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!

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Breath of Life
Body and Soul
The Soul Connection
Recommended Meditation

Gift of Relaxation Guided Visualization

Enjoy the peaceful serenity of a day at the beach as you let yourself appreciate the Gift of Relaxation.

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.”

Stress and Procrastination

Genevieve Gerard

The Relationship between Stress and Procrastination

A Wisdom Wednesday Blog

Recently, I had the opportunity to observe how procrastination – putting something aside to complete later, impacts your stress.

This is a lesson that I thought I had already learned, but sometimes our behavior or the behavior of others on whom we depend impacts us in ways that are frustrating and harmful to us. Stress can be a negative factor in your health and certainly unpleasant to experience.

Sometimes stress is completely unavoidable. When that happens, I am compelled to use meditative and visualization techniques to return, hopefully quickly to a state of equilibrium.

At other times the pounding heart, the on edge feeling of too much adrenaline in the system, the vague tension of an impending headache is the penalty that life extracts from faulty planning and procrastination. I don’t know about you but I hate to be late. I hate to miss a deadline even if it is only a “soft “or self-imposed deadline. When it is a deadline imposed by events in the world, the stress of missing it is dramatically increased.

The hands of time move forward in life without regard for your position in the plans of your life. No matter how we try, we cannot ever change the impact or influence of what we have done in the past, or what we have left undone in the past. Once a situation or event becomes the past, it releases us from any mistakes we may have made or disappointments we may have suffered. As freeing and comforting as this is it is also significant to observe recent events to see what you can learn from what has happened so you can avoid whatever was stressful, uncomfortable or unpleasant in the future.

It is after a stressful work experience that resulted in a missed deadline and accordingly diminished effectiveness and success that I am writing today, trying to learn what I can do better and more effectively in the future. In exploring what I can do to avoid the discomfort of too much stress that resulted in dis-ease I realized that often the culprit creating stress is a direct result of procrastination, although it fortunately did not create disease.

The impact that procrastination has on your level and experience of stress can be significant.”
– Genevieve Gerard

Procrastination results in a backlog of unfinished events that often result in feelings of being overwhelmed. Ironically, it often takes much more time and effort to bring a task to completion than it would have in present time. To complete a procrastinated project you often must review what you have previously started to bring it into the current situation and circumstance.

This is not always an issue, but when working on multiple projects with any time or external deadline significance I find the time at hand sometimes expands by at least a third, how much work needs to be done to accomplish a single project. Therefore, the procrastination has ultimately increased your workload and as a result has increased the stress that you experienced. That does not even take into account the fact that until a task is concluded it remains a small pressure in the back of your mind, increasing your sense of stress and your tendency to feel like it is all too much, overwhelming and frustrating.

This pattern of choice compounds your stress and reduces both your effectiveness and efficiency. Like the old time management axiom advises that you handle an individual piece of paper only once, procrastination deprives you of the satisfaction and feeling of success that finishing a task brings.

Yes, it is true that there are always more tasks to be addressed in the ongoing adventure of life, but bringing a task to completion actually reduces the volume of work required since you don’t have to revisit where you were before when you placed the task in the “I’ll do it later” pile. Soon, that pile becomes so high that, prior to beginning any task you have to prioritize your tasks amongst all of the procrastinated tasks. You may feel pulled into too many directions and the constant need to re-evaluate and re-prioritize actually adds to the work load.

The extra work of the constant re-evaluation and re-prioritization it creates is a direct by-product of the procrastination. Otherwise, you could have moved on to more fulfilling and creative parts of your work. We tend to procrastinate most about those tasks we enjoy least.

So the wisdom I offer you today, from the life lesson I again learned, is to understand the relationship between procrastination and stress. Leaving things unfinished, uncompleted is disruptive and damaging on several levels. First of all, it deprives you of the satisfaction that a finished task provides. An unfinished task then adds to the tension and stress with which you approach your work because you know you have not finished. Even if you go on to supposedly relax, what has been left undone is a subtle pressure added to you mind where you know what is left to do. Even if you try to put it aside in your mind it adds to a sense of distress and burden about your work.

