Invite the Light

Into The Silence

Into the Silence: Ways To Calm Your Mind

Read Into The Silence article by Genevieve Gerard

It is in the silence that we can hear the still quiet promptings of our Soul.

It is in the silence that the Peace that Passes Understanding is Revealed.

It is when we enter into the silence that we can hear the voice of God.

The silence is a full and fertile experience opening us to an inner world that the noise of the world drowns out, and the chattering of our mind obscures.

We are instructed in the Bible to “Be still and know that I am God.” For many, perhaps for you, that stillness is hard to achieve.

To experience that silence and that deep stillness is the purpose of meditation. The portal to meditation opens when you calm your mind, open your heart and invite the Light. Each guided meditation that I have created over the years begins with the instruction to calm your mind, open your heart, invite the Light.

However, as I move through my life I hear people say, repeatedly, that they find it difficult to meditate. It seems that for many it is the first part of that injunction “Calm the Mind” that is so challenging. It makes sense then that how to teach a meditator to experience a calm mind has been the work of sages, yogis, and gurus since there have been teachers on the path to enlightened awareness.

For many people, the chatter generated in their minds drowns out the silence. This “chattering” is anything but calming for all too often it is jammed with fears, negative self-judgment, and criticism. It is liberally laced too with the unfulfilled expectation of both themselves and others.

The silence of a calm mind may seem out of reach to you. The mind’s chatter, although you are sitting quietly, may be anything but silent. This is why the regular practice of meditation is so important. It begins to school the mind that your meditation time is a sacred space and a safe space to give the chatter of your mind a rest.

It is in the silence of the calm mind and the open heart that the guidance of the Soul and Presence of God can be experienced. There are many ways that we can move toward that calmness of mind. What way you choose at any given moment of time can be varied and responsive to the events and circumstances in your life when you choose.

 

HOW LONG SHOULD I MEDITATE?

What seems significant is that you set aside the time and have the desire and intention to calm your mind, open your heart and invite the Light. It does not have to be a long period of time that is set aside. Ten to fifteen minutes a day would make a great difference in your life. You do not have to go away from the world as the holy men of ages past did to achieve enlightenment. You can learn to meditate and receive the many benefits and blessings of meditation right where you live and in the midst of your busy life today.

Now some may say, “I don’t have time to meditate every day.” The old wisdom response to that is to say,

If you don’t have time to meditate every day,
then meditate 2 times a day.”
        – Anonymous

If you don’t think you can take the time, take that as a sign that you can benefit even more than others from meditation.

I suggest and encourage at least a daily practice of meditation because the health benefits and the consciousness and prospective benefits are best incorporated into your life with consistency and continuity. Whereas any technique of meditation when practiced regularly can positively and dramatically transform your life, some you will find easier than others to help you experience the calmness of mind and dampening of mind chatter that is desired.

In my teaching, I found that guiding people in a meditation and focusing their minds on a particular awareness is most effective. That is why I have created so very many guided meditations.

 

Check out Grounding Arrow MP3 by Genevieve Gerard

 

A great beginning guided awareness meditation to reconnect and rebalance you to your life force and create peace and calm is my Grounding Arrow Meditation. It can be done in the quiet of your home or while walking.

 

Click here to >>>Get More Info About This Meditation.

 

 

To choose to meditate, to set aside the time with the intention and the desire to calm your mind, open your heart and experience the Light of your Soul or to hear the still quiet voice of God is what is important. How you do it is not as important. That you take the time is of paramount importance.

 

WHAT WORKS?

I found over the many years that I have practiced daily meditation that one technique or another best suits an individual day, situation or circumstance. Personally, I have changed meditation methods frequently. Although it is human nature for someone to think that their way is the only way, I suggest that within you is wisdom that can direct your choices, that of your Higher Self. In the world are a myriad of instructions and a wide variety of products to choose from. Some are free and some charge a fee. Some techniques are very simple and easy. Others require deep understanding. What works for you is best revealed with experimentation.

