We are gathered,
Or two or three are gathered in his name.
I think everything already here,
We might as well begin.
So we take our,
Just settle ourselves nice and vertical,
Get back nice and straight so there's no strain,
So the body can relax.
We use the usual one bell to start and three to end.
Begin with our first bell.
Take those nice deep breaths to settle the nervous system in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Just dropping into relaxation and a sense of the presence and being present here,
Letting the breathing settle down to whatever it wants to be,
But paying attention,
Recognizing that each breath is a gift,
Feeling gratitude that our body knows how to do this.
There is a wisdom in our physical body that is deeper than the knowledge of our mind.
A wisdom that regulates our heartbeat,
Our breathing,
Our digestion,
Our blood flow,
All of these amazing processes that occur all the time without being seen,
Without being appreciated,
Without being thanked.
Every day,
All day long,
Every night,
All night long,
The largest organ in our body,
Our skin,
Protects us from things that would enter and cause us harm and opens up to accept moisture,
Nourishment,
Vitamin D from the sun,
Accepts loving touch and protects us against abrasion and all of the things that would harm us.
And our skin continually renews itself and is continually refreshed and kept supple,
Flexible,
The vital barrier that protects us from harmful things in the world and yet allows us to experience the beauty,
The touch of a loved one,
The caress of fabric,
The softness of the fur of a loving animal.
And we take it for granted,
Don't we?
We can be grateful for the beauty,
The miracle,
The powerful protection and acceptance of our skin.
There are so many things in our lives that are huge,
Immeasurable blessings,
Things that we only notice when they break down or have some sort of problem.
Huge,
Powerful blessings like central heat,
Air conditioning in the summer,
Refrigeration,
The solidity of the walls that keep out the cold and the wind and the snow,
And our own immune system that continually fights off the things that would make us ill.
We don't notice these things unless they break down or are overwhelmed,
But we have a choice.
We can take them for granted and then complain and feel hurt when something isn't working perfectly.
Or we can spend the majority of our time when everything is working perfectly well and we are safe and protected and healthy,
And we can take that time and choose to feel gratitude.
Why?
Just because gratitude feels good.
We don't need another reason.
We can just choose to focus on any one of the myriad,
Uncountable blessings we are constantly bathed in and feel gratitude for it.
In our final minutes,
We've expressed gratitude for several things,
But it's okay to just feel gratitude for no reason as well.
Why not?
If we can generate the feeling of gratitude for something,
We can also just choose to feel gratitude because it feels good to be grateful.
See if you can just feel gratitude without an object,
Without a reason,
Just because gratitude is a good thing to experience.
Thank you so much for coming and joining together and having this experience together.
