Gratitude And Joy

This guided meditation invites listeners into a gentle exploration of gratitude and joy, drawing on wisdom traditions that honor both life’s blessings and its challenges. Through reflective prompts and soft, grounding breathwork, it encourages a deeper appreciation for the support, beauty, and connection that sustain us each day.

Listeners will be guided to recognize the many sources of care in their lives, extend heartfelt gratitude toward loved ones, and cultivate a joy that arises naturally from an open, receptive heart. The practice closes with a quiet return to the body, leaving listeners grounded, uplifted, and more connected to the simple gift of being alive.

Transcript

Welcome to this brief meditation on gratitude and joy.

Maha Gosananda was once quoted saying,

If we cannot be happy in spite of our difficulties,

What good is our spiritual practice?

Buddhist monks begin each day with a chant of gratitude for the blessings of their life.

Native American elders begin each ceremony with grateful prayers to Mother Earth and Father Sky,

To the Four Directions,

To the animal,

Plant,

And mineral brothers and sisters who share our earth and support our life.

In Tibet,

The monks and nuns even offer prayers of gratitude for the suffering they've been given.

They say,

Grant that I might have enough suffering to awaken in me the deepest possible compassion and wisdom.

See friends,

The aim of spiritual life is to awaken a joyful freedom.

A benevolent and compassionate heart in spite of everything we go through,

The aches,

The pains,

The pleasantness,

The unpleasantness,

Finding gratitude in it all.

See,

Gratitude is a gracious acknowledgement of all that sustains us.

It's a bow to our blessings,

Great and small,

An appreciation of the moments of good fortune,

That sustain our life every day.

We have so much to be grateful for.

There's food in the fridge.

There's clean water by our bedside.

There's clothes,

Fresh clothes in the laundry.

Our sight,

Our smell,

Our taste.

See,

Gratitude is confidence in life itself.

In it,

We feel how the same force that pushes grass through cracks in the sidewalk invigorates our own life.

Gratitude gladdens the heart.

It's not sentimental.

It's not jealous,

Nor judgmental.

Gratitude does not envy.

It does not compare.

Gratitude receives in wonder the myriad offerings of the rain and the earth,

The care that supports every single life.

As gratitude grows,

It gives rise to joy.

We experience the courage to rejoice in our own good fortune and in the fortune of others.

Joy is natural to an open heart.

In it,

We're not afraid of pleasure.

We don't mistakenly believe it's disloyal to the suffering of the world to honor the happiness we have been given.

Like gratitude,

Joy gladdens the heart.

We can be joyful for people we love,

For moments of goodness,

For sunlight and trees,

And for the breath within our chest.

And as our joy grows,

We finally discover a happiness without cause,

Like an innocent child who doesn't have anything to do but be happy.

We can rejoice in life itself,

In being alive,

Having breath in our lungs.

Now,

Friends,

I want you to let yourself sit quietly and at ease.

Take a big breath in.

A juicy breath out.

Let that go.

Now,

Allow your body to be relaxed and open.

Your breath natural.

Your heart easy.

Now,

Begin the practice of gratitude by feeling how year after year you've cared for your own life quite successfully.

And now let yourself begin to acknowledge all that has supported you in this care.

So you might repeat to yourself with gratitude,

I remember the people,

The animals,

The plants,

The insects,

The creatures of the sky and sea and air and water,

Fire and earth,

All whose joyful exertion blesses my life every day.

With gratitude,

I remember the care and labor of a thousand generations of elders and ancestors who came before me.

I offer my gratitude for the safety and well-being I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the blessings of this earth I have been given.

I offer gratitude for the measure of health I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the family and friends I have been given.

I offer my gratitude for the community I've been given.

I offer my gratitude for the teachings and lessons I've been blessed with receiving.

And I offer my gratitude for the life.

Just as we're grateful for our blessings,

So too we can be grateful for the blessings of others.

So now I want you to continue to breathe gently.

And I want you to bring to mind someone you care about,

Someone it's easy to rejoice for.

Now picture them and feel the natural joy you have for their well-being,

For their happiness,

For their success,

For their joy.

Now with each breath,

Offer them your grateful heartfelt wishes.

You might repeat to yourself,

May you be joyful.

May your happiness increase.

May you not be separated from great happiness.

May your good fortune and the causes for your joy and happiness increase.

Now sense this pure joy,

This pure caring in each phrase.

And when you feel even the slightest degree of natural gratitude and happiness for this loved one,

I want you to extend this practice to another person you care about.

And recite these same simple phrases that express your heart's intention.

May you be joyful.

May your happiness increase tenfold.

May you not be separated from great happiness.

May your good fortune and the causes for your joy and happiness increase infinitely.

And then gradually come back to me.

Start to wiggle your toes,

Wiggle your fingers,

Slight circles in your ankles and your wrists,

Open your eyes.

Thank you,

My friends,

For engaging in this beautiful heart-opening practice.

May you experience gratitude and joy throughout your day.

Throughout your life.

Namaste.