealistic and imaginary standards in another Wisdom Wednesday Blog (see hand-picked post link on expectations at the bottom of this page.)

So many times in life, the tendency to hold yourself up to an unrealistic and unachievable standard of perfection creates stress, anxiety, and disappointment. This can interfere with your ability to enjoy life in the moment and appreciate what is actually happening. Life does not demand perfection, but life does require learning.
– Genevieve Gerard

The ability to learn from a mistake is one of the most fantastic and marvelous things about the human experience. Once a mistake has been made you have the ability, in your complex and remarkable mind, to immediately understand and analyze what you just experienced and quickly evaluate the success and satisfaction with the outcome. What you do not have the ability to do is to change what happened. That is now in the past. It is time to let it go of the past. It is time to forgive, either yourself or another and open up to what is now unfolding at this moment. It is time to learn by considering other options you have.

Once that has been accomplished, the experience, whatever the experience was, good or bad, beautiful or ugly, has served its function in your life. No purpose is served by criticism or judgment beyond the evaluation of how you might wish to handle this kind of situation the next time you encounter it. Ponder on this!

If you store that in your life lessons data bank, then you can move on to whatever is coming into manifestation. What is coming into manifestation is not yet created, is not yet happening, so you need not be concerned until it does. Also, you are assured that you will be given the opportunity to demonstrate and integrate what you have learned.

You are not perfect and you have no need to be perfect. Most believe only God is perfect and you are not God so you can be gentle with yourself, you can be kind to yourself and you can let whatever you have just learned to be an asset to help you cope with and handle whatever new opportunity is coming your way. You can forgive yourself for whatever mistake you might have made either by commission or by omission.

Life will present you with another chance, an opportunity to try or apply the lesson you have just learned. You do not get just one chance or even just a second chance, you get as many chances as you need, unlimited until you have learned what you are trying to learn.

Then, even after you have learned the specific lesson, life comes around again to give you the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned. Therefore, it is the understanding of an experience or event in life that is important, not the perfection that is more often than not an imaginary standard.

If you think about all of the times in your life that holding an event or situation up to this imaginary measurement of perfection has left you feeling disappointed or dissatisfied then you will have learned a valuable life lesson. If you choose to apply this lesson with compassion and forgiveness, you have set the stage for a new opportunity to present itself to you.

Therefore, I urge you today, to be kind to yourself, be compassionate with yourself, and forgive yourself easily, freely and frequently. You don’t have to be perfect. You already are an excellent student of life by your nature, and that is quite sufficient. In this whole world, indeed in this entire universe, there is only one you. The only perfection you will ever need to achieve is to be you. You are already perfect in the mind of God. Any other kinds of perfection are not only not possible but also unnecessary.

For you to truly be and become all that you already are and learn and evolve and grow through life’s lessons and events is enough. Now take a deep breath in through your nose, exhale fully through your mouth, and say after me:

I am enough; I am enough exactly as I AM

Live your life to the fullest and learn from everything life deposits on your pathway.

Do the best you can with what you have available in your exact situation and circumstance and keep moving forward by learning, forgiving and opening up to whatever unusual imperfect situation is coming to you.

It might help to say or affirm when you wake up each morning:

Morning Affirmation

Today, as my life unfolds before me I am ready to learn, to gain in wisdom and understanding what it is to live.

I appreciate this adventure of life.

I open myself to experience fully all that life has available for me, today.”

– Genevieve Gerard

This attitude and this approach to your day will set you up to enjoy whatever life brings, knowing that any mistake you may make can be forgiven. Every circumstance and situation is an opportunity to grow and learn. Seize that opportunity.

Take from it as much as you can in the present, then let it go into the past. In this way, you can appreciate the diversity of life’s adventure. Before you, the future is being created, evolving and forming, right now.

Enjoy. Grow. Thrive!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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3 Questions To Ask Yourself To X Out Expectations

Genevieve Gerard

3 Questions To Ask Yourself To
“X” Out Expectations

There is a simple way that you can immediately increase your happiness and enjoy your life more.

It is by freeing yourself from the expectations you have layered onto your life.

Those expectations not only cause you pain but they are most often a fantasy of something that is both untrue and unreal.

Many, dare I say most of our expectations come from a belief that any event or situation in life “should” be different than it is. This tendency to hold our lives up to the judgment that any circumstance “should” be different than what it is, or what is expected, is a guarantee to interfere with the ability to enjoy and appreciate what is actually happening in your life.

If you were to actually consider where most of these “should” thoughts originate you would realize that many of them come from media input, found in television, movies, and magazines. It is important to understand that these stories have been created and edited to match up with fantasy expectations of life. They are not real stories of real people, and even when they are taken from real-life stories they have most often been manipulated to make a good drama or an engaging comedy. They are not real life. Real-life, your real life, when freed from these projections of unrealistic expectations is for most people filled with many opportunities and blessings if you stop to evaluate your life realistically.

