"Gratitude" Meditation

Dr. Michael McGee's "Gratitude" meditation. With more than 30 years of experience in psychiatry, Dr. McGee specializes in integrating psychiatric treatment with spiritually informed interventions and practices. He is the creator of Awakening Therapy, a contemplative-relational approach to psychiatric treatment, and The WellMind Method, a practice that teaches people how to use love to heal wounds caused by trauma and neglect.

Transcript

This is a meditation for cultivating gratitude.

To begin,

Allow yourself to come into this moment fully,

Relaxing wherever you notice tension in your body and then coming into stillness.

Take a few deep slow breaths.

If you feel comfortable doing so,

Close your eyes.

Focus on your breath as your anchor of attention.

Let the breath be in the foreground of awareness unless some other strong sensation,

Sound,

Thought,

Or feeling call for your attention.

Now,

Visualize a person in your life who you appreciate and love.

Reflect on what you most appreciate about them.

How have they benefited you?

Have they been generous to you?

Kind to you?

Attentive and caring to you?

Helpful to you?

Let yourself feel your appreciation of them deeply.

See if you can experience it in your body,

Perhaps in your heart.

Feeling your gratitude,

Mentally whisper their name and say,

Thank you.

Say thank you to them a few times while imagining that person receiving your thanks and gratitude.

Feel a deepening of a sense of connection and warmth between the two of you.

Now,

Open your attention to other parts of your life.

Ask yourself,

What am I most grateful for?

Or ask,

What do I appreciate or love in this life?

Is it your health,

Friends,

Family,

Your work,

Your home,

Where you live,

Others who have benefited you,

Experiences you've had?

As different people,

Experiences,

Or circumstances come to mind,

Take a few moments with each one.

Feel a sense of gratitude and sense how it feels in your body and heart.

Let go of any specific visualization now and just feel the feeling of gratitude in your body and heart.

Notice how it feels,

The feeling of gratitude.

Let your attention be supported by the movement of the breath.

Breathing in,

Feel your heart touched by the good in your life.

Breathing out,

Feel yourself sending out your thanks of gratitude to the universe.

When you're ready,

Come back to this moment with full presence.

Let yourself feel the feeling of gratitude for your life and carry this feeling with you throughout your day.

Germany Kent once said,

It's a funny thing about life.

Once you begin to take note of the things you're grateful for,

You begin to lose sight of the things you lack.

You can't feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.

Make your practice of gratitude bring your contentment to your life.

Bring you happiness and bring you joy.