Meditation For Gratitude

This 30-minute Effortless Meditation guides you through a practice to help you find gratitude for your unique being and for things outside of yourself that we often don't take the time to appreciate. By practicing gratitude, and through recognising what do we have - even amongst the challenges and obstacles of life - we can transform our lives, making us happier, healthier and more connected.

Transcript

Hello and welcome,

My name is Beth and thank you for joining me here today.

We'll firstly just take a few moments to settle in,

To get comfortable,

And to silence any devices you have nearby.

Whenever you're ready,

Just gently closing down the eyes,

And gently resting your awareness on your heart space,

Noticing the heart beating.

The theme of today's meditation is gratitude.

Gratitude is such a powerful emotion,

That when practiced it has the ability to completely reshape our day and transform our lives.

If we can shift our focus from what we don't have to what we do have,

And find gratitude amongst the challenges and obstacles in our life,

We can move our emotional,

Physical,

And psychological state to a more positive one,

Making us happier,

Healthier,

And more connected to others.

Now just simply resting your awareness on the natural rhythm of the breath,

Beginning to notice the sensation of air passing through your nose,

And moving down into your diaphragm,

And just gently placing your hand on your belly if you wish,

And continuing with the natural rhythm of the breath,

Feeling the belly rising on the inhale,

And falling on the exhale,

Noticing how the body breathes effortlessly by itself,

Happening every single day,

Without us noticing most of the time,

Bringing gratitude to your unique breath,

For giving us life,

And for always being there,

As something we can return to,

To become conscious and present,

And breathing in through the nose,

And feeling the belly rise with the breath,

And breathing out,

Feeling your belly fall,

And whilst you do this,

Just familiarizing yourself with the process of effortless meditation,

Where we are gently resting our awareness on an anchor,

Which is currently the breath,

And allowing any thoughts,

Feelings,

Or sensations that will arise,

And accepting them as a completely natural part of the meditation process,

With no judgement whatsoever,

And whenever you do happen to notice that your mind has wandered in your own time,

Just easily,

And gently,

Drifting back to your anchor,

Which is currently the breath,

And just returning your hands to a comfortable position,

If you haven't already done so,

And beginning to scan your body with your mind,

And as we scan through each body part,

Just noticing any tension that you may be holding,

And allowing yourself to release it on the exhale,

Handing over the weight of your body to the surface beneath you,

Starting with the head,

The forehead,

Eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

Cheeks,

Mouth,

The jaw,

Just loosening anywhere you may be clenching,

And softening your shoulders,

Your arms,

And hands,

And allowing them to become really heavy,

And your chest,

The upper back,

The lower back,

The belly,

The pelvis,

And softening,

And loosening the thighs,

The calves,

The feet,

And the toes,

Sinking into the surface beneath you,

Whenever you happen to realise that your mind has wandered,

Without judgement,

Gently returning to your body whenever you're ready,

And now,

In your mind's eye,

Just imagining yourself,

Standing in front of you,

And seeing your physical form,

And experiencing gratitude for your physical body,

Being grateful for what each part of your body does for you,

Every single day,

Your ability to walk and move,

To hold and carry things,

Now experiencing gratitude for how your body functions,

Its ability to heal,

To keep warm,

Gratitude for your heart,

For beating constantly,

For communicating love and compassion with others,

Gratitude for your mind,

Your ability to think,

Create,

To understand,

And to learn,

Now in your mind's eye,

Seeing those you love,

Standing in front of you,

Perhaps your family,

Your friends,

Partner,

Pets,

And experiencing gratitude for them,

For sharing their love and kindness with you,

Now just gently bringing your awareness to your environment,

Getting a sense of the room you are in,

Bringing a gratitude for the home you live in,

For the comfort of your chair,

Or the surface beneath you,

Within this room,

Softly tuning in to what you can hear,

Perhaps the soft sound of your breath,

The humming of technology,

Gently tuning in to what you can hear further away,

Outside the room you're in,

Being grateful for this ability to hear,

This ability to hear people laughing,

To hear the birds in the morning,

Whenever you happen to notice your mind has wandered,

Just effortlessly guiding it back to any sounds,

Now bringing a gentle awareness to any smells in your environment,

Being grateful for this sense of smell,

With the scent of trees and flowers,

Fresh bread or coffee in the morning,

And tuning in to your sense of taste,

Noticing what tastes may be lingering in your mouth,

Being grateful for the food we get to enjoy every day,

Moving to our sense of sight behind your closed eyes,

Just imagining something you are grateful for,

Perhaps the blue sky or the sunshine,

Being grateful for our capacity to see to see and to witness the world around us,

And finally your sense of touch,

Noticing what you can feel,

Your hands resting on your lap or the chair,

Material of clothes against your skin,

The air against your cheeks,

Being grateful for the capacity to feel and touch,

The capacity to hold a loved one's hand or to give someone a hug,

To feel a warm drink in your hands on a cold day,

Being grateful to all of these senses,

Touch,

Sight,

Taste,

Smell and hearing,

Grateful for enriching our life experiences,

For allowing us to experience the world in our own unique way,

Now just choosing one thing you are grateful for,

Just whatever comes to your mind first,

Not analysing or thinking too deeply,

And now generating a deep sense of gratitude for this thing,

And sending your thanks and appreciation to this thing,

And as you generate this deep sense of gratitude,

Just gently noticing where you feel this gratitude deepest in your body,

Maybe in your heart,

In your belly,

In your hands,

And just noticing how it feels in this part of your body,

Perhaps a calmness,

A lightness,

A warmth,

And I invite you now to rest your awareness on this feeling or sense within your body,

And using this as your anchor for the rest of the meditation,

Whenever you happen to realise that your mind has drifted away from this feeling within your body,

Just gently guiding your awareness back to that feeling of gratitude deep within you,

Drifting away and drifting back,

Drifting away and drifting back,

Nowhere to get to,

No state to achieve,

Just a simple,

Effortless process,

Knowing that your thoughts and emotions are only ever temporary,

And only ever passing through you,

And the part of you which will be forever present is the calm,

Calm,

Kind,

And content being which we all hold within us,

And I welcome you now to release this feeling of gratitude as your anchor for the last few minutes,

Just allowing the effects of the meditation to slowly sink in,

And just resting,

Nothing to do here but simply be,

I will tell you when it's time,

And starting to deepen the breath,

Becoming aware of your environment,

Bringing soft movement to your body,

Wiggling the toes and fingers,

And taking a moment to check in with how you're feeling,

Perhaps more calm,

More centred,

More connected than when you first sat down,

And being grateful to yourself for taking this time for you,

For your health and your wellbeing,

And quietly repeating after me,

Today is a gift and I will live it with gratitude,

Today is a gift and I will live it I will live it with gratitude,

We have the power to choose how we want to move through each day,

We can choose to live a life of gratitude over envy,

Worry,

And irritation,

So setting an intention to move through the rest of your day or week,

Consciously choosing to be grateful,

Perhaps stopping to observe and acknowledge the beauty of something you encounter in your daily life,

Or expressing your gratitude to a loved one,

And there's no rush to move anywhere if you don't need to,

Just opening the eyes as the very last thing you do,

Thank you so much for being a part of this gratitude meditation,

I am very grateful that you've been here to join me,

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Reviews

Fantastic meditation💯 Beth thx for your great voice to do this✅ Last, but not least I just got another yr @ Insight🏆 Took several yrs coz lacked some discipline, but grateful I didn’t give up👏