Happy endings (an obsession with many American audiences,) and happily ever after, a required part of the modern fairy tale, are a fantasy. To meet this need for happy conclusions, many foreign filmmakers create alternate endings, one for American audiences and a more realistic and some might say sad ending for other parts of the world. That practice has waned as the worldwide media distribution has carried the proliferation of unrealistic expectations to the far reaches of the earth.

It seems to me that even though you probably know that these imitations of life are not life itself it is all too easy to hold your life up to these fantasy portrayals in your mind. Then, unfortunately, you experience the pain of disappointment when your life fails to measure up. The fact that these expectations came not from your observation of reality, but rather from the illusions of the media industry might never cross your mind.

Dealing with your expectations and freeing yourself from the litany of “should” and “ought’s” is one of the single most powerful things you can do to increase your joy and satisfaction with your life. Dropping unrealistic expectations of how an event or situation “should be” opens you up to be able to experience what is actually happening in your life. Frequently, when you stop evaluating your life through the fantasy the media portrays you realize just how amazing your life really is.

This single shift in your perspective does so much to make your life happier and more fulfilling that I began in my own life journey to refer to the times that I was “shoulding” on myself with the byline of “how I make myself miserable.” Fortunately, since the fantasy of these “happily ever after” “happy endings” are clearly not real, a little application of logic and a simple decision to “X” out the expectations and let yourself look at your life without holding it up to an imaginary standard goes a long way to increase your experience of pleasure and happiness.

You were born with an amazing mind and it is helpful to use your mind to shift your perception. I have prepared a few questions you might pose to yourself when you find yourself caught up in the thrall of unrealistic expectations.

The Questions To Ask Yourself:

1. “Who says I “should”?

Britney Spears Before & After Airbrush — Britney Spears Airbrush

This may be one of the most powerful questions to ask yourself.

Xing out expectations is a process of freeing yourself of often well-established glamours and illusions in your mind so it is helpful to identify the “voice” that is generating that message.

This identification of either who in your life or where in your life you developed the message that you “should” is very freeing.

Very often that “should” comes from the news, television, magazines, or the movies and your logical mind can immediately comprehend is not real life and therefore is not a realistic standard by which to judge an event or situation.

If this is from someone else, a parent, a sibling or friend look objectively at their life and consider if their life meets this imaginary expectation. Most often, it does not.

Just ask yourself, “who says I should ______________” and fill in the blank.

As an example, “who says I should try to look like a movie star in order to
feel glamourous and feel good about myself?”

As you can see, even movie stars don’t really look like movie stars (in everyday life.)

2. “Why Not Me”?

This is a very revealing question. In my years of counseling and coaching individuals often ask “why me” when dealing with catastrophic life circumstances. I coined a phrase to address that question. I would ask, “why not you?.” I would often then say, “Show me the ‘life guarantee’ you got with your birth certificate and I will make God honor it.”

In over 40 years, I never once saw such a guarantee.

3. “Is that experience really better than what is really happening?

This is a question where I often, and I hope you can upon examining a situation or circumstance, realize that actually what is really happening is not only perfectly fine but is often preferable to what was being proposed in the unattainable “should” category.

Asking yourself the three simple questions does a lot to free you from the pain and sorrow that evaluating your life based upon unrealistic fantasy expectations cause. Freeing yourself of expectations opens you to experience, appreciate and enjoy your life. It is a way to enable you to feel the full breadth of joy that is available to you in any moment of time.

Bringing your consciousness and attention into what is actually happening in any given moment of time and leaving behind the expectations and illusions of “shoulda, coulda, oughta” gives you the strength to deal with what is real in your life. And although not every event or circumstance in your life will be exactly what you may wish it to be, experiencing what is really happening is so much more satisfying and fulfilling than trying to live up to your unfulfilled expectations that can never be.

This simple application of your logical mind can create greater joy and satisfaction in your life.

Clearing your life of the self-induced sorrow and pain of never-ending expectations will be freeing and will open you up to the unlimited potential and magnificent possibilities that life can bring with each new day.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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

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Are You Still Carrying the Past?

Genevieve Gerard

Are You Still Carrying the Past?

There is an old Koan that tells a story of two monks who were traveling from their monastery to a neighboring monastery far away.

Now a Koan is a story that Zen masters of old told to impart an important lesson.

A Koan is a story the student is to ponder to learn an underlying truth that leads them to intuitive enlightenment.

Long ago in my spiritual training, my Zen Master told this one to me. It is one of my favorite stories. Today I share it with you.

