Breaking Through To Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a subject that I write about frequently. This is because in my life, in my experience, whenever I have been able to forgive someone, my life changed and improved in a dramatic and dynamic way.

Not so long ago, when speaking with my much-loved Aunt Merle, we were talking about my writing and teachings, and my efforts to use my life lessons for the benefit of others.

I commented to her that forgiveness was something I knew a great deal about and that I had become very good at it.

My aunt, who knew many of the challenges I had experienced in my life’s journey, got very quiet for a moment. Then she said with love and compassion in her voice, “Perhaps dear that is because you had so much that needed to be forgiven, happen in your life.”

That statement gave me pause. It is certainly true that my life has provided, possibly like yours, so many experiences and situations that were so awful that I rarely speak about them. In my mind, I just consider them my own personal horror stories. I frankly rarely think of them anymore. Still they are a part of my past, a past I have been able to be free of through my ability to forgive. Because forgiveness freed me.

By forgiving, I was able to let what was in the past, not be a factor in my present.

It is in light of this awareness that I write today to encourage you to forgive.

It’s not an easy journey, to get to a place where you forgive people. But, it is such a powerful place, because it frees you.
– Tyler Perry

Moreover, I encourage you to do it for what it will do for you and how it will impact your life.

It has always fascinated me that the most powerful and significant impact that forgiving had, was for me, rather than upon those I had forgiven. In fact it is not even necessary for those you forgive to know you have forgiven them. My forgiving freed me from carrying the pain. My forgiving permitted me to heal and move forward in my life.

Forgiveness is not always easy…
And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.
– Marianne Williamson

When I think back to the moment that I was able to fully and finally forgive, I feel such joy remembering the relief and release that I experienced, it still makes me smile.

Energetically, when I broke through to forgiveness there was a shift that felt like a thousand hurts and burdens shattering, like tempered glass, into refuse on the floor of my life, that could now be cleaned up and swept away.

Up until that moment I knew that I had only attempted to forgive, I even told myself that I had forgiven the myriad of betrayals and cruelties I was made to suffer. I persisted, and with each attempt I paved the way that helped me reach a point where I could finally and totally forgive, and with each attempt to forgive the burden got lighter.

In fact, I had been working on forgiving much of my life. It is as if I knew from an early age, even in the midst of being subjected to terrible acts and situations that I needed to find it in my heart to forgive. In fact, when I shared what was happening in my life and what I was being subjected to in terms of abuse with teachers, preachers and counselors; they advised me to return love and forgiveness. And I certainly tried.

It was only when I realized that an important part of forgiveness was acknowledging the wrongness of what I had been subjected to, that I could release the anger that I was carrying. Otherwise, in the words of my spiritual mentor it was “premature transcendence.” Honoring and admitting the reality of my anger was important.

Actually, it was only when my own spiritual journey took me to doing A Course on Miracles and I entered a phase of daily seed thoughts and affirmations on forgiveness, that I was ultimately able to forgive sufficiently and to be truly free.

Two seed thoughts that had a profound impact upon me, which were offered back to back, and which I spent days contemplating on I offer to you now. They are, “forgiveness is the key to happiness” and, “forgiveness offers everything I want.”

Doing, Not Trying

I had been doing spiritual work in A Course in Miracles when my business travel placed me in a situation where I felt compelled to visit my Mother. In my life, much of what I needed to forgive was centered on my relationship with my Mother. Some for what she did, but much for what she failed to do, for the ways she left me vulnerable and unprotected.

When I found myself face to face with her after many years of my avoiding being subjected to her cruelty, and the memories that being with her made inescapable, I thought I might as well put into practice what I had been learning.

I went into my visit with my mother determined to not fall victim to her abuse. I had decided that I would not give her the power to push my buttons. (Up until that time, her behavior stimulated a response in me that I did not like and was vastly different from my usual self.)

Certainly, it is true for most people that their Mother knows exactly what to say or do to push their buttons. That was very true for me. My Mother’s strongest weapon was her poison tongue. Her vitriolic attacks and demeaning insults were only a part of what I needed to forgive, but they were something that had continued even after her failure to protect me from others was no longer relevant, because as an adult I could now protect myself. These verbal attacks made it hard to be with her.

