Being Grateful

This meditation is to support you in being grateful,

In cultivating a practice of being grateful.

So I'd like you to make yourself really comfortable.

Make yourself comfortable,

Perhaps even finding a little bit of gratitude for wherever your body is resting.

Just take your time and enjoy the feeling of your breath rising and falling.

And sense how your breath gently passes through your nostrils,

Just brushing along the inside,

Devoting your attention to yourself,

Letting your eyes relax into their sockets.

The eyes can relax into their sockets and it can feel so good to release and let go of any tension that you may be holding in your body.

And as your breath continues to rise and fall,

Letting yourself settle in,

Settle in to this sacred moment.

Just notice if it's possible to be grateful for this breath,

For this amazing opportunity to be alive,

Receiving each breath as a gift.

So gratitude is like a seed that grows into a beautiful flower,

A beautiful plant inside your heart.

So I'd like you to rest your attention in your heart.

And as you breathe,

You can notice the tempo that your heart is beating,

That beat of your heart that tells you that you're alive.

How the pulse of life moves through you.

Sometimes it can be easy to fall into places inside ourselves where we feel down,

Bereft,

And in those moments we can breathe,

Breathe into the fullness of being alive and being able to feel,

Being able to feel.

Breathing into the gift of being human,

This precious lifetime where we get to walk on two legs,

Where we get to experience so many things,

All the different flavors of being alive.

Perhaps you can imagine some delicious food that you enjoy eating,

Imagining what it smells like,

What it looks like,

What it tastes like in your mouth.

And once you're present with the experience of this delicious food that you love to eat and that nourishes you,

Just notice if you can be grateful,

Be grateful for that deliciousness and how it has appeared in your life.

That's right.

Smiling and being grateful for that taste and flavor and texture and how much pleasure it brings you and feeling where you can smile,

Gratefully smile for the existence of this gastronomic delight,

This gift from the earth.

And just noticing what does that feel like in your heart.

Maybe it feels like a warmth or a pulsing,

A lightness or an expansion or anything else.

Where your sensing is just right.

Breathing and basking in this feeling,

In this experience.

And perhaps you can think of someone in your life,

A person or a pet,

Someone who you absolutely adore and who adores you.

Just envisioning this being,

The sound of their voice or any sound that they might make,

How it feels to embrace them.

And once you have this image,

The sense of this being with whom you share mutual love and adoration,

Deep care,

Let that image or that sense rest in your heart and smile into your heart.

Smile at their existence,

At the miracle of knowing them,

Of getting to move through life with them,

Whether it's every day or every so often or even on rare occasions.

And how grateful you feel for this connection.

Taking your time to savor,

Savor their existence in this world and the fact that you get to have an opportunity to adore them and to be adored by them.

And if perhaps there isn't anyone who is still in this world whom you adore,

Maybe they've left this world.

Just feel how much you adored them and you still do and how it was when they were here.

Just being grateful for the time you got to share.

And I wonder if you have a favorite place in nature.

Maybe it's the beautiful old tree that you walk by each day on your way to work.

Maybe it's a patch of grass in a park or in your yard.

Or perhaps you might love seeing the moon at night and the stars.

Or maybe it's the morning sunrise with its array of oranges,

Pinks,

Reds and yellows.

Whatever it is,

I invite you to conjure up a place or a moment where you felt connected to this amazing natural world in which we live,

Which sustains us,

Keeps on giving and giving.

And just see if you can take a deep breath into your heart and be grateful for this moment of sunrise,

Earth,

Grandmother tree,

The moon on a clear night.

The sun as it rises and sets.

The ocean in all of her wildness.

Inhale into your heart and be grateful for these moments of communion with nature.

And then to complete our gratitude practice,

This meditation on gratitude,

Imagine something in the future.

Imagine something that you are already grateful for.

Maybe it's a promotion or a new love or a moment of dancing with your sweetheart or holding your child or curling up with your pet.

Imagine how wonderful it will be,

Whatever it is.

And be grateful in advance because gratitude draws the experience to us.

Yes,

The frequency of gratitude draws it in.

So be grateful.

Be grateful for all that is and all that will be moment by moment.

Be grateful.

Be grateful for your life,

For this breath.

Be grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.