The Story

Two monks were traveling on a long journey. As was the way of the times, they were walking. Their journey eventually took them to a stream that was rapid and overflowing. As they were considering the best way to cross the stream, a beautiful maiden approached them.

It was the tradition of Buddhist monks that they take vows of celibacy so these monks had little experience with or exposure to beautiful maidens. The woman explained that she must get to the other side of the flooded stream and had not been able to cross. She asked for help.

One of the monks, upon hearing of her difficulty swept the woman up into his arms and carried her across the flooded water. He gently deposited the maiden on the opposite bank. She thanked him profusely. Then he walked on.

When his brother monk had also made his way across the stream, the two monks traveled on. As they walked, there was an uncomfortable silence between them. The brother monk seemed to be agitated and annoyed.

Eventually the monk inquired of his brethren monk what the cause of his distress was. The monk finally blurted out in anger and judgment. “I don’t understand how and why you could touch that woman. We, monks, have vowed to have nothing to do with a woman.”

After a few moments of considering what had distressed his brother the monk stated calmly “Brother, I left the woman back at the stream, are you still carrying her?”

This simple Koan speaks to the distress that is trapped in judgments and anger. The longer you hold onto that judgment and that anger the more you are trapped and limited from moving on. Clinging to your anger and righteous indignation can keep you from enjoying and appreciating what re opportunities and possibilities are before you. Clinging to those feelings, especially holding on to resentments keep you unable to see what is available in the present, in the moment, in the NOW.

I have always liked this simple story because it is clear that the angry monk did no harm to anyone but himself. The Buddha is reported to have said “It is not that you will be punished for your anger, but that you will be punished by your anger.” Ponder on this.

To carry your anger forward from the event that initially created the anger is one of the most significant ways we interfere in our own happiness, our ability to enjoy life, and our ability to experience true joy.

EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS

Of course, it is natural for us all to experience anger. That is an unavoidable part of our human experience. However, once someone has done something that makes you angry you get to decide how long you wish to carry it with you. In that decision, you decide how much you choose to be hurt and ultimately held back by the anger.

An emotion, any emotion, but particularly a strong emotion like anger has a flow to it, much like diving into a pool of water. When you dive, you know instinctively how deep into the water to take the dive before you naturally and spontaneously turn to the sky and come out of the dive.

When you take that natural and spontaneous feeling of anger and layer it with judgment (they shouldn’t have done that to me), resentment (I deserve to be treated better) and any of the other justifications you can create to cling to the anger, you are prolonging the pain of the initial injury. This is where you have a choice that can have a far-reaching impact on your life. This is the crucial point where the choices you make have an impact on how much joy you have.

In the thrall of your anger, judgment and righteous resentment at the wrong, it may be difficult to see that you have a choice. But anything beyond that initial spontaneous flash of the emotion of the anger is within your control, your choice. You might ask what you can do other than experience the outrage? You might wonder what choice I am talking about. You could feel completely trapped in that past event and see no possible solutions; after all, you were wronged.

Aren’t you totally justified being angry and resentful? To that, I say yes that may be true. But I ask you for your consideration, why would you choose to? What happened, whatever happened, is now in the past. The question I would ask for your consideration is what does bringing it into the present and carrying it with you give you? It certainly does not make you happy.

You can let go of the past pain, sorrow or injury by coming into present time and releasing the past. That immediately frees you from the burden of carrying old hurts. I understand it may require forgiving the person who hurt you. They may well not even deserve your forgiveness. The freedom that your forgiveness gives is to you, not them. The life forgiveness most influences is yours.

FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is a way that you can put what is past behind you and move forward in your life to whatever new experience and adventure that life places before you. You do not have to choose to carry old hurts and waves of anger around with you. Ironically, the person who wronged you may not ever know that you forgave them. That really is not important. If you are in an ongoing relationship with that person they may sense it on some intuitive level, or you may choose to tell them. However, the most important change that takes place when you release an old anger is within you.

By forgiving, you are now free. You are no longer limiting your ability to seize the new opportunities that are unfolding before you because of something outside of this moment. By choosing to let go of the past you are empowering your life.

A SIMPLE FORGIVENESS TECHNIQUE

A very simple technique of forgiveness that I have found to be very freeing and very powerful comes from an old Hawaiian teaching called Hoʻoponopono [ho-o-pono-pono] (an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.) Please note, I have added a few additional phrases to the standard teaching.

The Traditional Phrases are:

I love you.
I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.

The additional phrases that I sometimes also add are:

I forgive you.

And

I forgive myself.

The elegance of this technique is its simplicity. All you have to say in your mind is the specific repetitive phrases above when observing the behaviors of those around you. Keep repeating the phrases no matter what is happening or what anyone is doing.

Beyond using the power of your mind there is nothing you need to do or say out loud. You don’t have to belabor the circumstance; the focus on these phrases creates the release.