Is this stressing you out just reading about this? Need to reduce the stress in your life?
Give yourself the “Gift of Relaxation” MP3 ==>Download Today for FREE.

The other damage and harm that results from procrastination is that procrastination brings you out of time by constantly requiring a focus of the past, considering how you will finish what you left undone. It also requires you trying to constantly project into the future as you strive to plan for and incorporate the procrastinated task. All of this reduces the free feeling of being in the moment with an unencumbered future brimming with possibility and promise.

Although, it is not always possible to finish every task once you begin, it seems that by realizing how stress is compounded by procrastination, it would be wise to build completion into your work and life habits. It may require better planning and assessment of a task at hand, but whenever possible focus on completing one project at a time. If you cannot conclude the task, planning the time to bring it to completion and then executing the task as soon as possible eliminates the expanding work of procrastination and reduces the stress of being overwhelmed because you never feel finished or free.

Consciously choosing to complete a task the first time it needs to be accomplished, even if it takes a little more time to finish in the present, will ultimately not only reduce your stress but you will have less work to do because the work the procrastination pattern created will not exist.

Changing your mind about how you work when you work is a powerful way to increase your sense of satisfaction and success in life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do.

Related Posts:

The Physiology of Stress

Life Can Create Stress

Moving Forward

One Day at a Time

As the Year Turns

Relax and Release

Stress and Procrastination Read More »

New Color of Promise

Genevieve Gerard

New Color of Promise

The unique tone of pink that comes with the dawn always gives me hope and promise. It always makes me smile.

For me, the color of dawn, the way the light of the rising sun merges and mingles with the emerging blues of morning as gray is chased away, is one of the purest joys in life.

The colors of the dawn seem to come with the assurance that there are new possibilities available. All that I have known to be a problem or a pain can fade away with the emerging of the light of a new day. It reminds me of the truth of the old saying “today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

To me the dawn comes embedded with the promise that new possibilities are available today. It is a reminder that the past is past. What may come into being with the emerging of the new day is really unknown. It is a part of the magic of life and the mystery of life that change is always happening. Change is a constant in a life experience that may seem to have no consistency.

This is one of the most amazing things about life, and at times the most terrifying. That change can bring into manifestation the fulfillment of our deepest desires, and at the same time create the circumstances of our greatest fears is an element of the adventure of the experience of living. What has been before, is not a guarantee for what is now emerging. This is as equally true for our desires and our fears. Change is the one constancy in life. We can embrace it or we can flee from it, but no matter what we do, we cannot change that.

The chance that change will be positive and move my life forward to the manifestation of my goals and desires is at least equal to the chance of something I do desire not unfolding.
– Genevieve Gerard

I choose hope with the emergence of the day. I see the possibility that the life experiences that will unfold in the emerging day will be wonderful. The chance that change will be positive and move my life forward to the manifestation of my goals and desires is at least equal to the chance of something I do desire not unfolding. However, when you add to the mix the powerful principle of life that “energy follows thought”, it seems the odds tip in the favor of the new day bringing the fulfillment of my dreams.

No matter what happens in the circumstances of the unfolding day, holding hope in my heart has not only empowered the subtle influence of the universal law of energy following thought to work in my favor, it has removed the temptation of worry and fear. Likewise, holding hope and trusting in life, not only reduces the experience of fear, but it also reduces stress and anxiety.

Since none of us knows what will happen in the future, remaining in the present with the promise and potentiality of the new day, leaves me strong so if the winds of change blow ill for my life, I have the strength and energy to cope and deal with events, but need only to deal with something once it has really happened. “Sufficient for the day are the challenges I face today.” This is a choice I make about how to live my life. It is a decision that I make when the dawns early light emerges from the shadows of the night. I choose hope. I choose faith that great good is coming to me. What do you choose?