In addition, although I could never understand how or why she seemed to enjoy being mean and cruel, I knew that I needed to find a way to not be her victim.

When, in the course of our visit she said something that was both demeaning and cruel, something shifted in me. This was not new behavior for her and certainly not new in our troubled relationship. What was new was how I reacted to it. I looked at her and instead of being angry, I returned love. I maintained my center and did not react. In fact, I recall feeling a deep sadness.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. When I did not respond in kind by saying something mean and cruel back to her, she became angrier. She became frustrated as she lobbed insult after insult at me. As I stayed centered in myself and not reactive she became so angry and so frustrated that she ultimately insulted herself back for me. She did this by saying “I know what you are going to say is…” Ironically, what she said had never even crossed my mind.

What I then said, from my center, calmly was “I didn’t say that Mother, you did. Is that how you feel?”

In that moment, I was finally able to break through and forgive her. In that moment, I became free. I knew that for as long as we lived after that point I had the power to be who I was and not give her the power to control my behavior. In that moment, I discovered the amazing power of turning the other cheek.

In forgiving her, I was now free. That moment changed our entire relationship and that change remained until she passed from this life.

That does not mean that she was never mean again. Of course not. She was who she was. She did, over time come to appreciate the forgiveness I had given her, but the significant change was in me. The freedom and the release was mine, and that freedom and release allowed me to be in her company and be true to myself. To be who I had become in life.

There are in other articles I have written on forgiveness meditations and techniques that I have shared to assist you. I encourage you to consider them on your own quest to learn to forgive.

Forgiveness often contains many layers. Each time you forgive a wrong you peel away a layer and weaken the hold that the hurt has on you.

At its core, forgiveness is tied into love. The more you can love, the more you can forgive. The more you can forgive the more your compassion is stimulated as you understand better the factors that led to the circumstances you are striving to forgive. I encourage you and will continue to offer guidance and support on your quest to forgive.

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

Over the next 4 days I will post daily seed thoughts on forgiveness to support you through my Imagine 1 Minute social posts (please follow me on Facebook and Twitter.) Also, keep checking back, I am sure I will write again on the subject of forgiveness.

I invite you to experience the freedom that forgiveness gives. I encourage you to find it in your heart to forgive whatever horrors you may have been subjected to in your life. Your intention provides power.

Honestly own your anger and then let it all go with forgiveness.

Forgiveness Affirmations

To help you forgive here are some affirmations that you can use:

I Forgive You

I forgive myself for letting you harm me.

By forgiving you, I release you from our mutual past.

By forgiving you, I release me from the past.

By forgiving myself, I am now free of the past

I am sorry for all the time I reacted with anger.

I forgive myself for the times and ways I failed to love.

Now is a new moment, forgiveness enables me to open to new possibilities.

Forgiveness frees me to have the life that I desire.

What I receive by forgiving is freedom; freedom to free myself from old hurts, freedom to let go of the past. With forgiveness you are able to break free of old established patterns in relationships.

Most importantly, after you have forgiven, there is an opportunity for healing.

Forgiveness allows you to leave what has happened in the past where it truly belongs, in the past. This frees you from constantly needing to relive it or react to it.

It is even possible to develop a new bond and a way of being with the person you have forgiven that is much more satisfying and gratifying than what had preceded.

Forgiveness changes everything because forgiveness changes you.
– Genevieve Gerard

On the heels of forgiveness comes the chance to build something new and different. You are able to shed the anger that held you captive and limited, and give yourself the ability to move forward in your life. Ultimately, forgiveness permits both compassion and understanding to emerge. Ponder on this!

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

P.S. I see that I have 20 other posts on forgiveness. Some offer tools and techniques that may be of help to you.

You may also be interested in my 5-star guided meditation called “How To Forgive Yourself: Let Go Of The Past and Release Your Pain And Sorrow.” Because when forgiving another, it often brings up the need to forgive yourself for not standing up for yourself or letting another harm you. This seems to be true whether you had any control over their actions or not.

Last updated 2-21-2018

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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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How to Forgive Yourself:: Release and Let Go Of The Past

The Last Step in Forgiveness Read More »

As the Year Turns

Genevieve Gerard

As the Year Turns

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are fertile times for reflecting upon your life.