IN CONCLUSION

The freedom to be in the present releases you from the past and opens you up to enjoy the possibilities of the future while you experience more joy in your life at this moment.

At times, although this technique is very simple it may seem hard for you. That is OK. Simple is different from easy. When you find it difficult to release the past or forgive it, it might be revealing to ask yourself what are you getting from clinging to an old hurt or wrong.

For many the lure of clinging to the past is the reassurance that you were right, and therefore, the other persons were wrong. Certainly, that reassurance is not worth carrying the pain of the anger with you and it is not worth limiting the potential and possibilities that are emerging in your unobstructed life as the future is unfolding.

Therefore, I encourage you to choose to stop carrying the hurts of the past and open yourself up to the new opportunities that will be revealed to you. You will be happier. You will be immediately rewarded with a greater lightness and more joy.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

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It All Depends on Your Perspective

Genevieve Gerard

It All Depends on Your Perspective

How you experience something is influenced by your perspective.

Everything that happens in life is always being processed, cataloged and interpreted by the combined influence of the input of your physical senses, sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.

As quickly and spontaneously as that information is noted and processed a flood of emotion is added to the situation. Immediately, your quicksilver mind begins evaluating, processing and analyzing. The sum total of your life experience is spontaneously judging and comparing what is being experienced.

The power of realizing this amazing way that information and events are being experienced is that you have the potential to interpret and truly understand an event simultaneously. This gives you great power to be in the role of the director in your life.

In spiritual teaching, in the Ageless Wisdom and in so much of psychological and motivational thinking is the reminder that how you react to any life circumstance is important. Every situation and happening require interpretation. In that process of interpretation lays a profound secret of being happy vs. sad, frightened or excited, fulfilled or disappointed.

When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It’s all a matter of perspective.
~ Harvey Mackay

Perspective is important. Unfortunately, so much of your response to an occurrence is framed in an automatic almost knee-jerk reaction to what is happening and does not come from a fair evaluation and comprehension of what is unfolding. So much is being colored by fear and the desire to avoid pain that it takes being conscious and living in the moment when you consider something to have a true perspective.

This is one of the reasons that when you do the personal work to release your fears you can have a cumulative effect on every aspect of your life.

To be able to consider something consciously requires a multitude of very important and significant factors.

Perhaps the most important factor to consider when you are evaluating and responding to something is to ask if your response is based on what is happening right here, right now in your present situation.

This is very important because the tendency to respond to something is often influenced by the past. Unfortunately, in making a correlation between something that is happening in the present and in the past, all too often fears come in. Once fear enters the equation, whether it be from the input of your mind chatter (also at times called the “Monkey Mind”), you are no longer experiencing the present, the moment, the NOW, but living in the past.

When you observe the influence of the past from the perspective of the detached observer, you are able to shift your consciousness into the present moment, and that can transform your experience of the past or the present.
~ Genevieve Gerard

The realization you gain as the detached observer enables you to engage consciously the power of your mind to reframe and reinterpret your experiences of the past.

To use your awareness and your perspective in this empowering way enables you to be the director in your life rather than the actor and reactor. It allows you to harness the incredible power of your mind to manifest the life that you have dreamt about. It puts you into an active and vibrant partnership with your Higher Self or Soul so that you can be a co-creator in your life with that Source.

In order for you to experience this and have a better understanding, I will share with you a detached observer technique.

Seeing As the Detached Observer

– a technique to transform your life

The first step in this process is found in really understanding the word “detached.” When you look at your life, events and situations using the detached observer technique it is important to be as “detached” as you possibly can. The detached observer does not judge or criticize; the observer only needs to observe.

It helps if you realize that the part of you that is the observer is the Higher Self. By affirming and connecting with your Higher Self in the start of this process, you have already shifted your perspective to a more enlightened awareness of the situation.

The second step is to focus your attention and determining how much of what you are experiencing is leftover fears of frustration or failure from the past. You are then able to enter into the present as you consciously and with intention put the past behind you, knowing and affirming that the past is powerless in the present moment and in the future. What has the potential to be created now is filled to the brim with potential and possibility because it is yet to be manifested.

Next you want to reinforce further your alignment with your Soul. This can be aided by the addition of the aspect of Divine Will into the unfoldment of your circumstance or situation. Your will, intention and goals will be enhanced when they are in union with Divine Will in your role as a co-creator of your life with the Divine.

Ultimately, focusing your conscious mind on being in the present also has a ripple effect on your life because by doing this you release your fears that are based on your past or your unknown possible future. This further empowers you when you, again consciously, choose to observe without judgment or criticism, stilling the toxic mind chatter of “should have, would have, could have” thinking.

