Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture.– Norman Vincent Peale
The inspiration for this blog, Organic Empower, is to consciously create an authentic and purposeful life through our own soul empowering journey within and through consciously creating, using, and living organically sourced, natural, heart-filled products, services, and business to support our soul path through life with love and intention, ease and grace; and so it is.
The Zeitgeist for ´finding your life purpose´ is by no means just a passing trend but an insight into the collective consciousness of our human experience and current times of our society. No longer can our souls truth and values be repressed and swept under a veil of superficial, commercial fast living standards that leave people depleted from temporary fixes of heightened ecstasy to resemble walking on empty zombies. We are all yearning for meaning and purpose; that which can only be expressed from within our unique blueprint of our heart and soul.
Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, reminds us that even from our deepest sorrows and suffering a meaningful and purposeful life can be birthed.
I never tire of saying that the only really transitory aspects of life are the potentialities; but as soon as they are actualized, they are rendered realities at that very moment; they are saved and delivered into the past, wherein they are rescued and preserved from transitoriness…Thus, the transitoriness of our existence in no way makes it meaningless. – “Man´s Search for Meaning” ~ Viktor Frankl.
Our meaning and purpose in life is not just one main directive that we are to live from and for; our meaning and purpose is also transitory. We change and adapt as life is lived through challenges, opportunities, love, passions, health, goals and so forth.
If you have a dream in your heart that keeps knocking, that is a sign and a path waiting to be unfolded and explored. The more self-doubt and resistance you have to this dream, well…that is a human experience and feelings we all feel, but it is also another sign that your destiny is calling you. The more resistance, the more powerful your dream is; if it wasn´t important, you wouldn´t feel any resistance and the dream would just fade away.
I hope you will be inspired and receive the blessings and love from this interview with a talented jewellery designer Jeanne Verger who creates elegant and empowering signature pieces of jewellery that are infused with intentions and powering affirmations from the consciously chosen healing properties of the gemstones to the loving and honouring rituals performed by Jeanne Verger whilst artfully, hand-crafting each piece.
https://jeannevergerjewelry.com/
Q. Firstly, your jewellery is so beautiful and intentionally created with specific affirmations and energy, can you tell us how you learnt to make jewellery and from what age and whom were you inspired to make jewellery?
Two years ago I started a deep practice of meditation and yoga. I always carried around my mala beads, to use as a tool of meditation on the go. I loved my mala and wore it with great pride. One day I had the thought to take a mala bead design class so I could create different malas for myself and for friends. I fell in love with the whole process, from designing the layout and aesthetic, choosing which gemstones to use based on the healing properties, and stringing each bead as I chanted a specific mantra. I created sacred space with candles lit, incenses burning and kirtan music playing. The connection to my heart and spirit flowed through me, and this was the inspiration for all my pieces. LOVE and CONNECTION. I then expanded my jewelry design talent by taking more traditional jewelry making classes and started moving into necklace and bracelet design. And from a place of Joy, I turned my hobby into a powerful and heart-centred business.
My passion and love for jewelry started as a child. I loved to accessorize my outfits with bright colors and sparkly earrings, necklaces and gummy bracelets, as I grew up in the 80’s and Madonna was my idol back then. As I got older, I followed the trends and used the beauty of clothing and jewelry as vehicle for my creative self-expression.
Q. Jeanne, you used to work in Corporate America, what led to your transitioning into creating your own jewellery business which is very heart-centred and spiritual, and also to awaken your own spiritual, empowering journey within?
About 6 years ago, I started to ask the deeper questions in life, like what is my purpose, how am I showing up in the world and are there deeper layers to who I think I am? Once these questions started, they never stopped. In 2006 I was introduced to an amazing Master’s Degree program for Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica. In this program I was able to awaken a part of me that I had not yet discovered. A part that was more interested in uncovering my gifts, talents and loving heart while unlearning conditioned ways of viewing the world. I blossomed in this 2-year program and it was the greatest gift I have ever given myself. From this new place I started to move away from feeling connected to the advertising world and wanted to create a business where I could show up promoting self-growth, positivity and expansion. I listened and took the scariest leap of my life. I left the title and security of being a creative director and devoted my creative expression to share what I stand for in my life: which is love, self-expression, inspiration and seeing the beauty and potential of others, serving as a reflection for their own transformation.
Q. Did working in Corporate America teach you skills and lessons that helped you establish your own business, and what mistakes and lessons have you learnt from starting your own business and hand making all your products that maybe others can learn from too?