To empower and enhance this hope, I often use affirmations. I find that affirmations activate a sense of my identity about what I aspire to be. We each make these choices about what we think, what we consider, what we believe, often without intention or focus.

For me, the pink of the dawn is a reminder to choose hope and believe in the unlimited possibilities of time unfolding, which will bring great blessings and new opportunities to fulfill your life’s purpose and manifest what you desire.

Hope can spring eternal in your heart and it can be renewed with each dawn as you affirm in the morning’s light, that this new day holds the potential for the very best of change in your life.

The Blessing of Promise & Possibilities on All That You Do,

Genevieve

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

By The Dawn’s Early Light
Today New Possibilities Reveal Themselves
Why Let Worry Waste Your Time?
Light of the Dawn
Recommended Affirmations

Awaken to Success: Affirmations for Abundance

Last updated 5-22-2019

New Color of Promise Read More »

Words Have Power

Genevieve Gerard

Words Have Power

A word, once spoken can never be recalled. The good that you can do with just a word or the harm that you can do with just one word is legendary.

Have you ever said something just to feel like you put your foot in your mouth? Of course, you have. We all have. But once the word is spoken, it cannot really ever be retracted. We can of course apologize. We can try to clarify or explain. But once the word has been spoken the energy it creates for good or ill is a tangible force.

I once read that a word is like a living organism, capable of growing, changing, spreading, and influencing the world in many ways, directly and indirectly through others.

To understand this important principle we need to understand that in a word is great power. The power in a word is a building block to creating the reality that surrounds us. Remember in the creation story of Genesis, creation manifested according to each word of God’s intention, the most famous words “Let there be Light” was followed by Light manifesting from nothingness.

Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes

How Words Impact

It is important to consider two very important principles.

First is that Energy Follows Thought, so even before the word is spoken the energetic flow is empowered by the thought. This can be shown by the Japanese scientist and water researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto who has revealed that thoughts and vibrations affect the molecular structure of water. Just think, since a human body contains 70% water, how it can have a strong impact on human consciousness.

Second is the principle of harmlessness. In what you say and in what you do it is always important to consider the impact your words can have on others. What you say can have a major impact on the one with whom you are speaking.

All too often, we speak without thought, without considering the impact or influence our words can have. Even if you are alone, and you are the only one who hears, the intermingling of words and thoughts create your reality or influence your perception. Part of becoming a more conscious being includes taking responsibility for yourself on many levels, thoughts, words, and deeds.

Part of realizing the power that words possess is taking responsibility for the words that come forth from our mouths.
– Genevieve Gerard

By considering the important desire to live and act with harmlessness by looking to the words that you choose and use to express both your thoughts and your feelings, is a wise and powerful tool to transform your life and your relationships. Ultimately, you need to consider before you speak the impact your words may have on others, and you need to consider the impact your self-talk has on your own life.

When you get ready to speak, think:

Is it true? Is it kind? Will it help or cause harm?

If you apply this filter to your words and consider each word you speak in light of the principles of harmless you will find your relationships transform. If you then apply the same filter to your thoughts about yourself you will transform your life.

Words have power, thoughts have power. Words have the power to incite and divide or to calm and connect. These influence your life all the time whether you are conscious of it or not so by bringing these principles to your conscious mind, invoking your will and intention to wield these tools with wisdom and compassion gives you a potent force for success in life on multiple levels. By becoming aware of the consequences of your speech, and making a conscious attempt to engage in Right Speech, you are harnessing a mighty force to influence your life.

Living consciously, observing and accepting responsibility for your words and the influences they have is one of the steps to wisdom. One advantage of observing your speech is that in so doing you are also observing your thoughts. By harnessing these two dynamic forces in life to make them work for you, you are empowering your life in a way that strengthens and supports your relationships with others but also increases your potential for success.

Finally, I leave you with these words because the intention to speak consciously and think consciously puts me in mind of a blessing “may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight.”

Ponder on this.

