End of your gratitude meditation.
Here we are at the junction of another year.
While it can be tempting to plow ahead and consume ourselves in the social commitments of this holiday season,
Let's take a moment to be still,
Come home to ourselves and gain precious perspective on the path treaded this year.
Together,
We will honor this year as a whole,
Including any lingering disappointments,
And take stock of its hidden wells of grace.
Enjoy.
Break open the space by gifting yourself with the deepest breaths you have taken this year,
Like dry earth drinking in a fresh bout of rain.
Feel these breaths granting relief and new life to the hard-to-reach corners of your body,
Like the bottom of your lungs where your habitual breathing doesn't usually reach.
Feel your body and mind responding to these visits of breath with pleasure as they relax and feel tended to,
Maybe for the first time in the entire year.
If you have any remaining to-dos or worries swirling in your system,
Give yourself permission to set them down and surrender yourself to this unhurried moment.
Feel the sweetness of homecoming as you gather yourself back into your soft animal body,
Rising and falling with every breath.
Feel the quiet stillness smearing healing balm over your tired spirit and tissues,
Like a devoted nurse who knows what you've been through this year.
Fully receive this care by unclenching your jaw,
Allowing all the tiny muscles on your face to melt as if they were just kneaded like dough by warm loving hands.
Feel your arms surrendering down,
Hanging heavy as if they were made of lead.
Unlock your heart.
Allow your belly to take up space and let your legs float down like a waterfall.
Breathe as one unified being,
As one wave effortlessly rising and falling.
Gently allow your year to catch up with you now.
If you're feeling tired,
Allow this tiredness to bloom in your body as you surrender to its call to rest.
Beneath the fatigue,
Feel the underlying sweetness as it's a reflection of all the effort you've poured into this year,
All the ways you've put one foot in front of the other.
Give yourself an embrace and acknowledge all the ways you've shown up for yourself.
Acknowledge the strength it took to face the challenges of this year and the courage to try even when it was hard or felt impossible.
Now gently bring into awareness one personal disappointment that's particularly present for you,
Perhaps a habit you couldn't break,
A way you wish to show up but didn't,
Or a reaction you couldn't quite rewire.
Take a moment to honor your limits.
As much as we see these limits as failings or barriers to fight against,
These limits are the walls giving your journey a shape.
Marvel at these walls.
Run your fingers along their surface and feel the contours of your tender,
Beautiful humanity.
Embrace whatever limit or failing you feel inside with your compassion and love.
Without these limits,
Your journey will not have meaning,
Depth,
Or the opportunity for growth.
Take a moment and allow yourself to soften into this understanding.
Take a deep breath and feel the weight of self-judgment begin to lift,
Replaced by a quiet reverence for your own process.
Feel your wholeness in this moment,
Not in spite of your limits,
But because of them.
Now,
Let's take inventory of the extraordinary achievements quietly unfolding within you that you may not have noticed.
This year,
You have traveled roughly 940 million kilometers or 584 million miles around the sun.
Just think about that.
Take a moment and imagine yourself traveling through space,
Being shuttled by the protective earth like a mother holding her child to cross the street.
Tune into the incredible context that frames your life and feel gratitude for the celestial motions keeping you alive.
Now,
Bring your attention to your heart.
This year,
Your heart has beat around 36.
7 million times,
Like a loyal friend.
Yet,
Do you even remember one of these beats?
Place your palm over your heart,
Sending a deep gratitude for unwaveringly sustaining your life,
Weathering your pains,
And creating bridges of beautiful connection.
Others bring your attention to your breath,
The soft vapor entering and leaving your nose.
This year,
You have breathed around 8.
5 million breaths,
Drawing in around 884 thousand liters of oxygen to stoke the furnace of your life and energize all your movements.
Place your palm close to your nose and notice with gratitude the subtle exchange of air,
Ballet dancing on your fingers,
Weaving you into the fabric of all living things.
Now,
Expand your awareness to your entire body.
This year,
It has circulated around 2.
6 million liters or 94,
000 gallons of blood through your vessels and veins.
That's around seven and a half olympic-sized swimming pools of life-giving waters.
Not only that,
But your body has also sent approximately 315 trillion electrical impulses through your nervous system,
Messages that swiftly coordinate your thoughts,
Movements,
And sensations so you can live as a coherent being.
Take a moment to thank your body for all it has done this year.
Even in the moments when you felt stuck,
Lost,
Or unproductive,
Your body,
Heart,
And breath have been working tirelessly,
Creating the foundation for all that you are and all that you aspire to be.
Can you begin to see the countless,
All-inspiring achievements that lie beneath the surface of your daily life?
As we wrap up this meditation,
Take a moment to feel gratitude for this year,
For its joys and challenges,
For its lessons and new connections,
And its perfect imperfections.
Now,
I invite you to set an intention for yourself that can be your companion for the new year.
Allow this intention to seep into the marrows of your being.
From my heart to yours,
I wish you a season of rest,
Renewal,
And joy.
May the holidays bring you moments of peace and the warmth of knowing how deeply cherished you are by the life that flows through you.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today and this year.
I'm Dandan Liu.
Until next time.
