Gratefulness Meditation

Deliberately feeling gratitude on a regular basis is good for us: our stress hormones decrease and our sense of well-being increases. But how to feel grateful, just like that? Truth is, we can always connect with our innate capacity to feel grateful, it just takes some practice. Today, Femke guides you in a meditation to cultivate feelings of appreciation for the things we normally take for granted. So you can experience for yourself that you have it in you to feel grateful whenever you want.

Transcript

Hello friends,

This is Femke.

Feeling gratitude on a regular basis is really good for us,

We know this from research.

When we allow ourselves the feeling of appreciation,

The feeling of gratitude,

We increase our love hormones and we decrease our stress hormones.

Gratitude shows that when folks are practicing gratitude on a regular basis,

They significantly improve their perception of well-being.

Sometimes it's hard to feel grateful.

When going gets tough,

When life happens.

But it is especially in those moments that it is important to help yourself,

To connect to these feelings of appreciation and gratitude.

To do so we can tune in to the small things in our lives that we take for granted so often,

And to really feel how grateful we can be for their presence in our lives.

So I invite you to join me on a small rampage of appreciation about the things we take for granted.

Make sure you sit as comfortable as possible,

So lean against the back of the chair if that helps you.

Or lie down if that's more comfortable for you.

Now feel if there's any tension in your body,

And if there is,

Just make the tension bigger and then let go.

So let's pull up your shoulders and let go.

And when you let go,

Make a big sigh.

So make tension in your shoulders and let go.

Do you feel with that sigh how everything starts to relax in your body?

Let's do it again.

Maybe make now really strong fists and let them go.

How good it is to let go.

Now gently close your eyes.

And let's use our breath to relax even more.

Let's breathe in on two counts and breathe out on the count of four.

Breathe in,

One,

Two,

And out.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And in,

One,

Two,

And out.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Now breathe in on three.

In,

One,

Two,

Three,

And out on six.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

In,

And out.

In and out.

Okay,

Tune in into your body again.

Can you feel that your body is more relaxed now?

Alright,

Let's start our gratitude practice.

Let's start by something really normal.

Our hands.

Bring all your attention to your hands and think for a moment how wonderful your hands are.

How your opposable thumb helps you to grab things like a pen,

To write notes to your loved ones,

To write down what you don't want to forget.

Your hands that will pick up food and drinks to bring to your mouth so you can nourish yourself with good food and lovely drinks.

How you can use your hands to caress your loved ones.

How your hands can feel whether something is warm or cold or too hot to handle.

These lovely hands that are working so hard for you every day.

When you think of everything they do,

And especially if you think of how much you would miss them if you wouldn't have your hands.

Can you feel that rush of appreciation for something taken so often for granted as your hands?

Let's bring your attention now to your heart.

Almost in the middle of your chest.

Oh,

This beautiful heart that's just beating on its own.

You don't have to do anything to make sure that it beats.

It does that all by itself.

It doesn't just beat,

It makes sure that the oxygen you inhale through your lungs,

Your beautiful lungs,

Is spread through your body to all the cells.

All the cells getting the oxygen that they need.

And if you need to increase your pace,

Your heart will make sure that you can.

Your heart will make sure that more oxygen is distributed throughout your body.

And if you put your hands on your heart,

You can connect with it,

You can feel it or hear it.

And this beautiful heart is capable of so many other things.

When you love someone,

When you're touched by someone,

When someone does something kind,

You feel this here,

Right here in your heart.

This heart that allows you to live,

That allows you to feel the energy of life rushing through you.

This heart that makes you feel capable of loving others.

And not to forget loving yourself.

Let's bring our attention to our bathroom,

Where you have a tap with cold and hot water.

And I know we take this for granted that whenever we want,

We can just have hot water to make ourselves this beautiful bath or to take this beautiful hot shower.

But you know,

Not so long ago it was not so normal that there would come hot water from the tap.

Even more,

There are many people in the world who don't have access to water,

Let alone hot water.

So just to be aware of how wonderful it is that you can always count on the hot water coming out.

I mean,

Everyone who once had the water heater broken knows what I mean.

Only then you can appreciate the hot water running from your tap.

But you don't have to wait for your water heater to break down to appreciate this.

Just bring your attention to the hot water in your house.

Embrace the knowledge that you can go there and open it to stand under this beautiful shower.

Or to lie in this wonderful warm hot water top.

And if you like,

You can put your hands again on your chest.

And feel this rush of appreciation.

It's so good to feel this.

Bring now your attention to the place in your body where you feel this rush of gratitude,

This rush of appreciation most strong.

Many folks will feel this in the area of their heart,

Or the area of their stomach or their belly.

But it can be that you feel it somewhere else.

That you feel it like a rush of energy.

That you feel this really pleasant goose bumps on your skin.