Any time you have, at the conclusion of the meditation time experienced, a greater calmness of your body, your emotions or your mind you have gained a great deal. The more often you open yourself to that experience, even if it is in the brief period it takes to think an affirmation or a seed thought, you are opening your life to a richer and deeper awareness.

In addition to guided meditation, using a mantra as either an invocation and evocation, or a repetition of a specific thought focus, or saying an affirmation are all effective tools. Pondering Koans (stories used by Zen masters to instruct on important consciousness points), saying Psalms, repeating a rosary or repeating a favorite prayer in your mind are also meditative experiences. Although there are subtle differences between the experience of prayer and meditation a prayer can often be used to quiet the mind sufficiently to bring you into the receptive part of a meditation experience, the silence.

The use of prayer beads that help followers use repetitive prayers or statements as a mantra are also a way to help you to meditate. Repetitive movements with repetitive thoughts are all ancient ways to meditate. The repetition of a Psalm or prayer is a form of coming into alignment with your Soul, as is chanting. Whatever the language used or technique employed it is the intention to open your mind and your heart to the presence of the Divine and open up to your Soul’s Light that makes the transformation happen.

Within you is a wisdom that will direct your path if you only open your heart and your mind to its Presence. You may have noticed that I often direct you in my writings to tune into that Presence and refer to it as the Soul or your Higher Self. I do this because not only are the health benefits of meditation well documented by science but there are very few things you can do in life that has as powerful and profound a positive influence as meditation, on your health or on your ability to be successful.

 

SOME SIMPLE MEDITATION TECHNIQUES

A very simple technique would be to declare your intention by affirming and saying:

I am of calm mind,
as I open my heart,
I invite the Light “
        – Genevieve Gerard

Then just sit in the silence, quietly and reflectively.

Of course, there is much more you can do and add to the experience but your intention to have a meditative experience once you have set aside the time is a first step. Then you can add other techniques, guided meditations, repetitive mantras, affirmations, prayers or whatever of the vast array of what is offered in the world that you feel guided to.

In a recent article, I discussed the power of an “I Am” statement. You can create a mantra to repeat in your mind out of “I Am” that defines the Presence you wish to experience that day.

Examples would be:

  • I Am Love

  • I Am Peace

  • I Am Joy

It is in the silence, the time to limit the input of your mind’s chatter as much as possible and in the quiet removal from the world’s input, that the magic of meditation happens. There are some who have created audio meditations where the sound is scientifically modulated (alpha, theta, and the deepest delta waves) to bring you into a specific meditative experience. These are helpful for some people as a way of conquering the mind chatter and putting you in a meditative state.

 

TAKE THE TIME TO MEDITATE

Because for me meditation has been the portal to joy and love, insight, and understanding and a sense of harmony and union with God and all of life, I encourage you to set aside the time to have a meditative experience. You can start the practice now.

I do encourage regularity. The repetition helps your mind calm as it recognizes that this is the time to be calm, too quiet the chattering mind, to tune in and receive insight.

This then becomes a sacred time as you acknowledge and recognize:

This is the time to be still.

This is the time to let yourself just be.

This is the time to open your heart to the expansion of love.

This is the time to be open to the guidance of the Light of your Soul
and the promptings of the Divine.

Taking this time is a gift you can give yourself that will repay you with blessings beyond measure. To be touched by the Presence of your Soul or to hear in the silence the voice of God guiding you, loving you or comforting you is the gift that meditation can give.

This time, set aside by you is for you and will be a blessing that can transform your life empowering you 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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Last updated 11-26-2018

 

Copyright © 2014-2018 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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Calm Your Mind

Calm Your Mind

Read Calm Your Mind - Serenity Sunday Article by Genevieve Gerard

Calm your mind,
Open Your Heart,
Invite the Light

 

These are the instructions that I use at the start of every guided meditation that I create.

When I reflect upon what characteristics best exemplify a spiritual life, I realize that the qualities of patience, kindness and calmness are key virtues for us to strive to develop in our life.

I believe you can best manifest these qualities as a reflection of your experiences received in meditation. The practice of meditation and ultimately the discipline of meditation, focus you on calming your mind.

Quieting your mind is an ongoing challenge for those of us who practice meditation, no matter what form of meditation we practice.

