Welcome to this meditation where you will be exploring how gratitude can enhance feelings of abundance in your life.
If you spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about the things you lack in your life,
Tangible things like money or belongings,
Or intangible things like time,
Connection with others,
You may be experiencing a scarcity mindset.
And this can be thought of as a glass half empty viewpoint,
Where the things that you have do not match up with what you feel you need or you want.
An abundance mindset is a glass half full attitude,
Where you believe that what you have meets or exceeds that which you need.
And a gratitude practice can help you to shift from this scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset.
So let's get started.
Take a comfortable seat or lie down and take a few moments to pamper yourself,
Stretch and move,
Treat your body with kindness and make yourself comfortable.
Begin to just witness your breath.
It might help to think of yourself as an outside observer,
Standing outside of your body,
Watching your body breathe itself.
And just notice this miraculous ability of your body to breathe without conscious thought or direction.
Appreciate the beating of your heart,
All the workings of your inner organs.
Notice the ability of your mind to think,
To process what you hear right now,
And appreciate all five senses,
Which allow you to take in the world around you.
And to whatever degree that your body is able to move and play,
Thank your body.
Now let yourself consider something that you feel you want more of in your life.
This could be something tangible or intangible.
Companionship,
Free time,
Rewarding work.
For now,
Just pick one thing.
Where can you find elements of this thing or this quality,
This resource,
Already present in your life?
No matter how small or imperfect it is at the moment,
Can you find hints of this resource around you?
Now let's cultivate gratitude for whatever degree this resource is currently present in your life.
Silently offer up your thanks to the universe,
To yourself,
Or to anyone in your life who has helped to make this resource available to you.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
As you inhale,
Imagine that you not only breathe in life-giving air,
But that you can bring in an even deeper feeling of gratitude and abundance.
And every time you breathe out,
You not only blow out air,
But also blow out feelings of lack or scarcity.
Inhaling gratitude,
Exhaling lack.
Inhaling abundance,
Exhaling scarcity.
And as you breathe in these feelings of gratitude,
See if you can recognize this gratitude as a physical feeling anywhere in your body.
In the first place,
You might feel this somewhere near your heart.
You might feel gratitude as a change in temperature or warmth,
Or a change in feelings of lightness or heaviness in your body.
Or you might feel this emotion as more of a visual or energetic change of lightness overcoming darkness.
And see if you can use your imagination to allow this feeling of gratitude to expand throughout your body.
Up to the top of your head,
Down both arms,
Down your torso,
And both legs.
Feel your entire body fill up with gratitude,
Thanks,
And abundance.
Abundance is not really about how much you have,
But how much you have in relation to how much you want.
And gratitude can help you to see that what you have is more than you realize.
That in many cases,
What you have is already enough.
If you're feeling ready to move on with your day,
Begin to wiggle your toes and fingers,
And flutter your eyelids open.
Take an invigorating breath in,
And sigh it out.
If you find this type of practice helpful,
I encourage you to come back to this meditation whenever you're feeling that sense of lack or scarcity.
I'd also encourage you to take a few minutes at the end of each day to contemplate those things that you are grateful for.
You might even choose to write these things down in a gratitude journal for a more tangible representation of all the goodness in your life.
Thank you for joining me today.
Be well.
