Fourfold Gratitude Practice

Connecting to gratitude has so many benefits. This practice focuses on cultivating gratitude for our body, for nature, for others in our life, and for the wisdom traditions that bring insight and transformation.

Transcript

Welcome to this fourfold gratitude practice.

So I invite you to do a little bit of an arrival practice,

Which means you're just kind of settling in to this present moment to take on this practice.

So if there's some bit of movement you'd like to do before you settle into stillness,

Please allow your body to do that,

Whether it's some neck rolling,

Some shoulder rolls,

Some tapping.

And gradually start to make your way into stillness.

Perhaps you're going to be seated.

Perhaps you'd like to stand.

Perhaps you're going to lay down.

Whatever posture feels good to you can work wonderfully for this practice.

So let's just focus together for a few moments with an anchor or a focus point.

So you could be with your breath,

Just following it in and out.

You could be noticing sounds.

Of course,

There's the sound of my voice.

And then there's the moments of silence around it.

Perhaps you want to focus with the body,

Perhaps finding where the hands are,

Feeling the energy,

The heat,

Or the coolness.

Perhaps you're focusing with your sitz bones in the chair or on the cushion.

There are different entry points,

Finding what works best for you in this moment,

Knowing that if you come back on a different day or even the same day at a different time,

It might all be a little different.

So there's no fixed,

This is always my anchor,

This is never my anchor,

Just the exploration.

Moment to moment,

Day by day,

Breath by breath.

So starting to bring to mind something in your body that you delight in,

Perhaps it's your eyes and the ability to see,

Your ears,

The ability to hear.

Perhaps it's the beating heart,

The breathing lungs,

The stability of the feet and the legs.

The wonder of the hands,

How many things the hands do.

It's quite extraordinary.

So just start to take delight in the body in whatever way makes sense and feels authentic to you.

And really breathe in that sense of delight,

Don't let it be just something in your head,

A thought in your head.

Let it be a felt sense in the body,

Really bringing that gratitude into the body,

Into the felt sense.

Perhaps it's a smile on your lips,

A softness in your heart,

A warmth in the belly.

There are different ways that gratitude gets hardwired into the body,

Tingling,

Flow of energy.

So if you notice some thoughts arising or feelings arising about things you don't like about your body or certain judgments you have,

Just know that that's normal and you can kind of put it aside.

All right,

I hear that,

I see that.

And then just try to redirect toward something that's delightful in the body for you.

Breathing in the wonder of the body and really sending gratitude.

Thank you.

Thank you eyes.

Thank you body.

Thank you ears that hear.

Thank you voice that speaks and sings and mouth that tastes and delights and delicious foods.

Thank you heart that beats and lungs that breathe.

Whatever you'd like to add to that list.

So take one more big breath of gratitude for the body and then we will turn toward nature and this amazing planet that we live on and bring to mind a place in nature that you love.

Maybe it's the mountains,

Maybe it's a beach,

Maybe it's a specific meadow or hiking place.

Just calling to mind something that you delight in,

In nature.

Trees,

Grass,

Flowers that bloom,

Blue skies.

Just allow yourself to really open toward this amazing planet and all the amazing things on it.

Clouds and the moon and stars and all the creatures.

The fox and the bear,

The dolphin,

The crocodile.

It's all quite astonishing.

Building our connection into the ecosystem that we are a part of.

And again really bring that sense of delight and wonder and awe into the body.

Feel it on a cellular level.

Really breathe it in,

Drink it in,

See it,

Feel it.

So a few more moments really delighting in nature.

And be specific.

See the place,

See the clouds,

See the storm,

See the snow,

Feel the sand.

So taking in the last few big breaths of gratitude for our planet.

And now let us turn our sense of gratitude towards others.

The people in our life that delight us.

The people that we love and care about.

People that we call when we're having a bad day or we have great news we want to share.

A family member,

A friend,

A lover.

Really bring to mind their faces.

Say their name silently inside your mind.

And again allow that felt sense of what it's like to be around them,

To be near them,

To laugh with them,

To connect.

Really having that felt sense of their presence.

And really staying with one person for a few breaths until you invite another person in.

And as you consider the people that you delight in,

You can also add in some people that maybe you don't even know people that inspire you.

That person could be living or have already passed.

A great musician,

An architect,

A scientist.

So many amazing people have walked the planet.

We stand on the shoulder of giants in every realm.

So really feeling gratitude to the lineage and the ancestry.

Perhaps our own family,

Our extended family,

But the entire human family.

Taking a few deep breaths of gratitude for all the amazing people that have walked the planet and we could even say known and unknown.

There's so many amazing people we'll never know their names,

But that doesn't make them any less wonderful.

So feeling that connection with them as well.

The mothers caring for children,

The teachers showing up early to the schools,

The doctors in emergency rooms,

The moment before the emergency happens.

All the capacious ways that humans have and continue to show up for each other and for life itself.

And the last thing we'll turn towards with gratitude are all the wisdom traditions,

Ancient and modern that shine a light on how to live a meaningful life that offer teachings that are meaningful,

That create connection and wisdom that support insight and growth.

So of course with mindfulness and meditation,

There's many years,

Thousands of years of lineage that brings these teachings to us.

So taking a moment to honor the multiple lineages perhaps that you are connected to through faith,

Through spirituality,

Through family,

Through heritage and culture.

Understanding those first peoples who happened upon some insight and some wisdom and thought to write it down or talk to other people about it and share it.

It's amazing to think that some of these teachings date back a thousand years.

So many generations of people keeping and increasing wisdom and knowledge and gifting it to the next generation.

So really breathing in gratitude for all those different traditions and all the ways we're connected to wisdom and insight and knowledge.

The ways we've grown,

The ways that we are growing and hopefully the ways we are handing off that wisdom and knowledge to others in a way that feels authentic and good.

And taking one last moment to send gratitude to yourself for showing up for a practice.

May you be happy,

May you be well,

May you be safe and protected,

May you live with ease and wellbeing.

Aloha!

Reviews

Beautiful meditation, Megan. Grateful to you for this gift that I’ll come back to many times, I’m sure. 🙏

Beautiful gratitude meditation . Great reminder to count your blessings ! Very grateful to you for this track ! 🙏

Megan 💗 thank you so much !

Beautiful gratitude meditation.

I am grateful for you and for this meditation.

Thank you so much for this beautiful gratitude meditation Megan :)