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

Namaste,

Genevieve

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

Open Yourself To Being Guided By Kindness

How to Harness the Power of Your Mind

The Will to Good

Recommended Affirmations

Awaken to Success Affirmations For Abundance

Use This To Empower Yourself to Create the Life of Your Dreams

Last updated 8-7-2019

10 Things I Have Learned About Consciousness From My Dog

Genevieve Gerard

10 Things I Have Learned About
Consciousness From My Dog Silky

Life offers us many lessons, sometimes from unlikely teachers.

Although I originally published this post in December of 2013, I am republishing it because the lessons I learned from my dog Silky are different from the lessons I learn from my current dog Bentley, just as our human teachers have different personalities and characteristics that teach us different life lessons.

As I was considering what to post for this week’s Wisdom Wednesday Blog I chose to update and repost this article.

Update:

Silky passed on to doggy heaven in July of 2014. In 2014, a new fur baby came to me as a rescue, my dog Bentley. He has a very different nature and teaches different life lessons.

In October of 2014 I wrote a post about what Bentley was teaching me.

The thing that I think was most wonderful is that each of these souls had mastered giving unconditional love.

The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.
— M. K. Clinton

I am very grateful for the blessing of unconditional love that each of these dogs have brought into my life.

My life has been richer and blessed by the animals that have accompanied me on my adventure. I encourage you to take some time to consider what you can learn from the animal consciousness that has come into your life. Each Presence is unique in what they teach you and offer to you.

I hope you enjoy this somewhat lighter perspective on life lessons. Life lessons are available to us from everywhere if we keep our hearts and minds open.

10 Things I Learned

1. How to relax –

2. How to forgive immediately –

3. How to express love with spontaneous joy –

4. How to be grateful for what I receive –

5. How to be in the moment (in the Now) –

6. How to Love unconditionally –

If You Would Like To Open Yourself To The Energy Of Divine Love & The Love That Your Soul Brings To You,
check out my Gift of Love CD Meditation (MP3 Download.)

7. How to forgive yourself –

8. How to honestly express his feelings –

9. How to delight in the simple joys of life –

10. How to just be –

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

P.S. Silky is a Havanese (his breed is from Havana Cuba and is sometimes referred to as a “Havana Silk Dog” and they are hypoallergenic because they have hair like a human.)

P.P.S. Please comment below and let me know what you have learned from your dog.

The Happiness Habit

Genevieve Gerard

The Happiness Habit

So much of our thoughts and our behaviors are habitual that bringing our awareness to what we think, and what we feel is important.

Observing our thoughts, our feelings from an objective, dispassionate perspective is an important task. I call this role, the dispassionate observer.

From the centered place of awareness that is dispassionately observing what you are thinking, what you are feeling and how you are acting, you can become the director of your life rather than a reactive observer.

Observing with awareness, without judgment, is the first step to a level of awareness that enhances your consciousness and gives you the keys to creating the life that you desire.

Your first step is to decide that you choose to be happy. Then you can begin to build into your life what makes you happy. Happiness is something you bring to life more than something that happens to you.

How you react to what happens to you is often much more important than what actually happens to you.
– Genevieve Gerard

In that process of reaction lays the power to choose to create your life or be a victim of your life. In that process of choice, a habit can play a vital role. Becoming aware of your thoughts and your feelings is an essential part of harnessing your power to be who you wish to be and how you wish to be perceived by others.

Biological research and biochemical research shows us that our subtle physical responses impact our body, and our mind and emotions. For example, smiling, releases the biochemical endorphins and hormones that are associated with happiness. Creating a habit of putting on a happy face and smiling begins to create the feelings of happiness.

Old songs such as, “Smile and the World Smiles with You” and the peppy tune Of “Put on a Happy Face” all provide a clue to this “Secret” of happiness that you can use for your wellbeing.

A smile, given to another is most often greeted naturally with a smile, so in this way you are sharing happiness into the world by developing your own happiness.