Yes! I am so grateful for my 10 years of experience in the advertising industry. I was able to put a clear vision together around what my jewelry stands for and the creative branding and messaging attached to it. Once I had this vision, I then used all my skills as a project director to implement the vision and make it come alive. There are so many moving parts to starting a business as a sole proprietor. My advice to other jewelry designers, who want to turn their hobby into a thriving and joyful business, is to understand the importance of delegating. One person can’t do it all. Creating a support team is so important. What I did at the start was I made a list of all the tasks that brought me joy and where I felt like I could implement with grace and ease. Then I made a list of the tasks that I would prefer to have handled by another professional. From this place, I then started to look at out how I could delegate these tasks. It started with one task, then another, then another. It felt so good to have the support of another professional that I trusted so I could focus on the many other tasks, the ones that highlighted my strengths. This launched my business with such grace and ease.
Q. I love the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, and he shows how no one becomes successful by themselves, that looking through the trajectory of someone´s life we can see how specific opportunities/life events have helped shape someone´s destiny, successes and failures. Looking back through your life, can you see certain points that helped shape and create the work and design you are doing now and had these good or bad experiences/opportunities not happened, perhaps the world would be denied your talented and well-crafted jewellery?
This is a great question! I believe everything happens for a reason. Each path we choose, each path we don’t choose… they all take us to our learning lessons, our life’s curriculum. The moment I started to ask the deeper questions of life, my life changed. It took me many years of unlearning old ways of being and replaced them with updated more empowering thoughts and views that gave me a new purpose in life. My family has always played a huge role in my life and having their love and wisdom has helped me make the right decisions along my path. My friends and community have played a crucial part in my life by holding the space for me to fall and get right back up, knowing that they were always there with kind words and gestures to help me through anything. And then there is my own self-love. By knowing who I am, staying open to taking a risk, and understanding that whether I succeed or fail, it’s all about the journey and not about the outcome. If I did not take the time in my life to do the inner work, my creativity would not have had a safe place to be developed and my jewerly business would not have been born.
Q. I love the story of how you started creating mala prayer beads and then to practice the spiritual art of letting go to attachment, you would give your mala prayer beads away to strangers. Can you share what role your jewellery plays in the spiritual lives of those who purchase and wear your pieces?
The juiciness of life lives in the present moment and when we keep our thoughts positive we can create from a more grounded and powerful place in life. By wearing my empowering jewelry, you are reminded that you can attract anything your heart desires by holding a positive vision through repeating a daily affirmation. When faced with decisions, challenges or negative situations, touch or hold your necklace and feel the healing properties of the gemstones combined with your personal affirmation, knowing that you have the strength to move forward with grace and ease.
My mission is to support and celebrate your life through jewelry designed with positive intention that serves as an anchor to remind yourself that you are living your highest self-expression and purpose in life.
Q. Where do you source the gemstones and in general how long does it take you to make each piece?
I travel around to different gems show in Southern California to purchase my gemstones. Also on my personal travels I am always scouting out the different bead stores and purchasing eclectic charms and gemstones to bring back home with me. If I’m making a custom piece with a specific vision, it can take days to complete as I shop for the perfect gemstones for the piece and make a few different layout designs to show my customer. Designing a collection can take a week or two. I think about all the different color stories I can create, using one design layout to make up a cohesive collection and then create 4-8 different pieces that all fit the same theme.
Q. Where do you get your design inspirations from?
Mother Earth has always been my inspiration. It is the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature and the physical beauty that nature so gracefully forms that fuels my creative designs. Also to me, when I’m out in nature, it’s where I feel the most connected and I slow down to see the beauty that life is.
Q. Do you have any rituals that you perform before, during or after making the jewellery that helps you create the blessings and intentions infused into each piece?
Yes, first I always sage all the gemstones I purchase to clear away the energy of the previous owner and start the process of infusing my loving spirit into each piece. While I am making each piece I hold a clear vision of empowerment and love, blessing it with only the highest energy from my heart. Most times I am listening to kirtan music so many high vibrating mantras are placed into the energy field. At the end, I hold each piece and repeat a specific affirmation 5 times holding the jewelry near my heart. This sets in the affirmation and is now ready to be passed on to another who can use the same affirmation or personalize it with their own.
Thank you Jeanne so much for your time, sharing your empowering journey and sharing your hand crafted jewellery with us all.
https://jeannevergerjewelry.com/
You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle. – Paulo Coehlo
Many blessings!!!
To view more articles like this please go to my other blog Organic Empower: https://organicempower.wordpress.com/
