Hello and I welcome you to this guided journey of gratitude and love.
You have just taken a step towards happiness and I am so happy to have you here.
My name is Nayanika Hira and I honour your presence here.
And in this meditation we will be creating our own mental garden of love.
This practice will help you to nurture the good relationships in your life.
But why do we need to nurture relationships after all?
The answer lies in a study.
The Harvard Grant study followed 268 Harvard undergraduates for about 75 years,
Collecting piles of data about them along the way in order to answer one single question,
What makes us happy?
And they found a single factor that reliably predicted the quality of the participant's life.
And that was their relationships.
Participants could have every other external mark of success.
Money,
A thriving career,
Good health,
But if they did not have loving relationships,
They were not happy.
Hence,
Today I invite you to set an intention of honouring the people in your life through this practice.
Before we begin,
Please take a moment to sit or lie down comfortably in a quiet space.
Take your time to settle yourself.
Now gently close your eyes and take three deep breaths.
Breathe in deeply and let it all out with a sigh.
Release all physical,
Emotional and mental tension.
Now breathe in again and breathe out.
Notice if you feel tension anywhere in the body and let your body be loose there.
Lastly,
Breathe in again,
The deepest that you ever had.
Hold it and now let it all out.
Allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm as you take a bit of time to settle into the space around you,
Becoming more aware of how you feel right now,
What emotions are coming up for you.
No judgments here.
Simply observe whatever is coming up and see your thoughts like a leaf and watch them pass down the river stream one by one.
It is absolutely okay if your mind wanders,
Gently bring your attention back to the breath.
Focus where you can feel your breath the most.
Is it the stomach,
The nostrils,
The throat or the chest?
Breathe in once again and breathe out.
Great work so far.
Now we call ourselves back from all times,
All places and all spaces and just be here together in this present moment.
Let us now dive into the visualization.
Imagine that you are in a garden,
The most beautiful one you have ever seen.
See the clouds,
The trees,
The flowers,
The swings and the grass.
Notice the colors there.
Now imagine that every entity of this garden represents a loved one in your life on the basis of the role that they hold or the role that they are playing in your life.
Hence,
One by one I shall be calling out every entity of your garden and describing the role of different things in the garden.
Think of what person in your life plays that role for you.
Let us start with the sun.
The sun has been there for 4.
6 billion years.
The sun gives light and removes darkness.
The sun also provides warmth.
If you remember the comfort,
Safety and affection you feel when the winter sun touches your cold body and bones,
That's what sun feels like.
Who is someone in your life who brings light amidst darkness for you?
Visualize that person,
Mentally thank that person and say thank you for being the sun in the garden of my life.
Because no matter what the sun is always there.
No matter how dark it is today,
The sun will rise again tomorrow,
Forever and everyday.
Let us now look at the pond.
Water represents calmness and coolness.
Who represents the lake or the pond in your life?
Let us now move ahead in this beautiful garden.
Look,
There is a sign board.
This sign board directs you to the right path of the huge garden.
Who is your sign board in real?
Who is someone who protects you,
Guides you with the right kind of advice whenever you need it?
Mentally thank them.
Keep breathing in and breathing out.
Now imagine that you see a huge tree with thousands of leaves rooted deeply in the soil.
This tree gives you shade.
This tree gives you oxygen and peace.
It is hard to move or break this tree.
Who is your tree in real life?
Try to visualize the face of that person and think about all the beautiful memories that you have made with them till now.
Mentally thank them.
And now you see birds flying freely in the sky.
Who is someone who makes you feel free and safe to be yourself?
How beautiful is your garden of love?
Thoroughly enjoying the walk,
You move ahead and you find swings.
Swings bringing fun.
Who is someone who makes you feel happy and helps you have a little fun in your life?
Maybe this is the person with whom you laugh the most or this is the person with whom you enjoy doing fun activities with.
Take a moment and think about such people in your life.
Just beside the swings,
You notice a bunch of yellow flowers.
Yellow stands for happiness and optimism.
Who are some people in your life which are just like the color yellow?
Next to the yellow flowers,
You see red flowers.
The color red stands for energy and being driven and being passionate.
Who are the people who motivate you to be your best?
After walking so much and exploring this beautiful garden,
You sit on the park bench.
This park bench gives you comfort,
Safety and peace after a long journey.
Who represents the park bench in real life?
Isn't it beautiful to look at this garden?
Now think about your experience after this activity.
How do you feel?
Did you gain any new insight?
Feel free to come back to this garden anytime.
Feel free to share this with others and create a ripple effect of love.
If you want,
You can also doodle or draw something like that and share it with others.
Thank you for the beautiful work you did today.
