2025 - Why Struggle? - Week 29 - Practicing Gratitude

Barbara J. Faison shares ideas, insights, and simple practices to live an intentional life and thrive. Enjoy meditations, affirmations, and practices along with musings from daily living.

This is a podcast about practicing gratitude. Leave a comment, observation, or reflection after listening.

Transcript

Greetings and welcome to the Why Struggle Podcast.

I'm your host,

Barbara J.

Faison,

And my intention with this podcast is to offer ideas,

Insights,

And inspirations so you can live life better.

Greetings and welcome to 2025,

Week 29,

Being Grateful.

If you're new to the podcast,

Welcome,

And if you listen regularly,

Thank you.

Are you steady?

How do you handle routine?

You know,

That everydayness of getting through life.

The stuff like getting up,

Going to work,

Or doing the daily activities we do.

Cooking,

Cleaning,

Keeping the house in order.

I know,

Fun things,

Right?

By nature,

I am routine averse.

Simply put,

Routine is not my friend.

Although there are things I do routinely,

I don't particularly enjoy them.

Yes,

I cook,

Keep the house in order,

The maintenance things required in life.

Do I enjoy them?

Not so much.

They feel like obligations and requirements most of the time.

Have you heard the expression,

Before enlightenment,

Chop wood,

Carry water?

After enlightenment,

Chop wood,

Carry water?

What that means to me is being steady in the midst of the everydayness or routineness of life.

I feel extremely grateful for having my meditation practice.

My meditation practice keeps me steady.

Practicing breathing and meditation daily keeps me steady.

This allows me to start my day from a place of spaciousness,

Openness,

And readiness.

The self-awareness I experience simply through my daily time in silence continues to help me expand and grow.

As soon as I realize I am awake,

I say thank you out loud.

Thank you,

Thank you,

Thank you.

The simple acknowledgement of being alive another day is a powerful way for me to acknowledge life.

When people ask me,

How do you meditate every day?

I honestly have no answer other than,

How do I not meditate every day?

Because I've done some type of meditative practice since the 90s,

It is ingrained in the routine that comes with my daily life.

Humans are creatures of habit.

Think about it.

When we rise,

We likely brush our teeth,

Tend to our hygiene,

Meaning we shower or at least wipe some important parts prior to dressing.

We may have a cup of coffee or tea or a soda or a glass of water,

And then we begin more routines throughout the day.

I once heard someone talk about meditation being mental hygiene.

That stuck with me,

And I often reference that as a reason to have some type of practice daily.

I mean,

I wouldn't leave my house without brushing my teeth knowingly or washing my face or making sure that I was presenting myself properly,

Right?

Having a morning routine that includes a meditation practice allows me to prepare my mind,

Which I will use all day long,

By the way,

For the day.

What I do for meditation may vary.

Sometimes I lie in bed and sit in silence.

Other times I walk and allow nature to surround me,

And other times I put on a guided meditation.

And the time I spend also varies.

There may be days I do a five minute sit in silence or a 20 minute yoga nidra practice.

I allow my practice to evolve as I do.

So,

If you've listened to any of my podcasts,

You know what time it is.

It's time to practice.

And today we're going to do a simple practice connecting with your breath in the space of gratitude.

If you're able to join me and you're not driving or operating heavy equipment,

Let's do this.

In this thank you practice,

We're going to allow ourselves to repeat the words thank you over and over,

Like a mantra.

You can keep your eyes open or closed.

It's up to you.

We will begin by taking three deep breaths,

Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Are you ready?

I invite you to place your hands on your body somewhere to remind you of your connection to your body.

Remember,

Our body gets us around and is our mode of transportation while we are here on planet earth.

Place your hands wherever you'd like on your body.

I ask you to take a deep breath in through the nose with a long exhale out your mouth.

Breathe in and out.

Once again,

A deep breath in through the nose and a long exhale out your mouth.

One final deep breath.

Breathe in and out.

Now begin breathing at your own pace,

Rate,

And rhythm.

Relax your shoulders by taking them up to your ears on the breath in and letting them drop down on the breath out.

Now,

As you breathe at your own pace,

Begin saying thank you out loud and after a few times of saying thank you out loud,

Begin repeating the words silently in your mind.

I'll start you off and then I will drift into silence and return shortly to bring you back into the present moment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's time to bring your attention back to the present moment.

You may release saying thank you silently.

Let's take a deep breath in through the nose with a long exhale out the mouth.

Breathe in and out.

Open your arms wide in the stretch and bring them around your body in a big hug.

Begin to move your upper body in a circle from front,

Side,

Back,

Side,

A few times in one direction.

And now in the other direction,

Front,

Side,

Back,

Side.

And let's end by saying thank you body for getting me around planet earth.

I thank you for joining me for this thank you practice.

Please feel free to leave a comment,

Observation or reflection wherever you're listening.

As you move through the rest of your day,

I hope you will continue using this thank you practice or just saying thank you to stay grounded and grateful.

Until next time,

Be kind to yourself and as my mom would say,

Be sweet.

Thank you and be well.

So how are you feeling after taking just a few minutes to connect with your breath in your body in the space of gratitude?

If nothing else from a meditative perspective,

Focusing on gratitude is a wonderful way to allow you to be connected to your breath in your body and likely you will feel something that feels pretty good when you focus on gratitude.

Let me know your thoughts,

Feelings,

Observations or reflections by leaving a comment where you're listening to this podcast.

Reviews

Barbara I am deeply grateful for your sharing. I am a thriver of emergency cardiac surgery to repair a torn aorta - May 12 2025. I am also an elder. This event albeit coming out of the blue has revealed living with unresolved childhood adulthood living trauma for 70+ years. This experience is surreal - as I have always believed I could handle all / any challenges in front of me - this is the one that unseated me causing deep uncertainty fear anxiety & surrender. I live in Fayetteville GA - would enjoy attending an person meditation course if you offer them. Gratitude exponential for today’s session of thankfulness 🧘🏾‍♂️

I love your mom’s comment. My Grammy had a similar saying “Stay as sweet as you are”. Love listening to your content - thank you Barbara. 🕉️🪷🙏🏻

This was another awesome episode. “The thank you episode” Hahaha😆 I really enjoyed this episode, I even hugged and stayed in circle motion for an extra 3 to 4 mins.. As I was into the meditation saying “Thank You” pics of the good things I want to happen ended up going along w/ each “Thank you” ♥️♥️♥️💙💜💙 Namaste🙏🏽💫

The more I listen to these the more I like them. Especially your sense of humor! Thank you Barbara and keep up the good work. Many blessings! 🙏💫💞