Give yourself the gift of arriving here.
Notice what's around you.
You can turn your head,
Notice the ceiling,
The walls.
Your body sitting in the seat.
And let yourself settle in.
Bring some movement in if you need to get comfortable.
Rest your feet on the floor.
Are out in front of you.
You can move your head,
Turn your torso.
Whatever you were doing is finished and you have nowhere to be,
Nothing to do for the next little while.
But just be here.
And give yourself the gift of presence.
As we begin.
You can close your eyes or soften your gaze.
To a space in front of you.
You can be seated,
Standing,
Or lying down.
Whatever feels supportive to you in this moment.
The word gratitude can have so many different energies around it.
And depending on the energy.
It can affect our relationship to it.
It can affect our practice.
Gratitude is not shame.
It is not an obligation.
Gratitude practice is also not just simply listing the three things one should be grateful for.
While it is helpful to incline our minds in that direction.
A meaningful transformative gratitude practice goes deeper than this.
Gratitude is embodied.
Not just a cognitive dissertation.
So in this practice,
We're not trying to create or fake a feeling of gratitude around a specific instance that we're grateful for.
Instead,
We are exploring how to embody gratitude itself.
How to have that felt sense of gratitude in our bodies.
I invite you to notice your breath.
The rise and fall of your chest.
Then see if you can bring to mind a memory of something you're grateful for.
Something light.
Perhaps not with a lot of big emotion.
Like a smile of a loved one.
A kind compliment.
Playing with a pet or a child.
Or even just nourishing welcome rain.
Try to remember the felt sense of your experience in the moment.
How your body felt.
How your heart felt when that smile appeared.
When that compliment landed.
How did your heart respond?
Was there a sense of warmth in your chest?
Was there a lifting inside?
Do you remember if your cheeks lifted up and your mouth moved into a smile?
Did you feel a bubble of joy when your pet turned over and let you rub its belly?
Did you laugh?
And if you did,
Did the laughter feel like it just bubbled up from inside you?
Or was there a sense of happiness?
Of contentment.
Was there a sense of relaxation or relief?
When needed rain appeared.
See if you can feel into any sensations you experienced in that moment.
It's okay if you can't bring them to mind.
You can practice just feeling into the embodied sense of gratitude that is built into those emotions in general.
When joy is experienced,
There is usually a sense of gratitude that arises right along with it.
That heart lift when the person smiles with that look in their eye.
There is a gratitude embedded in that.
Like,
How wonderful.
See if you can experience that in your body as a warmth.
Try to sense in to that warmth in your chest.
Maybe think,
I'm grateful for that smile.
I'm grateful for my pet,
My friend,
My love.
And see if you can hold that warmth in your chest.
Almost like a glow.
Like this little candle flickering.
The warmth that can be felt from a candle if you get close enough.
Can you experience it as a glow that can maybe radiate out just a little bit from your chest to your shoulders?
Down your arms.
And into your hands.
This radiating warmth from your heart.
And then radiating up from your chest.
Into your neck.
And to your face.
Can you feel it lift your cheekbones into a smile?
Feel the gratitude in your body.
Feel the warmth.
Let's sit with that.
See if you can notice anything else about the gratitude for that experience.
For that being.
For its place in your life.
For it being in the world.
What other sensations are there for you?
A feeling of contentment.
A fizzy feeling in your body?
A sense of quiet.
Of resting.
Tingling lightness.
All those things.
Next,
I invite you to think of something you're grateful for that might not have as much warmth connected to it.
Like,
It might not seem quite as natural to light up when you think about it.
Something kind of neutral,
Like the ability to brush your teeth,
Make dinner,
Buy groceries.
When you think,
I am grateful for being able to brush my teeth,
Or grateful for the rain,
I invite you to hold that statement in your mind.
And then drop into your body.
See if you can tap into that feeling of gratitude you experienced earlier.
We're just tapping into the feeling of gratitude here.
From before.
That warmth that starts in your heart,
Can you just lean into that?
Can you tap into the warmth?
That holding of a gift that is present.
That is tinged with joy or contentment or happiness.
But not that fleeting happiness,
But more of that deep,
Deep space.
And can you hold that there while thinking,
I am grateful for brushing my teeth today.
I am grateful for being able to buy groceries.
Maybe there is a meal you're gonna make tonight that's really not your favorite.
You wish you can make something else,
You want something else,
But you do not have the energy or the time.
Notice if there is any shame that arises,
Like,
Oh,
I should be grateful for making this.
I should be grateful for being able to eat,
Even though I really don't want it.
If there is shame or other unpleasant feelings arising around this,
That's okay.
Just notice them for now.
And bring your attention back to this practice.
So see if you can lean in instead to being grateful for the preparing of food.
Shifting the attention from the food itself to the kind and caring action that you are taking.
I'm grateful for being able to feed myself.
I'm grateful for the fact that I can make food.
For my family.
What does it feel like in your body to be able to give that to yourself?
To take that kind,
Sacred action for you,
For your loved ones.
See if you can feel a sense of warmth in your heart.
In your chest.
Bring to mind that smile from a loved one.
Playing with the pet.
Whatever it was you used earlier.
And how can that come into this space now?
As you return to your day.
This is something you can practice even outside of this meditation.
You can still bring to mind the three things you're grateful for.
And I invite you,
As you move through your list,
To bring in the felt sense of gratitude we explore today to each one.
Perhaps pausing a little bit.
For them each to land.
When you're ready,
You can open your eyes or refocus your gaze.
Bring some movement into your body and orient back into the space around you.
Thank you for the gift of your practice.
