Today's meditation brings us to a place of thankfulness,
Of gratitude.
It opens our heart.
The word for heart mind is cheetah.
And in this meditation,
We're going to work on developing a heart mind of thanks,
Of gratitude,
Of love and compassion for ourselves and others.
The meditation will begin and end with the bell.
So to begin,
Please take a moment and find a comfortable way to hold the body,
Be it sitting in a chair or on your cushion,
Keeping the back straight without being tense or stiff,
Letting the eyes close again without forcing them and the body being relaxed around the upright back.
Begin concentrating on the breath,
Be it the physical sensation on the upper lip or the rise and fall of the abdomen.
You can also pay attention to the sound of the body breathing or simply the idea of the breath.
And remember,
When meditating,
The mind will often wander.
That's simply what the mind does.
When you become aware that the mind has wandered,
Be kind and caring and simply note the fact of wandering and return to the object of your meditation.
Often a quick smile at this point helps to keep the mind positive and happy.
Now let the breath attention go for a moment and for the next few minutes,
Let's turn our concentration focus to the body.
Beginning with the soles of the feet and working your way up the body towards the scalp,
Try to bring a sense of thankfulness for this body as you pay attention during this scan.
Sometimes,
Slightly tensing a particular muscle and then letting that tension fade,
That's what helps in bringing awareness to that part of the body.
You can try this if you're having trouble bringing awareness to certain locations.
Okay.
By now,
We should be settling in.
Bring your attention out slightly and notice this body in the meditation posture,
In this beautiful space,
Safe and free from harm.
Let a heart and mind of thankfulness arise.
We will now bring our attention to what we are thankful for in our lives.
Even in the most difficult situations,
There are things to be thankful for.
Developing a heart-mind of thankfulness is a choice.
Turning towards this loving mind,
Instead of towards the aversive mind,
Start by bringing into focus something you are thankful for.
Nothing too small or too big.
Allow this thankful object to fill your heart-mind,
And with each breath,
Notice what thoughts arise around this object of gratitude.
And remembering to be kind when the mind wanders.
Now we will allow our focus of gratitude to settle on someone we are thankful for.
This can be something or someone living or past,
Someone you know personally or someone you have never met.
It should simply be someone that your heart swells when you think of them.
Allow the focus on this individual to go wherever it wants.
Explore your thankfulness for this person.
Bring your heart to theirs.
Sultan lengthy blessing of wisdom testosteron,
Popular classrooms of through chatterbox.
Next,
Bring your attention to an experience you are thankful for.
Let the mind wander considering this experience which brings you gratitude.
Let the mind wander considering this experience which brings you gratitude.
Now let's consider this body.
Find something about this body that you are thankful for.
If negative or difficult thoughts arise,
Simply choose not to get involved and return to a positive focus on this body.
Now let's consider this body.
Find something about this body that you are thankful for.
The last area we will consider our gratitude for are the three jewels,
The Buddha,
The Dharma,
And the Sangha,
The people and the community,
The Buddhist teachings,
And the awakening these teachings offer.
When thinking of the three jewels,
What comes to mind?
What has making the Buddha,
The Dharma,
And the Sangha part of your life done for you?
What grateful things arise?
Now let's let go of these objects of gratitude and let our mind again settle on the breath as our object of meditation.
Wherever you find it most easily to bring into focus,
Again the abdomen,
The feel of the breath,
The upper lip,
Or the nostrils,
Just watch the breath allowing the thoughts of the last moments just drift off.
Just settle with the breath.
And then whenever you are ready,
You can allow your eyes to gently open and your awareness to return to your surroundings.
Thank you for meditating with me today.