While using this detached observer technique it is helpful to take deep and relaxing breaths. You may be pleasantly surprised how much stress you can relieve by doing this. Simply breathe in deeply through your nose and breathe out long relaxing breaths through your mouth.

Next having aligned with your Higher Self, and opened your mind to the objective assessment that is required to be detached be open to automatically creating a shift in your perspective and perception. This new perspective and perception are now having a dynamic change for good in your life.

With this new frame of reference you can now consciously reframe your interpretation of the situation and apply insights or use techniques such as affirmations; I am statements, or even prayers, meditative ponderings and invocations to reinforce what you have realized in this perspective shifting technique.

It is also frequently reported that using the method of the detached observer and accordingly releasing the fears that come from the past, has a healing influence on your emotions as you realize that you are not bound or limited by your past beliefs that may have been limiting you.

Remember, you can receive these benefits when you consciously align with your Soul and use your mind as the powerful tool that it is in your life.

Having now aligned with the consciousness, the Love and the wisdom of your Soul, it is with your mind and your emotions that your personality must incorporate the new insights, the promptings and the guidance you have received. You are a whole being as a human being.

Finally, to actually manifest your full possibility and potential in life you must utilize, integrate and incorporate the wholeness of yourself, calling upon and using all of you, valuing and including all of the input awareness granted to you by your body with your five senses, then appreciate the sensing’s that are provided by your emotions and the insight of your intellect and mind. This is the information that your personality can integrate and utilize instantly in any and every life situation. The simplest way to reinforce this is with regular meditation.

I have found daily meditation is a powerful tool for helping you free your fears and clear your energy field of the congestion of clinging to old hurts, past failures, and past pains. Although I recommend daily meditation, when you are working to release the residuals of your fears and your sorrows, it helps to do an energetic clearing technique throughout the day to help process these emotions.

Because of the law that “energy follows thought” you are able to use your thoughts to release your fears throughout the day while you are busy living your life. Recently, I was speaking to a friend of mine, and we were talking about 2 of my most effective healing meditations “I am Feeling Free” and the longer “Feeling Free” meditation. I shared that during the most difficult times in my life I used the energetic clearing techniques included in these two meditations hundreds of times in a day. Moreover, I still use this technique (that you can do instantly in any situation) whenever I find myself experiencing anger, frustration or fear.

I hope you now have a better understanding that the sooner you clear away the residual of an uncomfortable or unsettling experience, the sooner you can be in present time and react and respond to life free of what is having an influence over you from the past, from your fears or from your limiting beliefs so that you can take advantage of what opportunity of possibility is in the here and now for you.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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Faith Freedom and Fulfillment

Genevieve Gerard

Faith, Freedom, and Fulfillment

A life lived with faith is more fulfilling and free.

When you have faith, faith in God and confidence in yourself or faith in life itself you have a head start in conquering any challenge that may ever come your way.

You are granted wisdom and an understanding that is an underlying support in everything you do.

One of the most reassuring aspects of faith is that you are assured that you are a beloved child of God. That you are beloved means that you are loved, by the one whose very nature and essence is love. This realization, this understanding, and this underlying confidence and assurance can be a guiding force in your life, a beacon of light in the threat of darkness and despair that can mar the human experience. It can comfort and sustain you in the moments where you cannot see the way.

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
– Robert Byrne

A part of living with faith is the realization that your life has a purpose. You are more than just a physical collection of atoms and matter; you are an integrated being of a body, emotions, a mind, and a Soul. You are a spark of Divine Light. It is your nature to shine. To live a life that manifests your purpose gives you great freedom and provides a sense of fulfillment and joy.

To make the journey from faith to freedom, from freedom to action and from action to fulfillment requires a merger of your personal will with Divine Will. It involves aligning with your Soul and committing to the work and the service to others that demonstrate love to the world. This often means taking the road less traveled. It might mean that you make choices and decisions that do not make sense to others. A life of universalizing faith is guided by the still quiet prompting of the Soul and the gentle nudges that come from time in prayer and meditation.

At times to follow that guidance necessitates making choices and decisions that might not make sense to others. This is particularly true when you feel guided to serving others. So much of the advice and guidance of the world is based on the fulfillment of selfish needs and desires. To follow a path of love, to be of service to your fellow man entails deeper considerations that are often seen in a superficial examination of your life so your goals and your reasoning may not always be clear to friends and family. When you open your life to a Higher Power and the guidance of your Soul in a quest to find and fulfill your life’s purpose you have chosen to march to a different drummer than much of the world hears.

The support of our Soul and the joy that it bestows
is sufficient to our need and carries us forward.”
– Genevieve Gerard

Fortunately, your sense of personal satisfaction is enhanced when you explore what your right work is. When your Soul and your divine purpose are in alignment many experience opportunities unfolding before them. To have your work in the world be a fulfillment of your life’s purpose and your Soul purpose is a significant factor in being happy and experiencing joy.