As you do so it seems that there are several powerful ways that you can welcome in 2021 and empower yourself to manifest in the New Year more success, more joy, and ultimately greater happiness.

Perhaps the most powerful and important thing you can do as this passage of time is marked is to bring your consciousness and awareness into the present time, into NOW. This shift to the NOW involves several simple understandings of what is always true but may not be the focus of your thoughts and attention.

Therefore, I encourage you to consider deeply the fact that the past is over!

Seize the Opportunity That Today Offers You

With the strike of the midnight hour you are freed from last year. You are now invited to the unlimited possibility and potential of a new year. The future, brimming with promise is before you and you hold within the creative power of your mind and your life the ability to bring to fruition all of your dreams, all of your desires, your reason for living.

To enhance and best activate this powerful moment where you rest on the threshold of a new year which can be a whole new life, I encourage you to take a few minutes of time to forgive yourself. Since the past is over, nothing is gained by carrying the past forward in the no-win dynamic of self-blame and recrimination. So I urge you to use this transition from the past into the future to really forgive yourself.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift:
That’s why they call it the present.
– Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

Seize the opportunity that today offers you to invoke, affirm and dream. Your destiny is calling to you. Open your heart mind and Soul, to hear that call. As you release the past to its proper role in your life and forgive yourself, you can further free yourself to be fully open to receive what tomorrow has to offer by forgiving any who have ever caused you harm, intentionally or unintentionally.

When you do this you are like a babe newly born to a new life like the New Year’s images who usher the old man of the past out the door.

The icing on the cake of celebration of the becoming of the New Year is to express gratitude for all that you have ever experienced knowing and rejoicing that it prepared you for the amazing future that is now ready to unfold for you, right here, right now.

New Year Affirmations

As the New Year emerges into being here are some positive affirmations you can use to empower your life.

I open my eyes to see the new opportunities that are unfolding for me.

I open my mind to inspiring and enlightening awareness of what I can do to manifest my dreams.

I open my heart to attract to me those who can help me and those I can truly aid.

Remember this New Year has never been before! Move into it with joy and celebration, openness, and invitation to create the reality you invoke as the year turns.

Namaste and Happy New Year,

Genevieve Gerard

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

P.S. QUICK FACT: This post has been viewed 16,178 times. Please share it with friends and then check out our other related posts below and in the “Hot Topics” sidebar.

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Nothing is gained by clinging to the past and the tendency to do so can interrupt the flow of budding blessings that are now available to you. In truth the past is past. Let it lie undisturbed as you open yourself to a new future that is just now coming into being.

Check out my How To Forgive Yourself Guided Meditation. Let go of the past and release your pain and sorrow.

Last Updated 1-1-2021

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.”

Holiday Forgiveness and Gratitude

Genevieve Gerard

Thank You, I Love You, Please Forgive Me

What is it that makes the difference and more importantly what can we do to make our experiences of family gatherings fun, joyful and a supportive experience?

For some people being together as a family is the joyous, celebratory part of a holiday. For others the events of holiday gatherings are stressful and challenging.

I am reminded of a story my sister-in-law told me several years ago. She was working in retail when a customer asked her what her plans for the holiday were, and she responded by saying the whole family was gathering at her sister-in-law’s home. Her customer began to offer her sympathy, and when she said how much she was looking forward to it, her customer was shocked. My sister-in-law commented that in her family were people she considered her dearest friends. Her customer was surprised and then went on to express the dread of being with her own family.

At the time I remember us being grateful that we had the family we did and the relationship of being both friends and family, not only in loving one another but also in the support and encouragement we shared not only with one another but within the family structure. Today I considered what makes the difference in these two very different experiences of families gathering for the holidays. It seems that these diverse experiences of family life and family gatherings are common. What is it that makes the difference and, more importantly, what can we do to make our experiences of family gatherings fun, joyful and a supportive experience?

When we look at the structure of the family two vital factors come to my mind. They are love and forgiveness. How the love is expressed or all too often not expressed is a significant part of family gatherings and whether or not we leave those events happy and fulfilled or disappointed and frustrated. By the time a family gathers together, there has been a lifetime of experiences. Expectations and what we desire and need from one another have colored our history of family gatherings and unless we consciously do something different the best predictor of what will happen is what has happened in the past.

However, we do not have to be tied to the past. We have the ability to change and transform the dynamic of these events by what we bring to the event in our thoughts and with our actions. We have the power to act rather than merely react. When we take that power, we change our experience and provide the opportunity to heal relationships in ways beyond our imaginings.

Forgiveness is the final form of love.
~ Reinhold Niebuhr

One essential key to facilitating transformation of family gatherings is forgiveness, and the other is love. Although there is a great deal that can be said (read my other forgiveness posts) in these two areas instead of thinking and theorizing on these. I suggest a dynamic experiment that you can do. It requires no agreement or participation from anyone else. It is very simple and yet both powerful and empowering. No one needs to know you are doing this.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
~ Lewis B. Smedes

This exercise incorporates the very powerful forces of Love, Forgiveness and Gratitude. They involve saying in your mind specific repetitive phrases when observing the behaviors of those around you. You can shift freely and fluidly between these phrases. You can choose them at will. For as much of the time you are with your family as you find possible, repeat these phrases in your mind. You may find your own variations and expressions of the phrases. 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. There is no reason to explain or belabor this, just repeat these phrases in your mind and heart.

The Phrases are:

Please forgive me

Thank you

I love you

I forgive you

I forgive myself

You may find other similar thoughts flow through your mind. You may find yourself lured by specifics. Let yourself be freed from your entire past “story” and return to repeating these simple phrases in your mind. The past is over. The future is unwritten. At this moment, right now, just repeat these simple phrases.

The past is over. The future is unwritten.
~ Genevieve Gerard

You may observe dramatic changes in others from doing this experiment. You may only experience a change in yourself. You may not see any response or effect. That does not matter.

It is not important to explain or express anything to anyone. The transformation you are creating in this experiment happens on a subtle energetic level. Just return to repeating in your mind the phrases and carry on with what you are doing.

Please continue with this by continuing to repeat these phrases for the duration of your family gathering.

I would love to hear from you about your experience with this experiment. On my website I have a section called Transformation Stories. You are invited to share your experiences there.

Please note: The phrases included here are a minor modification of the teachings of Hoʻoponopono [ho-o-pono-pono] (an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.)

You can find more about this in a book by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, titled “Zero Limits”

Thank you,

The Blessing of Love on all that you do.

Namaste

Genevieve Gerard

P.S. Please feel free to pass this article on to others who may find it of interest (just click one of the buttons below and share it socially.)

How To Forgive Yourself

Genevieve Gerard

How To Forgive Yourself MP3

Let Go Of The Past and Release Your Pain And Sorrow

Forgiveness is an act that can do more to transform your life than any other tool in the quest for enlightenment, awareness and joy.

Learning to forgive yourself unlocks a power and a potential in your life that you have only dreamed of as possible.
It is through forgiveness that you become free, free to accept, enjoy and embrace the life you have spent countless hours wishing for, praying for.

Until you address this important life lesson, you are held back from moving into the full potential of your power to manifest and create your life by clinging to thoughts and feelings of shame, of guilt. It may be your belief that you do not deserve the happiness you seek because of some great wrong or mistake of the past. It is by forgiveness, most importantly self-forgiveness that you can finally be free of the past.

You hold the power to unlock the cage that has been imprisoning you. By focusing upon the conscious work of self-forgiveness you can choose to transform your life.

MP3 Download Special Pricing:

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This visualization guides you step-by-step through a process and perspective, which with your heartfelt intention and attention can open your life to all of the new possibilities that are available to you.

Because old sorrows, guilt, and shame are deeply embedded in your consciousness, you may need to, or wish to do this visualization many times offering up new insights and realization into the freedom of self-forgiveness.

Unpeeling the layers of illusion, glamor, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation that have kept you imprisoned in the past requires turning on the Light so you can see clearly and come into the opportunities and awareness that have not been clear to you before.

I invite you to embrace this adventure with the anticipation and expectation that the rest of your life can be the best of your life as you sever the bonds that have held you back for way too long.”
– Genevieve Gerard

This visualization offers you the tools and techniques I have used in my own spiritual journey to find freedom and be open to and experience transcendent peace and joy.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be of service to you.

MP3 Available For Download Now

P.S. You can use this visualization as often as you like to liberate any lingering pain, blame or sorrows of the past and then be prepared to go forth living in the moment and open yourself to new experiences, assured that the future is as yet unwritten, waiting to be created.

P.S.S. Download this MP3 at any time of the day, even at 1 am in the morning.

Last Updated 8-28-2018

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Independence Day 2013: Freedom

Genevieve Gerard

Independence Day 2013

Freedom of Forgiveness

Today is the 4th of July; a day that all across the United States the concept of freedom is pondered and considered.

This concept is very powerful and in the years since our Forefathers espoused the principles of governance to guide the emerging nation that became our country freedom has been a constant principle, sometimes misused, sometimes misunderstood and yet it remains a deep principle and tenet of our consciousness.

The freedom to do, the freedom to say, the freedom to think and the freedom to be are all cornerstones of the awareness of modern man all around the planet.
Today as I meditate and ponder upon these weighty concepts I am aware of a kind of freedom that comes not from a governmental system but rather from our individual heart, mind and Soul. That is the freedom to forgive ourselves.

It is not unusual that I would think of this as I have been working on creating meditations on Self-Forgiveness for a variety of different groups in a variety of circumstances of life events. But as I ponder the concept of Freedom as the dawn breaks over the skies of a 4th of July, the freedom to forgive oneself and to free oneself from the endless toxic cycle of self-judgment and recrimination seems to be important.

All too often our thoughts and feelings are trapped in self-blame, self-doubt and shame that not only limits our ability to be free but destroys our hope, our promise and our potential to both give and receive love.

This lack of self-forgiveness, this blame game we all play to varying degrees, disconnects us from those around us, separates and isolates us and denies both us and others of the Love that we all so desperately need and desire. It serves no purpose for all that you have ever done and all that has ever been done to you is in the past. It is only by your lack of self-forgiveness or forgiveness of the other that it is brought into the present to contaminate what is truly happening and deprive you of the peace the love and the joy that life is offering you in the now, in this moment, here and now today.

As we celebrate with family and friends the freedoms we enjoy, I invite you to add a new freedom to enjoy, the freedom from self-judgment, self-blame and self-recrimination.” – Genevieve Gerard

To do this I invite you into the present, into this moment of time. Consciously and with intention realize that the past is past. It cannot invade or influence this moment of time unless you invite it in. In the moment you have the power and the freedom to be released from any and all pain and circumstance in life that has come before.

Let yourself enter into the freedom that this moment grants by both expanding your awareness into this moment of time and confining your awareness to this moment of time. In this moment the past is both dissolved and resolved. In this moment all you have ever experience can be released because it is in the past. You are free from it. You are unfettered and released in the awareness that because it is in the past it cannot be altered or changed, but it can be forgiven.

In this moment is a magic that lays before you a future that has not been written that holds a potential and a promise that everything can be different and new from everything that has ever come before. This power is available to you as you enter into the reality and realization of what is truth, without the distortion of the past. Accepting this moment, while releasing and forgiving what has been, while opening yourself to all that can be, all that can happen in this ongoing adventure of life.

Shedding the past as the worn out garment you have worn and worried too long invites you into NOW and gives you true freedom, the freedom to be and the freedom to become all that you have ever longed to be.

Accept this freedom, release the past through self-forgiveness and embrace the full possibility of your life to celebrate true independence.

Happy Independence Day. Today is truly the first day of the rest of your life. Go forth freed from past errors and mistakes to fulfill you higher purpose and destiny.

Namaste

Independence Day 2013: Freedom Read More »

The Power to Forgive

Genevieve Gerard

Unlocking
The Power to Forgive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Namaste

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

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

The Power to Forgive Read More »

Forgiving The Unforgivable

Genevieve Gerard

Forgiving the Unforgivable

The power of forgiveness, and the miracle forgiveness can create in your life, is the theme of Master Charles Cannons book “Forgiving the Unforgivable” which is being released today.

Any of us on the spiritual path know the challenge of having to “walk our talk’ and demonstrate what we teach others through the trials of life. The experience of the India Mumbai terrorist massacre was such a life event for my dear friend Master Charles Cannon. His response to the pain, the loss and the horror of his friends and followers being mowed down in a ruthless Pakistani Muslim terrorist attack while guiding a group of 24 Synchronicity followers through India are the events that are chronicled in this book.

Just the year before the terrorist attack I had traveled in India with Master Charles and his group and we had spent time in the 5-star Oberoi Trident Hotel where part of the attack took place. I had been invited to return the following year with him and his group on that November 2008 fateful journey (some call it 26/11) but had felt it was not my time to go back to India. In the massacre he lost his long time friend and supporter Alan Scherr.

I lost my dear friend Alan to the senseless loss in a killing motivated by forces that barely make sense to us as Americans. Receiving a phone call during the 45-hour siege, directly from Dr. Steven Hinkey who was at Master Charles’s ashram while the attack was taking place made it even more real to me. The tragedy was further compounded by us finding out later that Alan’s teenage daughter Naomi had also been murdered in the attack.

Making sense of the senseless and demonstrating the spiritual power of forgiveness is chronicled in this book. It is a rare opportunity to share in the journey a spiritual guide must take to find healing and peace from such a personal disaster.

I encourage you all to buy Master Charles’ book and learn firsthand how to survive and thrive through unthinkable disaster, sorrow and pain. It promises to be an enlightening look at how ones spiritual perspective can give you the strength to heal and respond to the events of life. The inner process of spiritual vision and perspective in the face of disaster promises to be inspiring and valuable to us all.

Praise for this breakthrough book:

“This book invites you to relinquish attachment to the stories that define your identity and to discover a deeper, timeless, and formless identity beyond the content of your mind. Herein lies the essence of all spirituality.” — Eckhart Tolle

“Every story of the human journey, every reflection on the appearance of evil, every admonition to triumph over hatred through the power of love – it’s all in here. This is a remarkable book.” — Marianne Williamson

“The most special aspect of this remarkable book is not what you will find in it, but what you will find in you after you read it. You are holding in your hands a book that you will never forget. Ever. It will stun your mind, open your heart and connect you directly with your soul.” — Neale Donald Walsch

Forgiving the Unforgivable is literally a guide to compassion. Destined to become a classic, this riveting page-turner meets everyone exactly where they are on their path and provides them with tips and tools to begin handling every challenge with love and forgiveness, regardless of what others do.

Invest in healing for our world, your own personal evolution and help friends do the same by ordering “Forgiving the Unforgivable” today for yourself and those you love.

Please use the link below to learn more about this insightful book and to benefit from all of the special offers from the community that support Master Charles and his work.

I am sure you will be pleased that you took the opportunity to avail yourself of his wisdom.
I am purchasing my copy today.

Get your copy and all of the special bonuses today here:

http://forgivingtheunforgivable.com/bookpromo

Please join me.

If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred.
If you want to see the brave, look for those who can forgive.”
— Bhagavad Gita

To view this short video on YouTube directly click Forgiving The Unforgivable.

Forgiving The Unforgivable Read More »

To Forgive

Genevieve Gerard

To Forgive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Forgive Read More »

Freedom, Fear and Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

Reflections on the
15^th Anniversary of 9-11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings,

Genevieve

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Key to Freedom and Happiness

Genevieve Gerard

Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness

by Genevieve Gerard

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

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

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Key to Freedom and Happiness Read More »

What is Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

What is Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful and significant of spiritual tools to transform your life. Forgiveness is an act that has a dual benefit. It benefits the one who forgives and the one who is forgiven. It is freeing and releasing.

Forgiving releases old attachment to the past and frees you to enter into present time. By forgiving, you open the opportunity for a positive change in your perspective, your understanding and your consciousness. You create the possibility for a new and better way for things to be.

What is Forgiveness Read More »

Awesome… Thank You ☺️✨

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

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

Thanks for sharing is there any way i can help?

Thank you for the inspiring words.

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Independence Day 2013

Freedom of Forgiveness

Unlocking The Power to Forgive

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

Forgiving the Unforgivable

The power of forgiveness, and the miracle forgiveness can create in your life, is the theme of Master Charles Cannons book “Forgiving the Unforgivable” which is being released today.

To Forgive

Reflections on the 15th Anniversary of 9-11

Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness

What is Forgiveness

Unlocking
The Power to Forgive

Reflections on the
15^th Anniversary of 9-11