Welcome and thank you for joining me in this short guided meditation practice on gratitude.
Today's practice is an opportunity for you to reflect on what you are grateful for.
The practice aims to help you feel calmer and more focused on the good in your life.
As gratitude can be powerful in enhancing our well-being.
To get started please make yourself comfortable.
Allow yourself a quiet undistracted space where you can sit easily.
Sit up so your spine is straight with your hands rested comfortably and your legs and feet supported.
Be alert but able to relax easily in your chosen position.
Soften your forehead and then let your eyes lower.
If you want you can close them gently.
Start to relax your jaw,
Your neck and your shoulders.
Once you are comfortable I invite you to take a couple of deep breaths.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Again deep breath in and breathing in and breathing out.
Just calmly and easily not forcing the breath.
Just breathing in a relaxed and gentle way.
Let's turn our attention first to our bodies.
Focus on the breath.
Feel grateful for the cool air we are able to breathe in,
The work of our lungs,
The throat,
The nostrils.
Acknowledge the heart as it pumps the oxygen we've just breathed in around our bodies.
And the circulatory system that helps cleanse our body so we can breathe out what we no longer need.
Feel gratitude for all the functions that do work well in our body regardless of the bits that don't work as well for us.
Take a moment to notice how feeling gratitude towards your body makes you feel right now.
What sensations are you experiencing right now?
Gently savour those feelings and sensations.
We'll turn our attention next to our minds.
Thank yourself for giving your mind this short break.
For taking the time to honour yourself by giving it a gratitude boost.
Often we take the good things we experience for granted and reflect too long on the not so good experiences.
Gratitude helps us focus on what we have rather than what we don't have.
And over time with regular practice our attentional focus to what we have,
Not what we lack becomes our norm.
We become more aware of the aspects of our life that give us pleasure.
And this in turn,
Over time,
Shifts our feelings and emotions towards more positive ones.
Acknowledge this meditation as a step towards that.
And take a moment to notice how feeling gratitude towards your mind makes you feel right now.
What sensations are you experiencing right now?
Gently savour those feelings and those sensations.
Turn our attention next to our relationships.
Focus your awareness on the important people in your life.
It may include a pet.
Think of their strengths.
What they bring positively to your life.
And what draws you to them.
Take a moment to notice how feeling gratitude towards your relationships makes you feel right now.
What sensations are you experiencing right now?
Gently savour those feelings and those sensations.
Let's turn our attention more broadly now.
And focus your awareness on what else you feel grateful for.
It can be small,
Like the smell of a flower.
Or big,
Like the birth of a baby.
It can be related specifically to you,
Or be part of our global community.
It can be something from nature.
From your environment.
From your work.
Or your everyday routine.
What is it that you are grateful for?
Take another moment now to notice how feeling gratitude towards these things makes you feel right now.
What sensations are you experiencing?
Again,
Gently savour those feelings and sensations.
As we come to a close,
I invite you now to bring your attention back to your breath.
Take a couple of deeper breaths.
Noticing the rise and the fall of your chest.
As you inhale.
And as you exhale.
Focusing on your whole body.
Remembering where you are sitting.
And becoming mindful of the contact of your body with the seat.
Briefly notice the sounds you can hear.
And thank yourself for the commitment to your meditation practice today.
And my expression of gratitude for sharing this gratitude meditation with me.
I hope it helps you to feel calmer and more in control.
To be more focused on the good in your life.
And progress easily through the rest of your day.
And when you are ready,
Feel free to open your eyes.
Thank you.
