Welcome to this gratitude meditation.
This meditation will help you to cultivate the feelings of gratitude,
Especially for all the painful and traumatic things that have happened in your life.
Please find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed,
Turning off or silence any distractions.
Find a comfortable seated position and softly close down your eyes if that is comfortable.
If you need to move at any point during this meditation,
That is okay to do so,
Just be sure to move mindfully.
We will begin by relaxing the mind and the body by taking three deep cleansing breaths.
On your next inhale,
Take a long slow deep inhale.
And a complete exhale,
Just feel as your body relaxes.
Taking another deep inhale,
Feel the expansion of your body.
And a full exhale,
Feeling the contraction of your body as it relaxes,
Releasing any stress and tension.
Taking one more full deep inhale.
And one more full exhale,
Completely relaxing your body and your mind.
And return your attention back to your breath,
Breathing naturally in and out of your nose.
We will just relax the body now,
Having a quick scan from our head to our toes,
Relaxing any body parts on the way that we need to.
So taking your attention to the crown of your head now,
And slowly moving down your face.
Just allowing these body parts to become heavy and to soften,
Relaxing your jaw,
Relaxing your tongue,
Moving the relaxation down into your neck,
Your shoulders,
Down your arms to your hands and your fingers.
Relaxing from your upper back to your lower back,
Softening your chest and your stomach,
Allowing your stomach to become heavy.
Relaxing from your upper legs all the way down to your feet and your toes.
And just return your attention back to your breath now,
Just breathing naturally in and out of your nose.
You don't need to force or control the breath here,
Or throughout this practice,
Just breathe naturally.
If you get distracted by any sounds during this meditation,
That is okay.
Just notice that your attention has drifted off into a sound,
And return it back to the meditation.
And if your attention drifts off into thought,
Into a story about anything,
Again that is okay,
It is the nature of the mind to think.
Just notice when your attention has drifted,
Be calm to yourself and gently return it back to the meditation.
Focus now on your breath,
Focus now on your heart space at the centre of your chest.
You can feel the breath moving in and out.
You may want to visualise a white light or maybe visualise the breath moving in and out.
Or you are welcome to place your hand on your heart.
Whatever pain,
Whatever traumas you have been through in your life,
Whether they are physical,
Psychological,
Emotional,
That is okay,
These are your gifts,
They are your gifts in life.
No matter how painful or how traumatic,
You can use these gifts to become a better person.
To become a stronger person,
More resilient,
More beautiful.
Even in the most troublesome times,
Your true courage comes through,
How powerful you are,
And how powerful you can become.
And you can still shine your light and love on others.
I want you to take a deep breath in through your nose,
And exhale out of your mouth,
Releasing any pain or trauma that you wish to let go of.
And inhale through your nose,
Into that space of love and gratitude.
Exhaling through your mouth,
Releasing any pain and trauma.
And inhaling into that space of love and gratitude.
Do one more exhale out of the mouth here,
Releasing anything that you want to let go of that no longer serves you.
And inhale to fill that space up with love,
With gratitude.
And return back to your natural breath.
Imagine your heart opening now.
And every inhale you take,
You're breathing light,
Love and gratitude into your heart.
You can feel this move into your heart,
You can visualize it moving.
Imagine a white light coming into your heart,
Full of light,
Love and gratitude.
Keep breathing this gratitude,
Love and gratitude.
Keep breathing this gratitude,
Love and light into your body.
Illuminating your heart and soul.
Illuminating your true self,
Who you are at your true nature.
Any troublesome experience always has a gift.
It can be a sign to move on from a relationship.
To change jobs,
To move towns or cities or countries.
To change your friends,
Your social circle,
Your hobbies,
Your creativity.
Anything that you deem bad that happens to you is for a greater good.
It is a gift for you to change,
To move,
To grow,
To develop.
To move you towards something better.
It is only a sign that whatever it was before is not good enough for you,
Or it is not right for you.
There is something better for your higher purpose.
And these are just signals to let you know.
And you build so much courage and strength.
Even if you don't believe it yourself.
The strength of your heart and your soul is more powerful than you can ever imagine.
And this is what carries you through life.
You are a courageous soul,
A courageous human being.
You are not your pain.
You are not your traumas.
You are not your fears.
You are not your traumas.
You are more than that.
You are a beautiful being,
A beautiful soul.
And you can share your light and love with the world.
You may look back on your life and wish that you hadn't been in certain places at certain times,
Or that certain things didn't happen.
But when you look back,
Everything happened for a reason.
And it was exactly where you needed to be,
To take you where you need to go.
You can take your attention off your breath and off your heart now.
And just sit in the stillness you have created.
Sit in this energy of love,
Of light and gratitude.
Allow it to wash over your body,
To wash over your soul.
To wash over your heart.
And allow it to emanate from the very core of your being.
Keeping your eyes closed,
You can start to listen to the sounds around you and get a sense of your surroundings.
You can begin to move your fingers and your toes and slowly stretch out into the space around you.
And you can begin to open your eyes.
Taking your time here and starting off gazing down at the floor,
You can begin to open your eyes,
Taking your time coming back around.
Thank you for meditating with me.