It is only in the quiet mind that the full peace of the serenity of our Soul can be experienced.”
     – Genevieve Gerard

It is in the quiet mind that we can open ourselves to the wonder and the Oneness of the Universal Presence. It is in a quiet mind that the promptings of your spirit guides and guardian angels can be heard. It is in the quiet mind that intuition can be truly revealed.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
     – James Allen

Releasing Anger

Calming your mind requires an active manifestation of the important principle of detachment, because to achieve that blessed state of calm you must disconnect from and release any anger you may be carrying, which will automatically bring you in touch with forgiveness. This forgiveness often needs to focus on those who have annoyed you, whether with petty acts or grand, but in order to extend the grace of forgiveness to another; you will find you must also extend that forgiveness to yourself first.

This contradiction of that by giving we receive has been revealing itself more and more clearly in my recent meditations. It seems to be an important principle. Ponder on this. It is very empowering.

This release and this resolution of whatever anger you have been experiencing combines with a spontaneous ripple effect of shifting your awareness away from the events that made you angry. This does much to bring calmness to your mind and quiet the chatter, by letting go of expectation, demands or desire.

This movement in your consciousness from expectation, desire, and demand, to letting go of your anger enables you to forgive both the other person and yourself. By this act of forgiveness, you will accomplish a great step forward in calming your mind.

All of this can occur in a nanosecond once you consciously turn your attention toward the content of your mind chatter and the emotions that are locked within it. You might find that this process is enhanced by taking a really deep breath and exhaling fully. The deep breath not only enhances the experience of the release but it also works with the physiology of the autonomic nervous system as the deep breath signals the body-mind-spirit connection that you are now safe to be calm.

Concurrently, your being is interwoven with the influences of your mind, your emotions, and your Soul. The release of the anger and the dual decision to forgive both yourself and the other person spontaneously opens your heart to experience more love.

Open Your Heart

This opening of the heart is the second instruction that I give each time I introduce a guided meditation.

When you open your heart with a quiet mind love rushes in.”
     – Genevieve Gerard

The initial focus to calm your mind has a cascading benefit that is like domino’s falling bringing greater benefit and blessing.

When you open your heart with a quiet mind you are able to both give and receive more love. The heart becomes an open receptacle for the love your Soul brings to you and the love that is available to you from God or Source that is your birthright as a child of God.

Your heart opened makes it possible for you to love without demands or conditions. In this state of openness the qualities of compassion and kindness are stimulated in your consciousness.

Compassion, like forgiveness, cannot really be given, without also being received. This interrelationship and interplay of energies do much to bring about the desired effect of calming your mind. The combined factors of letting go of desires and expectation, and the resulting release of anger, by stimulating forgiveness of both the other and yourself, all shift your awareness and render your heart open to receiving and expressing love.

The initially stated intention to enter into meditation by calming your mind has opened you to all of these blessings.

The second injunction that I give at the start of every guided meditation to open your heart began automatically as you let go of your anger in the process of quieting your mind; forgiving yourself and the other.

To consciously choose to open your heart in the approach and intention of meditating does much to expand and enhance your experience of meditating. By adding the power of intention to what you are experiencing and adding the wisdom of understanding, the power and influence that meditation can have in your life will be significant.

Invite The Light With Meditation

The last instruction I give with each guided meditation is to invite the Light.

Inviting the Light is a step to enlightened awareness. Enlightenment is expressed in the peace, the calm and the love and the joy which becomes a state of being offered to all who tread upon the path of meditation.

There are a myriad of benefits and blessings along the way. Among these are the now undisputed health benefits of meditation. Meditation has been proven to reduce physical stress. It can also give you a different perspective and a sense of Universal Oneness. In addition, the transformation available to your life as you learn to forgive both yourself and others can be very powerful, very profound and very freeing.

The integration of all of the talents and tools that you have as one who has a body (an amazing and complex source of delight and sensation), emotions (a rich and diverse portal to enjoyment and happiness) and a Soul (the gateway to joy and bliss) is a miracle. It is the miracle we call human life. It is a miracle with which you are blessed. And because we live each life of this miracle blessed by free will, it is a miracle that we are empowered to make of it what we will.

