Forgiveness Sets You Free

For many people, forgiveness is difficult, they wrongly associate forgiveness with weakness and victimhood. Those people are wrong.

There is great power in forgiveness. To forgive is a way of welcoming transformation in your life and will set you free.

Forgiveness, while it may seem to be an act of kindness to someone who has wronged you is, in fact, an act of kindness and compassion for yourself. Forgiveness is the only thing that can free you from the past.

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful and significant 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.

If you forgive someone only to free yourself and let yourself move forward in life, forgiveness still has a powerful impact energetically in both mysterious and powerful ways. Forgiveness influences the karmic connection between you in another in ways beyond conscious awareness and experience.

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.”
– Genevieve Gerard

Stop Being Trapped In The Past

When you forgive someone, you are no longer trapped in the hurts of the past. You are released and are free to begin a process of healing. You ignite and empower your life simply by having chosen to let go of what is in the past. That opens you to the present, to the NOW, to the unlimited potential of freedom, the freedom to be present and thereby experience what is now available, what is possible.

To choose not to forgive is weighing your present down with chains that keep you from being able to grow, to thrive, live fully and be free. That is a choice you can change today.

Amazingly, no matter how long you have clung to the pain, sorrow, and resentment of old wrongs, once you forgive, you can be released immediately.

You may feel a lightness, a peacefulness, a sense of being more centered or empowered.

The past, which you may have clung to relentlessly immediately losses its power over your life. In fact, forgiveness has such a positive and empowering influence in your life that I have often thought that forgiving is an act of self-love. Give forgiveness, not for the one who has wronged you, but for yourself.

Forgiveness opens you to a consciousness that is Divine in nature and aligns you with Love, Truth, and Grace. When you hold an unforgiving mind, you are trapped within focusing not only on how you have been wronged but also on thoughts of failure, sin, and separation from God.

The Course In Miracles puts it this way,
“Forgiveness is the key to Happiness.”
-pg.250 workbook for students.

Forgiveness opens you to a consciousness that allows you to experiment and make mistakes in life in full faith and confidence that you are a beloved child of God having the adventure to learn and explore all that life offers. You claim that power immediately when you forgive. By forgiving you automatically and spontaneously are provided forgiveness.

You don’t have to be perfect. You are not expected to be perfect. You are a human being, a being created in matter, and endowed with a spark of Divine Light.

Your life has a purpose in the Divine Plan of evolution. Learning and growing throughout life can be messy. It is O.K. to make mistakes. In fact, it is expected that you will make mistakes. That is how a human being transforms and its Soul learns.

Life lessons and life learning rely upon forgiveness as an energetic flow that allows you the freedom from the past and ushers you into the possibilities and potential of what is being created and emerging in front of you.

Not forgiving traps you outside of that free-flowing energy. Forgiveness opens you up again and relegates the past into the past where is the only place the wrong or harm exists.

Don’t Forget to Forgive Yourself

Forgiving others is important. However, it is also important to forgive yourself. To forgive yourself may seem to be the more difficult thing to do; still, it is of vital importance. To deny yourself self-forgiveness is to reject both the power and energy of grace and in a way which denies the very power and nature of God.

You can forgive yourself of past mistakes and foolishness or wallow in your shame and guilt, or you can forgive yourself. You can examine and explore your past and learn from the error of your ways. It is never too late to make a new start.

Each morning brings a new day, an opportunity to start anew and open to new possibilities. You can live your new life, one day at a time. This is always possible. In fact, that is the only way anyone can live, one day at a time. Forgiveness and self-forgiveness give you that gift.

The Essence of Love is Forgiveness

The nature of God is Love. The quality and essence of Love is forgiveness.

Refusing to accept God’s Love or forgiveness is refusing to accept life. Forgiveness wields the power of growth, transformation, and healing. When you forgive someone, you are opening to a dynamic force of healing and transformation. It empowers you and frees you as it enables and frees the person you forgive.

Forgiveness is an essential ingredient of Love. The life adventure of the Soul is learning and ultimately understanding how to Love; therefore, learning to forgive is vital. You can waste a lot of life shaming and blaming, or you can choose to learn to forgive. You can let go of past sorrows and open to the new possibilities that are emerging before you in the present.

Life and indeed the Law of Karma requires that you get the lesson until you learn the lesson. You don’t need to waste your energy on shame and guilt. You can pick yourself up and forgive your mistake and go forth and not make that mistake again. Demonstrating what you have learned becomes a vital part of incorporating a life lesson into your consciousness.

Over the experiences of life, you learn and grow. You become a better person, a wiser person, a more enlightened and aware person. Along the way, forgiveness is important for it opens you to the present and only in the present can you take on the next challenge and lesson life is offering you.

Forgiveness Techniques

It is clear that in life the energies of Love and forgiveness are entwined with gratitude and appreciation. A great example of this is the forgiveness technique of the Hawaiian cultures. A powerful forgiveness technique that comes to us from the Hawaiian shaman is a simple repletion of three simple phrases:

Thank you

I Love you

Please forgive me

These phrases come from the practice of Hoʻoponopono [ho-o-pono-pono] which is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.

I have found adding the words:

I forgive you

I’m sorry

Add to the effectiveness of the technique.

Remember that with the technique of forgiveness you are releasing both you and the one you felt wronged you from the actions of the past and are allowing transformation and healing to take place to set yourself free.

Today’s challenges are sufficient for today. Open your life to the new possibilities and potential that are coming to you today. Claim those possibilities and let your potential come into manifestation with the power of living in the present moment.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!

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Breaking Through To Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

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

Breaking Through To Forgiveness Read More »

Love is the Antidote

Genevieve Gerard

Love is the Antidote to Criticism and Judgment

Criticism and judgment may well be one of the most damaging ways you hurt the ones you love.

Sadly, it is one of the most common ways that couples destroy the love that should be the greatest blessing and joy in their lives.

It is a trap of inter-relationship, which has seeds in the psychological concept of projection, but more importantly in the dynamics of how people often “fall in love.” Unfortunately, our media manufactures unrealistic perceptions of what it means to love another.

PROJECTION

During that special magical time of falling in love, it is human nature to project all that is good and wonderful onto your beloved. Just as later in the relationship, it is human nature to project your own faults and failures onto your beloved.

Both of these experiences are illusions and neither of these has anything to do with love. Although, if you consider any of your failed relationships, beginning middle and end, you will most likely recognize this pattern.

Too truly love accepts the other as who they are, supporting and honoring them in their unique life journey, although it may well be different from yours.
– Genevieve Gerard

At the beginning of a relationship, you may have been drawn to your beloved, from the impulse of your Soul (whose nature is love) or your karma with the person. When you meet that someone, you may feel a connection that is special. This may even have to do with a bond of love that has been forged in eternity.

You may feel understood in a way you do not feel in most of your daily relationships. You could feel a sense of unity with the other, a coming together in a way that transcends the mundane. You know and acknowledge that this relationship is different. With your beloved, you are more alive, more real, more fully in touch with your full being than you normally are when you are alone.

You feel connected, content, and joyful. You may even feel more connected and in tune with your Soul, your higher self. Since most of us do not always feel connected, content and joyful, it is easy to assume that these feelings come from the other and the process of projection begins. You say to the other “you are wonderful.” The other says to you, “no, no, you are the one who is wonderful.” Feeling validated, appreciated and loved, you both feel wonderful.

This process of feeling wonderful, supported, validated, appreciated and even complete provides a hint to the aspects that compose a positive and successful relationship. Ponder on this!

This positive and supportive relationship can then grow and expand into the declaration of love for each other. This unconditional understanding and acceptance is what you long for and expect from love. This is what we have grown to expect of “falling in love.”

The two keys in this concept are unconditional and acceptance. To receive life-affirming love and acceptance are powerful and life-affirming. It gives you the impetus to be the best that we can be. In addition, when you are willing and able to give your beloved unconditional love and acceptance that brings you together, you move forward in life to have the true strength and joy that comes from a loving union.

Thankfully, you can use this illusory period of projection to truly let love blossom and mature into true love. Armed with the blessing and the strength of love you are then able to move forth in life to be and become all that you can be, knowing and trusting in the benevolence of that love.

CRITICISM and JUDGMENT

Sadly, for many loving unconditionally is too much. Forgiving the little hurts and the real or imagined slights that could sustain the love is just too hard. Unfortunately, what follows next in the pattern of relationships demonstrates why learning to forgive is such an essential part of love.

The unforgiven slights and hurts build up and become criticisms and judgments. No longer do you say to your beloved, “you are wonderful and I love you.” Rather, the message becomes, “you have failed,” “you are wrong.” “You are less than you could be, ought to be or should be.”

No longer does the confidence and faith in yourself that came from being loved and understood give you the strength and courage to go forth in the world to be all that you can be. No longer do you feel strengthened and supported. Sadly, what has disguised itself as love now has become harmful, limiting and demeaning.

Having the one who says that they love you, or who has vowed to love you, be critical and judgmental can be very confusing. Often this transition starts a pattern of criticism and judgment that ultimately destroys the love that was once created. It may take a lifetime to destroy because love is a powerful positive force.

Receiving, in return for your love, criticism, and judgment, from the one you love and from whom you once received love, is devastating. It creates pain and often undermines your self-confidence. You cannot understand how you can love someone and receive back the toxic criticism and judgment where you once received love and acceptance.

The harm of criticism and judgment is immediate. You may feel betrayed by life and love itself. The ability to trust in your love is in some way fatally damaged. The lack of trust and the betrayal it brings may take years to destroy the relationship because the criticism and judgment is often interwoven with loving and positive messages.

It is important to realize a truth I first read in the seed thoughts of “A Course on Miracles.“

judgment is the opposite of love

Judgment fails the life direction of harmlessness because I can imagine little that you can do to another that is more harmful than judgment. It undermines confidence; it destroys the celebration and self-assurance that could come with every success by holding it up to an impossible and imaginary standard of perfectionism. It is a toxic poison in relationships, especially and most importantly in relationships that are presented as loving relationships.

Unfortunately, judgment and criticism are all too often the results of your own feelings of failure. The very projection that was so active at the beginning of the relationship, of declaring the beloved to be so wonderful, is now in full manifestation of a constant process of faultfinding or blame.

Also sadly, on some level you probably realize that the process of projecting feelings of failure on your beloved is damaging. This increases your feelings of failure. When you are actually trying to be loving and supportive, being the critic results in more self-criticism and self-loathing. On a very deep level, you know you are failing to love and are hurting the one that you love. This failure to demonstrate love only escalates this cycle of judgment and criticism. It is easier to blame the person you love than to take stock of yourself and face yourself with truth.

Recognition of how you have failed to love, by being critical and judgmental, is important. Asking for forgiveness, and/or repenting are all important parts of forgiving.

Committing to break the behavior habit of criticism and judgment is significant. Watching and evaluating what you say, with the consideration of harmlessness and right speech in future communication with the beloved, can help rebuild and re-establish the environment in which love can thrive.

THE FORGIVENESS PROCESS

Learning to forgive is of course the answer. Forgiving yourself, not only for your failure to love unconditionally but also for all of the little ways you have failed and fallen short of your own self-critical expectations of perfection or success is important. This is a very important step in stopping the toxic treadmill of criticizing others.

Self-forgiveness can open the door to loving yourself because loving yourself is essential to you truly loving another. Forgiveness is a way to heal your past. It can wipe the slate clean, and open before you all of the possibility, hope and promise that you have ever dreamed of. Self-forgiveness in your failure to love, and asking for forgiveness from your beloved, are key parts of rebuilding and reestablishing the promise of love you gave.

To forgive yourself you must open yourself to your Soul, which both now and always has loved you unconditionally. You do this by calling upon your Soul to help you with this awesome task.

Your Soul knows and understands all of the reasons you have failed to love. It knows what challenges resulted not only in your failures to love but also in all your failures in life. When you sincerely call upon its help, it can and will reveal to you clarity about your life and your choices that may be painful to observe. This often strips you bare of all of the excuses and justifications you have used.

Learn to forgive with my, 4.8/5.0-star reviewed,
“How To Forgive Yourself” Guided Meditation.
Available immediately as a MP3 download on
iTunes, Amazon or here on my website for only $8.88 US.

As you invite the higher vibratory energy of your Soul Light in, it moves through your consciousness and you are, by its revelation, able to know forgiveness and the higher nature of real love. Most important with insights from your Soul comes a clarity that shatters the behaviors of the past and opens up an unformed future that now lays before you, free from what has been.

The tears and horror of what you have done may need to be released, but the grace and peace of truly forgiving yourself are so powerful that you can now look at your old behavior patterns with compassion. You can emerge from this a new and much better person.

You realize that when you have forgiven yourself, you can now honestly ask for the forgiveness of the person you have failed to love unconditionally. You can stop criticizing or judging. Instead, you can give true love from the depths of your body and Soul. You can give unconditional love!

This journey to the Soul, to the self and too forgiving yourself may well be the most powerful and transforming decision you have ever made. In the act of self-forgiveness, you can silence the voice of self-criticism and judgment that you projected on your beloved and miraculously change your behavior.

Without forgiveness and love, you will live with resentment, bitterness, malice, and strife which result in more pain. You can never love without forgiving. Forgiveness deepens your ability to love and frees you from pain.
― Kemi Sogunle

The final step in this forgiveness process and returning love to your life is to ask for the forgiveness of your beloved. Forgiving the hurts and slights, that happened along life’s way is important. It is an essential ingredient in any loving relationship. Without it, love cannot be sustained and thrive. Amazingly, forgiveness is so powerful that it can restore the blessing of love in a relationship. It can renew both your hope and your joy.

It is never too late. Forgiveness and love both live in the “Now” and so can be restored in the moment. Such is the unlimited power of forgiveness, the promise of living in the presence and the miracle of love.

When you ask for forgiveness, let the truth that the Soul’s Light reveals guide you. Forgiveness comes from Love and Grace. It is a gift of your Soul.

As Church traditions teach, there is a powerful impact of contrition and making amends. These do much to solidify and manifest the changes in your life that self-forgiveness desires. In forgiving yourself, you seek the capacity to transform both yourself and your life in a dynamic and substantial way. This is available to you. You are not limited by your past.

Forgiveness is the handmaiden of Love. By forgiving, you express and manifest Love. Love is more than a romantic excursion but a momentous guiding force in your life. Learning to Love and learning to forgive are supporting pillars of a spiritual life. Through these two important acts, you can increase your peace of mind, find satisfaction and lasting happiness. These are the keys to a life of joy and serenity.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

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About the author:
Genevieve Gerard teaches Transformational Consciousness – from first awakening to enlightened Soul awareness. She helps you experience the joy that results from the spontaneous “touch of your soul.”

Read more details…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last updated 2-12-2020

Love is the Antidote Read More »

Are You Still Carrying the Past?

Genevieve Gerard

Are You Still Carrying the Past?

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

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

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

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

The Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

FORGIVENESS

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

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

A SIMPLE FORGIVENESS TECHNIQUE

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

The Traditional Phrases are:

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

The additional phrases that I sometimes also add are:

I forgive you.

And

I forgive myself.

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

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

IN CONCLUSION

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

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

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

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

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do!

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The Gift of Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

The Gift of Forgiveness for Father’s Day

As Father’s Day arrives our thoughts turn to what gifts we can give. I suggest forgiveness.

Many of you may have had wonderful Fathers, who you love deeply, and who have loved you deeply. But no matter how wonderful they are, or were if they are no longer with you, odds are that there is in the life experiences you shared some slight, real or imagined, event, accidental or careless act that will benefit from being forgiven.

Such is the nature of life. We miscommunicate, misunderstand, and fall short of meeting one another needs. It is usually not intentional. It may stem from busyness or a clash of needs at a particular moment of time. It may be forgotten or harbored with justification and resentments.

Without forgiveness life is governed by…
an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.
– Roberto Assagioli

Whatever the situation or circumstance, I suggest Father’s Day as an opportunity to forgive it. Forgiveness is a gift you can give that requires no money. It is a gift that by giving to another, you also give to yourself.

You might upon reading these words say there is nothing to forgive. Or if as you read this you may begin to make justifications or excuses like “he did the best that he could” or “he didn’t mean to hurt me.” Or when remembering and realizing the hurt you still think that is too small or too petty to forgive.

All of that may be true, but the power of forgiveness is so broad and vast that I would recommend strongly to just forgive the hurt anyway. Forgiveness is a tool you can wield to bring you into the present moment, into the NOW. Forgiveness frees you from the past, and especially in relationships, opens you up to both give and receive love at a whole new level.

Forgiveness heals relationships of pain and hurt of which you may only be vaguely aware. The wonderful thing is it isn’t really hard to forgive once you have chosen to do so. Choosing to forgive can be the hard step and resisting forgiving harder still. Yet there is nothing I could suggest to you as families gather together and celebrate Father’s Day that could empower you more, bless you more or transform your life more than to use this opportunity to forgive.

To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
– Robert Muller

Forgiveness ends all the illusions of any conflict you may have had with your Father throughout your life. It does not matter if the slights are real or imagined. It does not matter if he even knows you were hurt or injured. He need never know you harbor anger or resentment. Forgiveness wipes all slates clean, opening your relationship to a new depth and a new understanding.

To experience a transforming guided awareness meditation that unites families, download my 12-minute meditation: Heart of the Family.

One great advantage of taking this opportunity to forgive is that by forgiving you are bringing your relationship with your Father into present time which then enables you to relate to one another from the mutual understanding of two adults.

This will be incredibly freeing and empowering. This shift in perspective may well enable the two of you to express things that have never been said before. After choosing to forgive their Father, I have had clients frequently report that the entire relationship with their Father changed, although they may have never said a single word to their Father about forgiving them or even feeling that they had a need to forgive them.

The task of forgiveness can be spiritual work. It is so very powerful and expresses in so many deep and subtle levels that it provides a fast track to transformation. As it transports you from the past into the present it also corrects errors of perception bringing you from the unreal to the real.

Ultimately an act of forgiveness is an act of love. By giving forth the love that created you to the one who sparked your formation with an act and expression of their love you are activating deep magic in your life.

Forgiveness is also an act that can release profound healing. It is a way of demonstrating love and by so doing it automatically triggers grace and compassion. It can be one of the most powerful things you can do to transform your life and enhance your success and ultimately your happiness and joy.

Forgiving one’s Father can also be interwoven with issues of success because archetypically a Father’s love is less unconditional. Most children grow up feeling that they must earn a Father’s love and most feel the best way to do that is to be successful.

Likewise, for many the primary issues for which they need to forgive their Fathers are tied into a perception of unavailability or lack of attention because of the Father’s involvement with work and career. Therefore, the act of forgiving your Father can have far-reaching implications in your life.

One very effective forgiveness technique is Hoʻoponopono [ho-o-pono-pono] (an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.)

The Key Phrases That You Can Repeat Are:

Please forgive me
Thank you
I love you
I forgive you
I forgive myself

I wrote in more detail about this in my Holiday Forgiveness and Gratitude post.

Ultimately, forgiveness is the foundation to bring greater peace and serenity into your life. It is a cornerstone of all of the great spiritual teachings for thousands of years. But the most amazing part of forgiveness is the way that forgiving improves your life. What you intend as a gift and a blessing for the person you are forgiving ends up being a blessing and a gift in your life that impacts your life in ways that can be unimagined and empowering as you are freed and unburdened from wounds you may have forgotten and not even have realized you were still carrying.

The link between Love and Forgiveness is woven into the fabric of your life and whatever effort thought or energy it takes is returned to you with more benefits than you can measure as it ripples through your life releasing and freeing you from often unseen or unrecognized disruptions on your path as you journey through life.

So this Father’s Day just say I Forgive You and enjoy the gift of forgiveness in your life.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

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If Not Now

Genevieve Gerard

If Not Now… When?

Have you ever found yourself saying “if not now, when?”

Recently, I was speaking with a young woman who was caught up in the turmoil and tribulations of a divorce.

Her 10-year marriage was ending. Her older but wiser Self was realizing that she and her husband had let passion and love thrust them into marriage while they did not take the time and care to find out what was important to them in life and so, now that their relationship needed firmer ground to work through conflict, they were on a slippery slope of anger, blame and recriminations.

She described the little and big hurts and betrayals that had brought her to the realization that she had nothing more to give in this relationship. Even as they were trapped in the pain and disappointment that ending the marriage engendered, so more importantly she was trapped in the past, unable to look at what was happening in her life today, because she was viewing it through the memories and events of the past ten years.

She realized that she had made a number of mistakes over the past ten years. She was both angry at her husband and angry at herself.

As we spoke, I observed that she needed to forgive herself for her past mistakes. Interestingly, she felt that she had to wait to forgive. She thought she could forgive, both herself and him, later. She had constructed a list of events that she needed to check off her list before she felt ready to address the issue of forgiveness.

Although, this construction of what must happen before we forgive (ourselves or others) is very common, I found myself wondering and questioning “if not now, when is the time to forgive?”

I know, as one who teaches about and preaches about the importance of forgiveness, that the one who benefits the most is the forgiver, not the forgiven.

By forgiveness, both of yourself and others you are freeing yourself and releasing the past, opening your life to all of the potential and joy that you can embrace once you have shed the burden of old sorrows and circumstances.

Right now, mired in the past hurts and resentments, one’s vision is limited to seeing through a pinhole the light and potential that is available. This self-limiting constraint is all too common in life decisions. The freedom that forgiveness offers is a gift that is available whenever we finally choose to accept and embrace it, today or tomorrow.

One essential key to facilitating the 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.

Forgiveness Exercise

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 (or someone you need to forgive), 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 Forgiveness Phrases:

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.

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”.

If you, like my young friend, acknowledge that ultimately forgiving the past and both yourself and your spouse are important life tasks, and that deep within, you understand are elements of growing past your present pain and sorrow, I must ask “Why suffer any longer?”

Forgiveness is powerful and the results are immediate. Forgiveness is the portal to the present and all of the opportunities life is offering.

If, having forgiven an event or circumstance of the past, sometimes you may become aware that there were dynamics and forces in play of which you were not previously aware and while embracing and benefiting from this insight you can forgive again, releasing and freeing yourself.

Each time you forgive, each subtle nuance of understanding that you unlock can add to the compassion that you bestow on yourself or the other. You do not need to wait until you understand to forgive. Forgiveness itself unlocks the layers of shame and sorrow that hold old hurts in place.

You can unlock the doors to forgiveness by the simple thoughts “I Forgive You or I forgive myself”. The thought can be event-specific or general and amorphous and the amazing thing is it begins to unravel the past. Prayers, meditations or specific visualizations such as the one I recently created called “How to Forgive Yourself” are all helpful and beneficial, but most important is the decision to forgive, NOW.

There is no need to carry the past or let it diminish the present. The dynamic principle that energy follows thought can be activated in you and for you, right here, right now.

Namaste,

Genevieve

The Blessing of Love on all that you do.

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

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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

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.)

Accepting Grace and Forgiveness

Genevieve Gerard

Accepting Grace and Forgiveness

The concepts of grace and forgiveness are inextricably tied together in our minds and emotions.

We know grace exists, and on some deep level of our consciousness, we know that the existence of grace has nothing to do with worthiness or deserving.

We know grace, like forgiveness, cannot be earned. We know that these experiences are available but are not really fully understood by us.

Because we have done nothing to deserve the healing power that grace and forgiveness bring into life, for many it is hard to accept.

Rejecting grace, rejecting forgiveness, and especially learning to forgive oneself are key elements in what must be transcended to permit healing. Suffering, dis-ease, keeping oneself separate from others are all manifestations of a mistaken attempt of penance, an attempt that is unnecessary.

Grace and forgiveness do not require you be worthy, they require that you are willing to accept that there is a Higher Power and a part of you that is willing to align with it. Forgiveness and grace are integral parts of Love in action.

You are not perfect, and you are not expected to be perfect. You were created to learn and grow through the adventure of life. Grace and forgiveness are available because God knows you will make mistakes. God offers these things as a demonstration of how God Loves you.

Love, which ultimately has the power to heal us and restore us, is kept away by this same sense of lack of worthiness and separation that deprives us of receiving and accepting both grace and forgiveness. Whatever mistakes one has made in life prior to this very moment in time, it pales in comparison by continuing to reject the opportunity to be forgiven, to be restored to the unity that is available.

We often, as a society and as individuals wrap ourselves in concepts of penance, suffering to the depth of our being in an attempt to earn or to deserve, that which cannot be earned or ever deserved, but is by its very nature and its essence, freely given, grace and forgiveness. This suffering is self-inflicted and completely unnecessary.

You were not created to suffer. You were created to learn and grow and expand your consciousness. You were created to enjoy the many blessings life offers you through a myriad of diverse experiences to grant you happiness and success. These are the gifts of Love. These are the expressions of grace and forgiveness that give you the freedom to have a life fully and abundantly.

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
– Dr. Denis Waitley

The glamour’s, the illusions, the Maya you have built to sustain the sense of separation, has trapped you in a lie. Let us for a moment consider and imagine what our life would be like, what we could accomplish if we allowed ourselves to fully accept the grace that accompanies forgiveness. Come into this moment of powerful potential by imagining that all the mistakes of your life from the past up to this moment of time were erased and totally and completely forgiven. Do you, like me feel tremendous relief and release?

In this moment, right now you can let that which is past be wiped clean. Because it is all in the past as you enter into the now, in this moment you are freed from it all; freed to be fully in this moment, freed to simply be and accept the joy and the Love that releasing your bondage to past events brings. Let the truth free you into this moment of awareness into the redemption that is here for you in the now.

What has been has no power over you. What will be is just emerging.
– Genevieve Gerard

To further experience and incorporate this blessing, take a moment to align your spine and visualize grace and forgiveness descending from your Soul as radiating golden-white light. Hold out your hands to fully accept and receive this blessing. As that Light descends you are renewed, you are restored. You are forgiven. All the shackles of the past dissolve into nothingness. What has been has no power over you. What will be is just emerging.

Let the illusions all fall away as you enter into this essence of Love, this essence of being. In this moment is the opportunity for truth and in that truth the freedom that is granted by grace, when you let yourself accept the forgiveness and Love that is the true and essential nature of life.

Embrace and enfold this grace and forgiveness into the very essence of your being and know that unlimited possibility and potential are available for you, NOW, and from this moment forward.

Take a moment to celebrate and enjoy the grace and forgiveness that are freely available to you. Let yourself receive the Love that is available for you. Let your heart be filled with joy. Claim that joy as your own as you let yourself receive the unlimited potential that life offers you.

From this moment of Grace and this blessing of forgiveness consider how you can share this power and this blessing with others. Love freely. Forgive easily and let your life become a demonstration of the grace which you have received.

Namaste,

Genevieve Gerard

The Blessing of Love on All that you Do!

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

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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:

Download Now For Only $8.88

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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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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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Thoughts on Forgiving

Genevieve Gerard

Thoughts on Forgiving

This morning I was reviewing the comments made to my Blogs and I noticed something very interesting. Every Blog except the blog post on “What is Forgiveness” had comments. Many of the Blogs had a significant number of comments.

This observation made me wonder why. Is it because we find it hard to forgive? Is it because we do not understand the importance of forgiveness in our life?

Forgiving is one of the most profound and powerful things we can do. It is life changing. It can relieve us from carrying an unbearable burden. It can free us to be in the now. It can remove the filters of illusion from our sight and allow us clear vision. It is a significant tool to transforming our lives. It frees us to experience the joy that is in our life. It increases our awareness of our many blessings. It is special because it simultaneous benefits us when we give to another. Forgiving ourselves is one of the keys to living a joyful and fulfilling life.

It is not easy to forgive, but when you do so the reward far outweighs the effort.

So… Since no one had commented on this blog post since I wrote it in June I decided to write an article on Forgivess: The Key to Freedom and Happiness.

You can read it here
https://genevievegerard.com/articles/key-to-freedom-and-happiness

Let me know what you think!

Thoughts on Forgiving Read More »

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 »

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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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

Thoughts on Forgiving

Forgiveness: The Key to Freedom and Happiness

Unlocking
The Power to Forgive

Reflections on the
15^th Anniversary of 9-11