If you add to your quest to build happiness into a habit in your life, by being consciously aware of your unconscious negative “mind chatter” and choose to monitor and then harness the power of your mind and the power of your thoughts, you are well on your way. Again, using the technique of the dispassionate observer to acknowledge what your mind chatter is spewing out and then, make a conscious decision to edit and correct negative thinking into positive intended thinking you are well on your way to being the creator (not just observer) of your experience and building a habit of happiness.

A brief poem by an old friend of mine, Bernie Gunther says “There’s a positive side and negative side and at each moment you decide.” By deciding to be happy, to be hopeful, and to harness the power of your thoughts you have taken an important and vital step to living a happier and more joyous life.

Using your body in ways that stimulate the biochemistry to work for your conscious choice to be happy, then monitoring and controlling your thoughts to positive and hopeful messages to yourself are ways to bring into your life a mastery of your body-mind relationship that not only increases your happiness but reduces your stress.

These little techniques of the habit of happiness are powerful and life transforming. The more you use them, the easier they become and the happier you become. They are a simple yet effective way to change your life by changing your mind and your habits that use the integration of our mind, our emotions, our body and ultimately our creative higher self to transform our lives. Happiness is a state of mind, you decide.

Namaste,

Genevieve Gerard

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

Please feel free to pass this article on to others who may find it of interest. Join the conversation below by commenting.

Last updated 11-14-2017

The Happiness Habit Read More »

Earth Day – Green Day

Genevieve Gerard

Earth Day – Green Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earth Day Trivia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3.7 Billion: World population in 1970

6.8 Billion: World population in 2010

7.8 Billion: World population in April 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the Earth Day 2020 theme?

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

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

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

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

Earth Day Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Earth Day Meditation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that You Do!

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

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

The Breath of Life -One Life, One Love, One Breath
A Prayer for Humanity as We Strive to Conquer the Covid-19 Virus
The New Color of Promise -The colors of the dawn seem to come with the assurance that there are new possibilities available.
Recommended Meditation

Walking Aware Mindfulness Guided Meditation
Celebrate and Appreciate Your
Unity with Life on All Levels

Keeping A Journal

Genevieve Gerard

Keeping A Journal
Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight

The very process of writing in a journal can help you find more joy and spiritual insight in your life.

This may sound strange, but after many years of keeping a life journal, I began to discover a benefit that I would not have been able to imagine when I began. That is the benefit of keeping a journal that naturally emerges in your emotions and perspective by the process of journaling.

To help you achieve the maximum benefits of how to write in a journal and take advantage of the wisdom gained over the many years of my experience I have prepared some tips on how to journal.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you,
pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keeping a journal can be a pathway to spiritual insight and awareness. It is a discipline much like meditation. It is a technique to help you get in touch with your Higher Self (what is also called the Soul) and gain mastery over life’s everyday emotions. The very act of writing in your journal can become a gateway to help you calm your mind and gain a perspective of deeper understanding. Journaling can become a way to open your awareness to your inner wisdom.

10 Tips on How To Write In A Journal

1.) I have found that having a special book for your journal is important. This helps you develop a mindset (trigger) that when you sit down to write in your journal you are engaging in a special and important activity.

How to write a journal
2.) I have also found that having a special pen is helpful. Personally, I prefer a fountain pen for journaling. I also like the look and feel that using a consistent ink color brings. These little rituals are not important but have a subtle impact on the experience of writing.

When I look back over old journals, I realize that even the color of ink I choose during a particular period in my life can be significant. The color often followed a theme of the issues I was dealing with at a particular time of my life. It is symbolic of a mood or tone with which I faced my growth and challenges.

3.) Making a daily entry seems essential. We all live busy lives, but for me, it seems the discipline of making an entry in my journal on a daily basis is important. Even if all that I write on a given day is “too tired to write today” or “too busy to write today,” those little entries keep the continuity in a way that helps maintain the discipline of keeping a journal. It is all too easy to drop away from the practice of maintaining a journal, especially in times of stress when the writing is often of the greatest benefit. This little technique helps show you are in control of your life and supports the process.