I recall times in my life, when my work was a fulfillment of my life’s purpose and yet I was also amazed that I was being paid to do what I loved doing. Those were times in my life of great happiness and joy.

I can also recall times in my life when I ignored the direction of my Higher Self or let material fears guide me into jobs that were not in alignment with my purpose. It was in those experiences that I learned what the word work meant. I was a great deal more stressed and more fatigued at the end of the day and, considerably less happy. When I ignored the prompting of my Higher Self and let my material desires or my fears make my decisions for me I sacrificed my peace of mind and happiness.

If you are interested, I wrote a Wisdom Wednesday post that talks more about freeing yourself from limitations and fears.

The benefit and rewards of listening to the promptings of my Soul to align with my life purpose and Divine Will were clearly demonstrated to me in painful life lessons. I resolved to be aligned with my Higher Purpose, especially in my work life, as a way of increasing my sense of fulfillment.

I found that to help me be clear about my Soul purpose and life purpose keeping a journal was a helpful way to both clarify and record the impressions I received in meditation and prayer. Journaling is a helpful way to gain insights into higher consciousness. It allows you to observe your thoughts and feelings from a clear detached perspective that when approached with openness to Divine insight and contemplation helps you to understand the promptings of your Higher Self and walk the path where your faith directs you.

Journaling is a powerful tool in a life of meditation, prayer, and faith. There is something very affirming and empowering about seeing your thoughts and your feelings written down on paper. Certainly, what thoughts and impressions you receive in prayer and meditation are worth recording and I have often found them valuable when I have important decisions to make or significant events to consider, long after they were recorded. It is my impression that this technique is an essential element in living a directed life of alignment with Soul, God’s Will and a sense of meaning and purpose that a life guided by faith promises.

To live your life with faith, faith in God and confidence in yourself gives you great freedom and the opportunity to live a life of meaning, a life with purpose, fulfillment and real joy.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

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

Faith Freedom and Fulfillment Read More »

Slaying My Dragon of Loneliness

Genevieve Gerard

Slaying My Dragon of Loneliness

Fairy Tales are more than true: not because they tell us dragons are true, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
– Neil Gaiman

Recently, one of my coaching clients identified her fear of being alone in life or more importantly being lonely as an underlying issue in her life.

My client is a successful professional woman who has never married and finds the prospect of continuing her life as a woman alone frightening.

She is aware that to be alone is preferable to being in a negative or abusive relationship.

In fact, she recently faced that decision and choice with great strength and courage when a man to whom she was engaged became emotionally abusive and his labile emotions and outbursts had her constantly on edge.

She could certainly see, as many have seen, that being in a relationship does not protect you from feeling lonely. In fact, during my own struggles with loneliness I realized that as difficult as it was at times to be alone, that was preferable to a relationship where you felt alone; isolated and separated from someone you cared for, loved or expected to fill that void within you that loneliness created.

In my life these issues reached a pinnacle when my career took me to a new City where I had neither friends nor family and then changed in an unexpected manner so that I was working from home with no social engagement. There I was not only alone but forced to come face to face with what I began to call my dragon of loneliness.

I had, by that time read a sufficient number of self-help books, both psychological and spiritual to know that I “should” be able to sustain and nourish myself sufficiently to not suffer from my loneliness. But I never found that knowing or determining that I should not feel something ever gave me freedom from an emotion. Fortunately for me, meditation was a well-ingrained practice in my life at this time, so I was able to gain some perspective on life beyond my emotional turmoil, but still I suffered from the loneliness and isolation that had become my life.

Holidays were, of course, the worst and all those days when I “should” be with others or “should be happy.” Attempts to go to the homes or celebrations of other peoples families often left me feeling more bereft and lonely than to just stay home and be alone because it confronted me with what I wanted but did not have in my life.

Often, at night, in my dreams I began to wrestle with this problem in the symbolic form that dreams often take. Night after night, time after time, I would in a terrifying and threatening dream be attacked by a dragon that in my dream I knew to be a symbol of my loneliness. Night after night, time after time, I would battle the dragon, often defeating it. Frequently cutting off its ugly head only to have it either grow more heads like a Hydra either in the same dream or when the dragon next appeared.

During the day, while I had work to fill my time I often felt isolated but not really so lonely. The most difficult times were unscheduled evenings, weekends and of course holidays. The rest of the time my life was busy enough that I did not experience the underlying loneliness so badly, but, somehow it was always there as a reminder that I was ultimately alone.

