Welcome to this meditation from hateful to grateful.
In life it's easy to get caught up in what we hate.
It takes practice for many of us to focus on the blessings in life that surround us every day and in each moment.
It's even more challenging in our often chaotic modern world.
Hence why discipline and consistency are vitally important.
These aren't particularly sexy or fashionable terms,
They're absolutely vital,
The lifeblood you could say,
For our spiritual development.
Gratitude is a deeply spiritual state of being that we can embody more and more each day through practices such as this one.
Many spiritual leaders have spoken of the importance of gratitude and I'd like to share some of those with you now.
Brené Brown said,
I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness.
It's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.
Rumi said of gratitude,
Wear gratitude as a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.
And Sarah Benheim said,
My body is a garden rooted in gratitude.
Thank you is the biggest poem I've got inside of me.
With these profound words planted deep within our souls,
Let's begin our practice.
If you haven't already,
Please close your eyes and be seated.
In this practice,
I'll give you five areas of life to contemplate on and be grateful for.
I will give you a minute or so for each.
Feel free to pause the recording if you need longer.
Ensure you feel the gratitude in your heart.
It might even help to place your hands on your heart during this practice.
Gratitude is much more about feeling than thinking.
So we need to come down from our mind and in to the heart.
So the first area that we'll be grateful for today is the breath.
We breathe around 20,
000 times per day,
Usually completely unconsciously.
Focus on the breath coming in and out of your nose and feel the gratitude of this life force,
Fueling your entire body and this journey of your soul during this lifetime.
Noticing all the little sensations of the breath coming in and out of the nose and feeling the blessing of this life force coming in and out of the body.
Area two that I'd like us to be grateful for today are all the facilitators and creatives within the spiritual space.
Maybe you are one too.
So many sacrifice financial stability,
Time and energy to bring healing,
Peace and joy to others.
We sit in homage and in gratitude to their service to us all.
For the second half of this section,
I'd like you to think about a specific music artist or facilitator that's really benefited your life.
You definitely need your hands on your heart for this one and really sit in deep gratitude for that soul.
For the next area of contemplation,
I'd like you to contemplate on something painful that facilitated growth and wisdom in your life.
This can be an incredibly powerful practice and really flips the script on any challenges that occur in our life.
So this could be a painful loss,
A betrayal,
A tough conversation,
Heartbreak.
Let whatever flows through be there and contemplate on what it taught you and the blessings within the pain.
I believe there are blessings to be found even in our darkest moments if we consciously seek to bring them into our awareness.
Without further ado,
I'd like to open the space for you to go on this journey of finding the blessings in your pain.
Thank you,
Thank you pain,
Great teacher.
As Rumi said,
The wound is where the light enters.
We move now peacefully onto the next area of gratitude.
I'd like you to sit in gratitude for presence itself and for stillness.
Many people don't ever give themselves permission to just enjoy presence itself,
The beauty of stillness.
Bask in it now and embrace the joy of it in this moment.
We can find this stillness within us even during the most chaotic and challenging moments.
It's a beautiful place to return,
A guiding light when we need it most.
The fifth area that we will sit in gratitude for today is you.
All you have been through to get here to this moment,
All the tests and challenges,
You've stayed humble,
A spiritual warrior,
Committed to elevating your consciousness for the good of all.
Take time to appreciate you,
Beautiful,
Beautiful you.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you to ourselves and all that we are.
So I said at the start of this meditation that we would go through five areas to be grateful for.
I've decided to add in a bonus and that bonus is God.
The ineffable yet undeniable great mystery that flows through all life.
Sit in gratitude for God and his love which resides within you and within us all.
Brothers and sisters,
Thank you for going on this journey with me from hateful to grateful.
I hope you're feeling the love and gratitude ripple through your hearts.
To end we say Namaste,
Amen,
Awen,
Ashe,
Waheguru and whichever divine blessing resonates with you most.
Thank you and God bless.