4.) Do not be concerned about ending the journal entry because of interruptions. Keeping a life journal can be an integral part of your being. Interruptions happen, and it may not always be easy to return to your journal. Depending upon the nature and scope of the disruption you may well be in an entirely different mindset when you do return. A series of three dots can symbolize that the thought needs further exploration. It demonstrates that your process was not finished.

5.) As you write, suspend judgment. Let your thoughts flow free of your internal censorship. It is more important to record your thoughts and feelings than you spell things correctly or don’t leave a participle dangling. If you choose to use what you have written for another purpose, give yourself permission to edit it later. While journaling, you are looking for a stream of consciousness that is an energetic flow.

Journaling is by its very nature a work in process,
not a final product.
– Genevieve Gerard

6.) As you write in your journal, you often find that your understanding of the events about which you are writing begin to shift you into a greater wisdom, a greater understanding. Expand into this greater awareness. Let this insight guide you.

7.) The process of taking up your pen and writing helps you be the detached observer of your life, inviting the insight and perspective of your Higher Self. As you write, you naturally begin to resolve any uneasy feelings you may be having now as the very act of writing shifts you into a state of greater awareness and understanding.

8.) Keep your journal in a private place and make sure that those around you understand that your journal is for you, not to be shared with even the most intimate other.

9.) Allow your journal to become your closest confidant and advisor. The freedom from criticism and judgment it can offer will open you to a greater insight and understanding of yourself that reveals more clearly than a conversation with another, the deeper issues behind your thoughts and feelings.

10.) Over time be sure to return to your journal and read past entries to get a profound confirmation of your growth. When I began to journal, I resolved to keep a journal so that when I was old, I could look back on my life and smile. Re-reading old journal entries often showed me how I had developed and evolved over time. Recognize you have the capacity to grow and develop and rejoice in it.

With the wisdom of hindsight realize you will now be able to see that much of what concerned you in the past just did not matter in the long run. This is a lesson that helps when you think about the issues you face now. This is a way to encourage you to trust in yourself to weather life’s challenges.

Learning how to write in a journal will become a pathway to letting you experience the joy inherent in all the little pleasures and adventures of life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Writing to Gain the Wisdom of Your Soul
The Value of Keeping A Journal
Center Your Energies before Writing
Reasons Why to Keep a Journal
Recommended Meditation

I Am Feeling Free Guided Meditation

Learn How To Calm Strong Emotions and Transmute Fears and Doubts

Last updated 5-8-2019

Keeping A Journal Read More »

I have read your article today and it inspire me know how to communicate with my angel for divine assistance…

This is a really great post. It gave True insight on telepathy, Empathy and Intuition. My spirit kind of just…

Glad you liked this. I hope it was helpful for you.

Glad you enjoyed it. Love and blessings!

Really appreciate you sharing this post. Awesome!

Genevieve Gerard Wisdom Wednesday

Live A Balanced Life

The Final Step In The Process Of Balance

Initiations Into Different Stages of Consciousness

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

The Relationship between Stress and Procrastination

A Wisdom Wednesday Blog

New Color of Promise

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Recommended Affirmations

Words Have Power

How Words Impact

Hand-Picked Posts You Might Also Like

Recommended Affirmations

10 Things I Have Learned About Consciousness From My Dog Silky

Update:

10 Things I Learned

Related Links You May Enjoy Reading:

The Happiness Habit

You Might Also Like

Earth Day – Green Day

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

Earth Day Trivia

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

What is the Earth Day 2020 theme?

Earth Day Meditation by Genevieve Gerard

Earth Day Meditation

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

Keeping A Journal Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight

10 Tips on How To Write In A Journal

Hand-Picked Posts That You Might Also Like

Recommended Meditation

10 Things I Have Learned About
Consciousness From My Dog Silky

Keeping A Journal
Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight