Over the years, we begin to think about the journey we are on and what brought us to this place in our lives. For all of us, trying to find our best selves and at the same time being part of the whole, the journey – like every journey – begins with a single step … that moment when for some, we instinctively know there is more than this physical world.  For others, it can start with the question “is this all there is?”

We have had so many wonderful teachers on this earth plane, from Jesus to Buddha to Lao-tzu, and many more. From each, we have had powerful messages of love and compassion. From Aboriginal & Wiccan traditions, we learn to look at everything on this planet as sacred.

Personally, the Tao and the earth religions speak to me the most.  But I believe that every one of the religious traditions that teach us about unconditional love and compassion, and the sacredness of all of life and nature, have something of value.

So what brings you to this place on your journey? For me, it began with an experience in which I came close to drowning. When I was just seven years old, I went with family for a picnic by a lake. I had gone out on the lake and soon I was in too deep and could not swim. I found myself drowning and panic was setting in when all of a sudden, I felt like I was encircled with beautiful white light and with love. A voice told me to pull along the reeds on the bottom of the lake and go toward the voices on the shore. I am not sure to this day if it was my guardian angel, guides, ancestors or my higher self, but what I do know for sure is that I never felt alone again. That moment opened me to a different path in life at a very early age.

Everything in the world looked brighter to me from that day on. I began to feel and often see the energy around everything. What I saw first were trees and plants with that beautiful aura of light around them. In my teens, I became very interested in Kirlian photography and how the energy of people of the past was captured in photos of the present. My two favourites were a photograph of a field near a mission in California where Franciscan monks carrying candles from a century before were visible, and one of a castle in Russia where royalty of the past were still visible in a photo of a family from the present. It intrigued me enough to want to learn more.

As time went on, I learned to look more softly at things, which in turn made the energy around everyone and everything more visible to me. I noticed that when a tree, animal or person was not well, their energy changed. Their light was not as bright and the energy around them felt different.

Although I learned this early on, over the years I worked in many fields that would seem unrelated, but really all prepared me for what would be my life’s calling. In fashion retailing, I learned about the importance of color and how it made us feel. Many years later, I learned about the vibrational energy of color for healing our body, mind and spirit.

I became aware of the universal consciousness from something that seemed unrelated for many years. When I had my own clothing store, I would often be puzzled by my sales on certain days. Some days, 90% of what was sold was dresses; other days it would be pants or jewelry. But there were patterns. Have you ever wondered why the new season of television has so many of the same kind of shows on every network … so many hospital shows, so many reality shows, and so on. Did they all check out each others shows or are our thoughts a part of something more?

If we can see our thoughts being part of a universal consciousness on such simple levels, why do we as human beings not understand that our thoughts and our words create what is around us.

The more we come from fear instead of love the more dis-harmonies we create around us. As we think of what we are afraid of and what we lack, that too gets put into the universal consciousness and the more fear-based our society becomes. So let us co-create a new consciousness of unconditional love and spiritual awakening. Let’s help each other stay positive, feel gratitude for all there is, and help each other to heal.

I have been blessed by being able to work at what I absolutely love to do for over two decades. Although I have helped people heal themselves through Reiki and energy work, it is always a give and take. I feel so blessed by what they have given me. I am forever inspired by the amazing stories they share, their incredible bravery, the laughter and tears we shed together, and above all, by the unconditional love that surrounds us all.

Gabriele Lanoue
Reiki Master & Holistic Therapist
Whispers of the Spirit

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