The dragon dreams became a frequent part of my nighttime sleep adventures. It seems that no matter how dramatically and thoroughly I battled and ultimately defeated the dragon in my dream, it would emerge again hail and healthy ready for battle. Because of the pervasive pressure of the dreams and the circumstances of my life as a woman alone, I began to consider frequently the issue of the difference between being alone and feeling lonely.

I realized that just to be with people did not protect me from feeling lonely. It is possible to feel lonely in a crowd and in many ways that is even more devastating than being lonely when you are alone. I began to see in the lives of many around me how the fear of loneliness led many to make poor life choices, accepting in relationships being demeaned, disrespected and abused just so they would not be alone.

I realized that conquering this dynamic in my life was very important. I often pondered what made the difference between feeling lonely and simply being alone? I came to the conclusion that the key resided in my expectations. It seemed I felt most lonely at those times and events where I believed that I “should” be with others, where personal or societal norms dictated that I “shouldn’t” be alone. I “should” be in a happy family.

In other times I found I was quietly able to nourish and enjoy my time alone. It was these expectation times that were painful. I began to realize that loving myself and liking myself were essential elements in not feeling lonely. I found that journaling was a great way to resolve painful emotions as the very act of writing down my feelings shifted my perspective and expanded my understanding.

You can not be lonely when you like the person you are alone with.”
– Wayne Dyer

I began to wonder why I thought I “should” have circumstances in my life different from what they were. I began to accept that my life at that time was the way it was and not “should” on myself. I began to see that the tendency to approach my life with the phrases “Should have,” “I could have,” or even “I ought to” were toxic. They led to disappointment and dissatisfaction. They prevented me from appreciating and enjoying what I had as everything fell short of the desires and expectations I projected onto an event.

The way that desire created suffering became very clear. The way that projecting onto life events the expectations that accompany the words “should,” “could” and “ought” brought me out of the present moment. Most importantly it made it difficult, if not impossible, to appreciate and enjoy what was really happening in my life because I held life up to unrealistic illusionary and imaginary standards forged by movie films and book novels that were created in the mind but rarely lived.

A significant breakthrough in all of my thoughts and ponderings on all of these issues came to me as a Thanksgiving Holiday approached. I had already decided that I would not join my friend’s family gathering that had historically concluded in my feeling more lonely and dissatisfied when confronted with what I did not have in my life. I decided to spend Thanksgiving Day alone. Stripped of the projection of what I “should” experience I reasoned that Thanksgiving was a day like any other so I determined to spend it at home, alone.

I had a peaceful fire in the fireplace, I lingered over my coffee. I made a special breakfast for myself. I had a relaxing and very peaceful bubble bath (in fact it was where I created the basis of what today is my Bathing in the Light Meditation product.)

Nourish yourself by washing away your troubles and feel restored, refreshed and rebalanced. Instantly download your MP3 meditation visualization of Bathing in the Light by Genevieve Gerard today.

It was a luxurious way to indulge myself. I nourished, honored and demonstrated love for myself that whole day, and amazingly was not lonely or sad the whole day. It was one of the most freeing and significant days in my life.

That night I had another Dragon Dream. The Dragon began to approach me in the dream, but as he approached I did not take up my sword to battle and defeat him. I became fascinated by watching him approach as I noticed the multicolored radiance of his scales. As he got closer I realized that his scales were made of jewels.

Still fascinated and amazed by the beauty of his radiant jewels I let him approach, not afraid, just curious and accepting. As he drew closer and closer he wrapped his serpentine body around me. I realized that he and I together looked like a caduceus. His dragon wings were behind me and his fire breathing head centered over my heart.

A rainbow appeared in the sky above my head. I awoke feeling restored and refreshed. I realized as I wrote in my journal the next morning that this dream marked a significant transition in my life for I could now enjoy and appreciate my time alone, free from the loneliness that had challenged me for so long.

My ability to be alone and nurture and sustain myself became a strength that stayed with me even when my life changed, to a married woman and mother.

The freedom from “shoulds and oughts” has become a cornerstone in my teaching others ways to live in joy. Since that time having time alone has been a source of strength as I have learned to nurture myself.

Learning to love myself and freeing myself of the expectations of “should” have made a huge difference in my life and in my ability to be happy.

Are you ready to truly love yourself and take time out to nourish yourself by washing away your troubles and feel restored, refreshed and rebalanced? If so take some time this week to purify the deepest pains inside of you and cleanse and soothe your mind, body, and soul on all levels.

You deserve to love and indulge yourself and slay your dragon of loneliness.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The blessing of love on all that you do!

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How To Experience True Joy

Genevieve Gerard

How To Experience True Joy

This post is part of my ongoing series on Joy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

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Live A Balanced Life

Genevieve Gerard

Live A Balanced Life

In your life experience, learning balance is important.

You must learn to balance work with play. You must learn to balance your selfish desires with charity. You must strive to balance your joys and your sorrows. Even when something is good and enjoyable we can realize that too much is not good because it takes us out of balance.

But more important is another step to living a balanced life.

Balance is important in so many subtle aspects of our life that we seem to gravitate toward it unconsciously. There are aspects of the concept of balance that serve as primary lessons for the spiritual demonstrations that are a part of our evolving consciousness.

A part of our growth and maturation as a conscious being and a spiritual being requires learning to use each distinctive part of our being in harmony and balance with the other parts of our being. The lessons that come about from harnessing the desires and impulses of our physical nature and our body are not only important psychological lessons but also important as spiritual lessons.

The Ageless Wisdom speaks of these lessons of consciousness in terms of calling upon our Soul to give us dominion over the desires of the flesh. Likewise, the insight and perspective of the Soul is called upon to enable us to conquer the dragons of our fears and calm the troubled water of being overly emotional.

Balance is the most important of all qualities. We don’t want a little bit of rapid growth and then to stagnate. We want continual growth, continual development, which implies balance, always.
– Dr. Frederick Lenz (Zen Master Rama)

In a higher turn of the spiral, the wisdom of the Soul is invoked to bring the mental body into balance and alignment with the impressions of the Soul. In each of these important developmental tasks on the spiritual journey, integration is significant. In each of these significant milestones, the evolution of our human consciousness and understanding of the scope of the human experience is demonstrated.

This process of integration continues as a theme in variation through our many lifetimes as we explore the vast array of possibilities in life. You may or may not believe in the continuity of consciousness that is known as reincarnation. If you consider that a possibility, within the context of our evolving and growing into the fullness our dual nature as fully human and our sense that we are in some way connected with that which is Divine in life, as a hypothesis many unanswerable questions seem to find an explanation.

To consider that our nature and the fullness of our being includes a physical body which we must not let run amok in life seems pretty clear. We have all seen the disastrous results of unchecked lusts, gluttony, and laziness. These temptations along the spiritual path are well established and they are even listed in the seven deadly sins.

To expand your thinking to include the challenges of the other parts of your nature, wrath, greed, pride and envy you can see that bringing your emotions back from uncontrollable expression is also an important part of living an integrated life. Likewise, learning to harness the impressions of the mind beyond just the capacity of thought into the more spiritual application of wisdom is a task that often requires courage and conviction. To bring the needs and desires of our physical body into balance and bring our mind and emotions to equilibrium are all vital to have a truly successful life experience.

Integration of these often conflicting urges and influences is the work of the personality. The better integrated, the more balanced and cooperative these dynamism’s are the happier and I believe the more successful and fulfilled an individual is. We can see the truth of this by observing our fellow man.

The Final Step In The Process Of Balance

A less obvious factor in our comprehension, because it is less tangible to our human expression, is the final step in this process of balance and amalgamation. This is the dynamic that becomes available with the integration of our Soul into the wholeness of life experience. It is, however, only when we embark upon this final quest of human consciousness that we can begin to fully understand and express the mystery of our creation as being fully human and at the same time in union with the Divine. That mankind has known itself to be of this dual nature as both human and Divine is reflected in the ancient greeting of “Namaste,” a Sanskrit phrase that means “the Divinity in me recognizes and honors the Divinity that is in you.”

Initiations Into Different Stages of Consciousness

The developmental tasks along the spiritual journey have been explained in the Ageless Wisdom in the terms of initiations into different stages of consciousness simply expressed as:

The first initiation, Soul dominion over the physical body;
The second initiation, Soul domination of the emotional body;
The third initiation, Soul domination over the mental body.

In this integrative process the personality is also integrated with the Soul as the sum total of our body, emotions and mind.

This step in our spiritual evolution of integrating and fusing our Soul with our personality is the culmination of so many life lessons and spiritual lessons that it is rare to find. It is a stage in consciousness to which you can aspire and open yourself to in meditation. There are, in the Mantram taught in the Ageless Wisdom, specific opportunities to open your heart, your mind and your Soul to this experience.

One of my very favorites, the Mantram of the Soul, comes from the works of Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. II. p. 123.

Affirming, asserting and invoking this blending of light and fusion of your Soul with the personality brings about a shift in your life experience and consciousness. These, in turn, bring about a new way of being and facilitate the expression of the new kind of human being who is evolving into the world. It is with the development of this new type of human being, that you can imagine the changes and transformation the world will need to undergo if the long-predicted golden New Age will come to fruition.

This step in your consciousness and expression of your dual nature, fully human and Divine, is a giant step for mankind that has been eons in the making. This expression of your role as a co-creator of life in harmonic cooperation with the Divine promises new possibilities and potentialities as you venture through this experience we call life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

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

Last updated 9-25-2019

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