Welcome to your gratitude practice.
Gratitude is known for being the key to manifestation,
Love and abundance.
When we focus on gratitude and what we're thankful for,
We're bringing our consciousness to what we already have,
What we feel grateful for,
To what we're already experiencing,
Feeling,
Knowing and having.
When we focus on what we don't have or what we don't want,
We're bringing our consciousness to what it's lacking,
To what is missing,
What is problematic.
There's only a certain amount of time in the day,
So we do have a limited capacity of what we can choose to think about,
To choose to dwell on.
So by dwelling on and focusing on what we have,
What we're grateful for,
Appreciate,
We then elevate our state of awareness to that state of plentifulness and positivity,
Of seeing the beauty of experiencing what is right,
What is flowing,
What is well in the world.
In that state,
In feeling that wellness and beauty,
Then it can be easier to create more of those feelings,
More of those realities,
Experiences from that place of wellness.
Creating more of those thoughts and feelings rewires the brain,
Creates new neural pathways and improves health on multiple levels.
So gratitude is a loving energy.
It goes hand in hand,
Side by side.
It is interlinked,
Inseparable with love,
With unconditional love,
Universal love,
With the quality of love.
So it's a loving frequency.
It's going to make you feel good and make others feel good.
Gratitude is a feeling,
An emotion,
As well as thoughts and beliefs.
It's a state of mind as well as an emotional state.
So in our meditation today,
We're going to energize ourselves with the feelings,
The emotions of gratitude and appreciation to take ourselves into that state of being thankful as well as choosing to engage the thoughts of what we're thankful for,
Of what's working well in life.
So to begin,
Find yourself in a comfortable position,
Anywhere that you're able to fully relax your body,
Closing your eyes,
Gently rolling your shoulders back,
Relaxing the neck and shoulders,
Relaxing the muscles in your face,
Feeling your entire body relaxing just a little.
As you begin,
Just by focusing on your breath,
Become aware of the natural automatic flow of the breath,
Simply concentrating on the feeling of the breath flowing into the body,
Flowing out.
Choosing now to concentrate purely upon your breath.
It's as if you're following your breath,
Following where it is going,
Witnessing and observing it as it goes in,
Fills up the lungs in the body,
Flows out,
Back out of the body.
And as you follow the breath,
Allow it to begin to relax you.
So you let the breath take you into a relaxation,
Just as if you're riding a wave,
Surfing a wave,
Following where it's going and letting it carry you.
And now silently say thank you to your breath.
And if you may not initially feel thankful,
Just try to say thank you anyway.
Thank you to this breath that's breathing life into you,
That's keeping you alive.
Say thank you to this breath that's bringing oxygen and life force energy into your body so that you can be here now in this body,
On this planet,
Experiencing this moment.
Silently or out loud,
Just say thank you.
This incredible breath that sometimes we forget is even there.
It's always there.
It's constant,
Continually happening in the background.
Now say thank you to this life,
To your life,
To this moment,
For the place that you're in right now,
The physical place.
Now say thank you for absolutely everything you're experiencing.
Even if some of those things aren't the most wonderful things,
Say thank you for the full spectrum of experiences,
Whether they're wonderful,
Glorious and positive,
Or a little bit uncomfortable,
Painful or challenging.
Even if you don't feel appreciative of some of the difficult things in life,
Just imagine for a moment you can be thankful for all of it,
For this entire experience of life.
Really allow yourself to feel deep gratitude.
And notice where you feel gratitude.
If you can pinpoint it somewhere in your body,
You may not feel it somewhere specific.
It may be an all-encompassing feeling throughout your entire body,
Throughout your soul,
Your entire being.
Or you may feel it in your heart or somewhere specifically in your body.
And that's okay wherever you feel it.
Wherever you do feel it,
Just notice that.
Now let yourself feel gratitude for a person.
It may be someone that you already appreciate so much,
Or maybe someone that you would like to start to appreciate even more.
It's maybe someone that is in your life every day,
Someone really close to you,
Or someone that you don't see so much and would like to appreciate some more.
Or maybe someone you see all the time and perhaps take for granted on some occasions.
Whatever the case may be,
Just let yourself feel deep appreciation and gratitude for this person in your life.
Now let yourself feel gratitude for something really simple,
Something small,
Basic,
Or something that you may not even notice sometimes,
Like a particular tree in the street that you live in,
Or the meal that you had today.
Maybe something seemingly simple like a leaf on the ground,
The rain that fell from the sky recently,
The water coming out of your tap,
A random stranger that you saw today or someone you met.
Maybe someone that you saw today or this week who smiled at you.
Maybe just for a material item that you use all the time that makes life easier.
Let yourself feel gratitude and thankfulness for some of these simple things or material things in life.
And maybe something that you haven't really appreciated before.
Have a think about a few different things.
And as you do this,
Begin to notice all of the abundance that you have in your life,
All of the blessings,
All the little things,
The conveniences,
The gifts that you may have received,
The kindness of others,
The support that someone or something may have shown you.
Now we're going to begin to direct all of this beautiful loving energy of gratitude towards ourselves.
So you may like to place your hands over the heart,
Or one hand on the heart and one hand on the belly,
And just keep your hands where they were if you want to stay still.
Just begin to give yourself this appreciation.
This may feel comfortable for you.
You may have done this many times before.
This may be a new experience,
Even a strange or uncomfortable feeling.
Just know that's okay,
Whatever it is.
Give yourself deep appreciation,
Acknowledgement.
Give yourself unconditional acceptance.
Generate some of those positive emotions and feelings that you might have really easily for someone that you love and care about.
Direct it all to yourself as if you are embracing yourself as your own best friend.
Silently,
In your mind or out loud,
Say the words thank you to yourself.
Thank yourself for all the ways you've shown up,
All the efforts you've made,
All the actions,
Small and great,
All of the thoughts that you've had that have led you to positive intentions and habits in your life.
Anything else that you feel deserves your own appreciation.
If this feels good,
Just keep going with it.
If it starts to feel uncomfortable,
Please just breathe deeply,
Stay present and keep going with it.
Just know that you truly deserve your own appreciation,
Your own loving acknowledgement.
This connection with yourself,
This inner foundation and inner relationship ripples out to all of your relationships,
To everyone in your life.
It creates more harmony,
More positive energy.
It strengthens you,
Fills your own cup so you have more to give to others.
So now just appreciate something about yourself,
Something you might have judged or criticised yourself about or maybe put yourself down for.
Just appreciate that.
Because underneath it all,
You are most likely trying to do good or at least making an effort.
Or even if it was a mistake or something that you consider to be a failure.
Just know that you're okay and you still deserve your own love and appreciation.
Because you're worthy.
You may like to gently smile to yourself or just imagine you're smiling on the inside.
And now to complete,
Say thank you to life,
To the universe,
To God or to the creative force,
To nature,
To the earth,
To the energy of love,
To the soul of the world.
Whatever you consider to be that higher intelligence or that invisible love,
You may have a name for it,
You may not.
Just use this time to say thank you for this existence,
This creation,
This miracle of life.
And just repeat the words inside your mind or out loud.
I'm thankful for all the abundance of life.
I'm thankful for all the growth,
All the prosperity,
All the challenges,
All the struggles that have led me to this point in time.
I'm thankful for all the love in my life.
I'm truly grateful for how blessed I am.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