In my life meditation has provided the way to harness and to calm my mind as I receive the blessing and benefits of a calm mind. Meditation is the tool that has enabled me to forgive both others and myself. It is how I have conquered the stresses, the strains and the pains in life. It is how I have utilized universal laws such as the Law of Attraction and the dynamic opportunity to be a co-creator in my life through the principle that Energy Follows Thought.

There is no work I can do that I believe to be more important than teaching about and creating meditations. There is no gift or service that I can give that offers more opportunity to help you live your life in joy fulfilling your potential and promise, manifesting your Soul purpose.

In my adventure through the lessons of my life, meditation is the foundational pillar upon which I build. I am far from perfect. I often fall way short of whom and how I would like to be. I am a work in progress and will remain a work in progress all of the days of my life.

For me, meditation is the way I progress along the path. Mediation has become over the years a practice that has given me so much, taught me so much and exposed me to so much that my joy and my love overflow into so many aspects of my life that my gratitude for this great gift to all of my teachers and guides along the way is unlimited and ongoing.

I wish this great joy and this blessing for you:

Calm Your Mind, Open Your Heart, Invite The Light!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

 

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Last updated 11-19-2017

 

Copyright © 2014-2017 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.

 

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Counting Our Blessings

Counting Our Blessings

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

No matter what challenges we face in life, blessings surround us. Let us focus our mind and emotions on those blessings.

By expressing our gratitude we enrich our life and enhance the flow of abundance and joy.

As we experience Thanksgiving Day in the USA, this is a little exercise to help us be in touch with and appreciate the many blessings we have in our life.

This technique is to be approached in contact with our Higher Self from the unity between our personality and Soul.

Begin by taking a deep breath, breathing in the energy of Life and abundance. As you exhale, consciously release stress and fear.

Take a moment to let yourself appreciate the beauty of the world around you.

Take another deep breath, charging your energy with the life all around you. Again, as you exhale, consciously release any anxiety, any fear, and any stress. Let your energy come to a quiet, receptive center.

In a meditative open state of being, consider the world around you.

Take 3 minutes, to ponder upon 10 ways that your life is enriched and enhanced by little blessings and joys that do not require money to experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you look over your list, express your heartfelt gratitude for these little blessings that are in your life. Let gratitude flow out from your heart. Be aware of the feelings of joy that accompany your expression of gratitude.

Claim the joy and celebration these blessing give to your life as your birthright.

Next, focus your attention on the people in your life for 3 minutes.

List 10 people for whom you are grateful in your life. Focus upon how these people have helped you grow and become who you are today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine a connection of energy from your heart to theirs, and from your Soul to theirs.

Allow gratitude to flow freely from your heart to theirs and from your Soul to theirs, knowing and trusting that your gratitude and love are experienced on a subtle energetic level.

Know and trust that as energy follows thought the gratitude you send out with your thoughts is received as a blessing in their life on a subtle, energetic level.

Last, spend 3 minutes pondering 10 ways in which you can be more of a blessing in the lives of others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine how blessing and enriching the lives of others can bring greater joy and celebration to your life. Be grateful that you are able to give these little blessings to others as a way of celebrating you abundance and joy. These little blessings do not require money. They may be a kindness or deed, a little courtesy that helps lighten the load of others who journey with you through life.

Then resolve to act upon those deeds over the next week as a celebration and affirmation of your blessings, received and passed on.

Resolve to live your life, aware of the many blessings that surround you.”

Finally draw into your heart the joy of giving and the joy of receiving and for the last minute of this exercise imagine gratitude pouring forth from you into the world, blessing you and blessing others along its way.

Sit quietly before you return to the chatter of the world around you allowing all that your have realized and touched in this exercise to permeate your being, on this Thanksgiving Day.

Namaste’

 


About the author: Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened awareness.  She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of the soul.”   Browse her body of work at www.GenevieveGerard.com.  Copyright © 2011 by Genevieve Gerard. All rights reserved.

 

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