Hi everyone,
It's Kim from Meditation with Heart.
Today is a ten minute match of practice and it's designed to help you cultivate gratitude for yourself and your own good heart.
So contemporary psychologists tell us that the single easiest and fastest way to feel happier is to begin to generate a sense of gratitude by keeping a gratitude list,
By paying attention and being mindful to all that we have in our lives and all of the circumstances that are for us.
It's very easy many times to feel like we don't have enough and to only notice what's lacking or to only notice negative circumstances in the world.
There are both joys and sorrows,
There are both difficulties and beautiful circumstances that we all have.
Doing this creates a very balanced mind.
Sometimes though practicing gratitude some of us will feel a sense of guilt or shame that we're not grateful enough or we should be more grateful and we start to just use this practice as more evidence of our badness.
So to counteract that it's very very helpful to begin to have gratitude for yourself,
To begin to notice your own good heart,
To begin to notice that every day you have beneficial thoughts,
You say beneficial and kind things and you do things to help yourself and others.
I know that you do because we all do,
We are born with this inclination.
It's just a natural thing and we are so accustomed to it that we take it for granted.
I can tell you an example,
A very dear friend of mine a few years ago she told me that she was taking a train very early in the morning,
Like 5 am.
There were very few people there at the station and as she got to the train she noticed that there was someone standing on the little overpass,
It was like a little overpass from the uptown train to the downtown train bridge,
Right across the tracks.
My friend noticed that someone was standing there and they looked like maybe they were in trouble,
Maybe they were going to jump off that bridge.
So she went and got a security person and together they went and talked to this person.
So when she told me this I said,
Oh I'm so glad that you did that,
I hope that you know what a beautiful action that was.
And she said,
Oh well anybody would do that.
She just really dismissed it as not important because anybody would do it.
I am telling you whether anybody would do it or not,
It's such a valuable thing,
Our good hearts.
And we need to appreciate them so that we can continue to use them and continue to start to have a sense of appreciation for ourselves and our lives and that we have everything we need inside of us.
So find a place where you can sit still for a little bit.
We're going to do a little gratitude mentor for ourselves and sitting still means you'll need to keep your eyes still and your hands still,
Alright.
But you could be in a public place,
You just need to,
You don't have to close your eyes,
You can if you want,
But you can just let them gaze softly at the floor.
Let's begin with a few deep conscious breaths.
That means a little bit deeper inhale if you can and a little bit longer exhale if you can.
Noticing your feet in your seat,
Feeling your belly,
Noticing your shoulder blades in the back of your head.
Really noticing your breathing,
Allowing sound to enter your ears.
And now allowing a sense of yourself to arise.
This could be an image of you,
So you're looking in the mirror.
You might imagine yourself as a child or just having a sense of your presence.
And offering these phrases,
May I appreciate my good heart,
May I appreciate my good actions,
May I appreciate my life.
May I appreciate my good heart,
May I appreciate my good actions,
May I appreciate my life.
Continuing silently just for a few seconds,
Offering these phrases to yourself as though you're giving yourself a gift.
May I appreciate my good heart,
May I appreciate my good deeds,
May I appreciate my life.
You can move your attention away from the sense of yourself and just noticing your feet,
Noticing your seat,
Your belly,
Feeling your shoulder blades in the back of your head.
And now bringing your attention to the center of your chest,
Your heart center and allowing the presence of someone dear to you to arise.
This is someone with whom you have an easy,
Loving relationship.
Nothing complicated.
So maybe a dear friend,
An aunt,
An uncle,
A teacher,
A pet.
And you can have an image of them if you'd like or just their presence here with you.
Offering the same phrases.
May you appreciate your good heart.
May you appreciate your good deeds.
May you appreciate your life.
May you appreciate your good heart.
May you appreciate your good deeds.
May you appreciate your life.
May you appreciate your good heart.
May you appreciate your good deeds.
May you appreciate your life.
Continuing on your own May you appreciate your good heart.
May you appreciate your good deeds.
May you appreciate your life.
You can let go of this sense of this loved one.
Noticing your feet.
Feeling your seat.
Maybe taking a conscious breath in and out.
And now offering this same aspiration to everyone.
All beings.
Above,
Below,
To your right,
To your left,
In front,
Behind you.
Those you like,
Those you don't like.
May we appreciate our good hearts.
May we appreciate our good deeds.
May we appreciate our life.
May we appreciate our good hearts.
May we appreciate our good deeds.
May we appreciate our life.
May we appreciate our good hearts.
May we appreciate our good deeds.
We appreciate our life.
When you're ready you can let go of these phrases.
Thank yourself for your practice here today.
If you have any questions or comments you can leave them right below the video.
If you want to DM me you're very welcome to do that.
I'll respond to you.
Please like this and share this.
It would be really great if more people understood that they have a good heart and that they can use it.
Please like my Instagram page.
It really helps support my work.
Everyone thank you for taking the time to practice together and thank you for your good heart.