Just take a moment to really feel how does it feel to you when you feel appreciation.

Where do you feel it in your body?

Alright,

So bring your attention to this place in your body and see if this feeling of gratitude can grow,

Can expand.

Imagine it as a light.

A light that is growing and expanding.

With every breath you take in,

The light is growing.

This feeling of appreciation is growing outside of your chest,

Into your belly,

Into your arms,

Into your legs.

All the way down it expands and it expands until it's like a big bubble around you.

Now put your hands again on your heart.

And feel how you are sitting in this bubble of appreciation.

And let's increase this feeling even more.

Let's bring our attention to the sun.

The sun is always there.

Our earth is spinning in beautiful orbit around itself and around our sun.

Without the sun we would have no life on earth.

Our beautiful earth,

Our beautiful planet,

All living because of our sun.

And even when it's clouded,

We can still see the sun because there is light.

During the day we have light and it's so beautiful that this light returns every day.

You can just count on it.

You don't have to do anything to deserve this light shining upon you.

Because it's always there,

No matter what.

The sun doesn't distinguish between people.

The sun doesn't distinguish between beings.

The sun is just there with its warming,

Life-giving energy for everyone.

And to just realize that the sun is always there every morning again.

Come rain or come shine,

The sun is there for you.

Now go back to the place in your body where you feel gratitude mostly and feel how thinking of the sun and the earth and how perfect it's all arranged for you.

How this can fill you with appreciation.

We take it for granted that the sun comes up for us.

But she does.

Every day again.

How wonderful that is.

Can you feel that rush of appreciation?

Okay,

Let's take another step.

Think of an item in your life that you appreciate so much.

It can be something small like your favorite cup.

It can be something big like a car or a house.

It can be something from nature like a tree.

It can be something manufactured.

Whatever the thing is that you are grateful for,

Bring it to mind.

Bring it to your mind's eye and just take a look how beautiful it is,

How lovely it is.

How happy you are that it's there.

And if you want you can say out loud or in your head,

Thank you,

Thank you.

Alright,

Let's take another step.

Think of the presence of a person in your life,

Whether it is now or it was in the past,

Who you are grateful for.

Imagine them standing in front of you,

Looking at you,

Smiling at you.

And now out loud or in your head,

Tell them how much you appreciate their presence in your life,

How grateful you are for them being there.

Take a moment to acknowledge that.

Take a moment to express this towards them.

And can you see them receive it?

Can you see how their eyes light up?

How they smile?

How happy they are because of your words?

And can you feel how this appreciation is now returning to you as if this person is like a mirror reflecting back towards you,

What you are sending to them?

And allow yourself to receive it.

If it's hard for you to receive,

Then try opening the palms of your hands to the sky.

Or if you dare even open your arms wide.

Allow yourself to receive.

They're reflecting back what you're sending to them.

This appreciation is so true,

So valuable.

Bring your attention back to the place in your body where you feel appreciation.

Feel how you're sitting in this bubble of appreciation.

You might feel that it's even more filled now with more density of gratitude.

And just savor this moment and make a mental note of how it feels,

Where you feel it and realize that you can always feel like this.

Alright.

Let's slowly take our attention from the feelings of gratitude back into our bodies.

You can help your body by shifting your spine,

Wiggling your fingers and toes.

And then slowly bring your attention back to your surroundings.

Keep your eyes still closed,

But you can listen around.

What are you hearing?

What are you smelling?

Yeah,

Now slowly,

In your own time,

Open your eyes.

What are you seeing?

And while you're coming back,

Remember where did you feel these feelings of appreciation?

And remind yourself,

You can always come back here and feel this wonderful feeling of appreciation again and again and again.

Thank you so much for meditating with me.

And for now,

In gratitude and with love.

Until next time.

Reviews

Thanks Femke, this is a beautiful guided meditation that really helps to tap into the felt sense of gratitude ☺️

Thank you for this beautiful meditation of being grateful and appreciative of the little things that we so desperately take for granted.

That was so lovely and so calming and peaceful! Very grateful to you for this guided meditation on gratitude!🙏❤️

So very enjoyable, thank you very much.
Peace & Light to you.
Peter 🙏🙏🙏

I walk in ease when I carry gratitude with me, especially through life's challenges. Beauty reigns when I am grateful.

Wonderful, emotive guidance and encouragement

Grounding; exploring things we can all be grateful for and where that gratitude can be awakened in our body.

🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽 With gratitude and love for your beautiful meditation 🙏🏽❤️🙏🏽

Gratitude 🌈💙

Excellent. Thank you so very much.

Wonderful🙏

Thank you Femke! I never thought to be grateful for hot water! Your meditations are so simple but so powerful! I’m so grateful that you have created this meditation!😊🙏🙏🙏

Gentle and beautiful. Thankyou.