Gratitude Meditation For Feeling More Connected

This guided gratitude meditation helps you notice the ways you’re supported in everyday life. You’ll begin by settling into the breath, then bring to mind someone who has helped you, acknowledge your own growth, and appreciate the small kindnesses of people you may barely know. There’s no need to force a feeling. The practice ends with about seven minutes of quiet sitting, giving you time to rest with whatever comes up.

Transcript

Okay, We just can settle in here. It's taking a moment to arrive. Arrive again. You're bringing your conscious awareness into your feet. Making contact with the floor. The ground and the. . . Our connection to the earth beneath us. You might just reflect on your posture. We want to be in a. . . Posture where we can remain alert. And yet at the same time Ideally be relaxed. Strong back. Soft front. Chin slightly taut. The eyes can be opened. Or closed. Soft gaze. I'm just going to settle in for a minute before we begin. Already breathing. We can rest our attention on the breath. Following the in-breath. Following the out-breath. There's an invitation to open to the subtle, Pleasant qualities of breathing. It's a relaxed, Natural breath. But breathing in a way that feels good. It feels good to you right now. Or opening and sensing. I need to breathe right now. And slight smile on the lips. This opening to what feels most prominent in the body. As you breathe. We're going to start with our benefactor. Someone easy to have positive feelings toward. Be someone who's helped you, Someone who's been kind, Steady, And supportive. Someone that showed up for you at the right time. We can imagine them sitting before us. Feeling their presence, Maybe remembering something they did. Sun. It'd be a look on their face. And we offer them some appreciation or gratitude. And you'll just whisper these. There's an imitation to whisper in the mind. But sort of really meaning them as you say them in your mind to yourself. I'd be grateful. For your presence in my life. Or that time in my life. I'd be grateful. For your presence in my life. I would be grateful for your care. And if you need to change the words a little bit for this to work for you, Just feel free. May I appreciate your care. Thank you. Thank you for walking with me on this path. The phrase is, Move through your heart. Cascading out. You're washing over. Your benefactor. And they're soaking it up. So then we'll shift to ourselves. Sometimes I imagine seeing myself through my benefactor's eyes. So you might try that on. Can you see yourself through your benefactor's eyes? What do they say? Bring to mind something about yourself you're grateful for. A strength. Step you've taken. Even your willingness to show up here tonight. Nothing comes, That's okay. This isn't a performance, We're just practicing together. You might repeat inwardly. May I remember and acknowledge the good in me. May I be grateful. For the life I've been given. May I be grateful. For this life. May I honor the ways I've grown. May I honor myself. And sit. With dignity. We're not to force a feeling here, We're just set the intention. We're planting seeds. And we'll do a cure. Let's bring to mind someone who's walking the path alongside you. Perhaps another person in recovery, In practice, In life, Someone. Who may be struggling, But still showing up. We summon. You know a little bit, But not quite. Really well. And you offer your gratitude to them. I'd be grateful for your courage. May I be grateful for your courage. May I appreciate your companionship. I appreciate your companionship. We are not alone. When we do this together. Let yourself feel the truth, Doc. Move to a neutral person. Just like in the reading. Bring someone to mind you don't know. Perhaps someone you see from time to time, A store clerk, A neighbor. A person who's perhaps been in the background of your life. I remember there's just kind of no real feeling there. We can offer them gratitude in this way. I mean, I'd be grateful for the quiet ways you've helped me. May I appreciate the small kindnesses of strangers. Maybe you can find something that's particular. For you to appreciate about your neutral person. We can offer that up in your own words. Even when we don't notice it, People. . . Are helping each other all the time. Interdependence. So we can be grateful for the neutral people that surround us. Just in the sense that we know. The lifestyle we live is only possible through the interdependence of one another in the society. Well, We can take a minute just to appreciate that. We'll close this part of the set with all this sort of variant on all beings, Which is widening the field. To send some gratitude out and offer gratitude for all the conditions that make this life possible, This breath, This moment. May I be grateful for this human life. I appreciate the earth, The air. And the countless unseen hands that support my life. You can add anything you want here. To acknowledge. My gratitude guide the way I live. We'll just let our heart rest. Spaciousness of gratitude is being beamed out through the earth and the universe and the cosmos. That's the field of space, That miserable. . . And we can rest. The heart can rest in that field of gratitude and space. So we have about seven minutes or so to sit in this way. And I'll ring the bell. To close.