Embodying Gratitude - A Guided Daily Practice

Embodying Gratitude is a guided daily practice that enables you to really feel the powerful emotional energy of gratitude in your body. If done daily, it can increase your ability to feel gratitude at any moment, to help you overcome challenges and increase joy and abundance.

This practice uses the Integral 4 Quadrant lense as a background frame for exploring gratitude from multiple perspectives (IT, ITS & WE) and ultimately combining them into a powerful felt experience in your interior ("I")

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Peter Dawson and thank you for joining me today in my daily practice of gratitude.

Before we start the practice,

I'd just like you to notice how you're feeling right now and for you to give it a label and if possible write that down.

And I'd also like you to notice how intense that feeling is and give that a score between zero and ten,

Where zero would be,

It's almost imperceptible and ten would be the most intense sensation you've ever had.

So make sure you're sitting comfortably and that your body is well supported.

Let any distractions that there may be just flow past you,

Flow through you.

There will always be distractions,

Part of the practice is just to let them go.

Now I invite you to just take three easy rhythmic breaths.

Now I invite you to bring to mind three things that have happened in the last 24 hours that you are grateful for.

These may be small or they may be big and they may be things that you have done or things that have happened or things that you have.

If you find yourself currently in a challenging period or in tough times,

Then start really small.

Focus on the simplest things that you can be grateful for.

It may be that you have a seat right now.

It may be you've just had a warm drink or that you've just enjoyed some good food.

We can express gratitude for the sleep we may have enjoyed no matter how small or the moments of rest that we have had,

Including this time that we are giving to ourselves for this practice.

In addition to the things outside of us,

We can be grateful for the things that happen inside of us.

Some of those amazing things that happen with almost no input from us,

Such as our heart beating,

Our lungs taking in the air,

Our eyes that can see,

Our ears that can hear,

The blood pumping through our body,

Keeping us alive.

This remarkable system we call our body-mind works incredibly hard,

24 hours a day,

7 days a week.

It enables us to enjoy and do and see so many things.

It operates,

Grows and repairs itself with almost no conscious input from us.

Our body-mind enables us to solve complex problems,

Communicate,

Think,

Feel and experience all the joys of the world.

For so many different things in our life,

Some big,

Some small,

No matter what it is that you are bringing to mind,

I want you to bring the image to mind with vivid colours,

Hear the sounds,

The smells that go with whatever it is you are expressing gratitude for.

I want you to notice where in your body you are feeling that gratitude,

Where is the warmth within your body,

Feel the warmth of the gratitude flow.

What does it feel like in your heart right now?

What does it feel like in your solar plexus?

What is the sensations that you are experiencing?

Where is the energy of this gratitude flowing through you,

Within you?

Notice and enjoy the feeling and notice it get larger,

More intense.

Notice the energy flowing around your body.

Once you've thought of three things that you are grateful for,

I'd now like you to think of a place that you are grateful,

That you have been,

That you are in or that you are going to.

See that place vividly in your mind.

Feel the gratitude for the beauty or the joy that it brings.

Feel grateful for the opportunity to have been there.

It may have been a particular place of beauty or it may be a particular place of importance to you.

Could be somewhere where something amazing happened.

We can be grateful that we've been in nature.

Maybe we've been on the coast or in the ocean.

Maybe we've been in a woodland or a forest,

In the countryside or the mountains.

Or maybe we've been in a town or a city and enjoyed the culture,

The architecture and the vibrancy.

We can express gratitude for the place where we work,

Where we live,

Where we meet friends.

Think of whatever place is important to you,

That you have been to recently,

That you are grateful for.

Now notice the feeling of the energy of that gratitude in your body.

Notice its temperature.

Notice where it's travelling to and where it's travelling from.

How does it flow through your body?

Just feel it.

Feel the energy of the gratitude flowing through your body.

Notice the energy flow through your heart,

Through your solar plexus.

Feel it running down your legs to your feet and back up through the centre of your body past your heart,

Up into your head,

Into your shoulders,

Down your arms,

Into your hands.

Feel the lightness,

Feel the warmth.

Enjoy the deep feeling of gratitude.

Now I would like you to bring to mind three different people who in the last 24 hours have done something for you or with you or given you something for which you are grateful.

Again it may be big,

It may be small.

It may be as deep and as powerful as giving you unconditional love or it may have been a kind smile from a stranger as you walked down the street.

Just bring to mind those people who have played an important part in your life in the last day or so.

It may be a family member,

It could be a friend,

A work colleague or a total stranger.

Maybe somebody expressed their kindness,

Somebody helped you at work or somebody was just there for you in an open and supportive way.

Feel the gratitude for that person.

Feel the gratitude for them deeply.

As you feel the energy flow through your body,

See if you can imagine or feel that energy flow from you towards them and into their hearts.

Feel the gratitude flow through you and towards them.

It's literally the gift of gratitude from you to them.

Simply for being in your life,

Simply saying thank you for their love,

Their support,

Their act of kindness.

Now see those people together in the same place.

See the gratitude flowing from you towards them.

Now in your mind's eye,

See those people in your place that you were offering gratitude for visiting earlier.

Let the power of the gratitude for the place and the people intertwine.

Feel that in your body as the intensity of the gratitude increases.

And now as you see them and feel the gratitude for the people and the place,

Bring to your mind's eye the things that happened,

The things that you did that you were grateful for.

Combine them into one vivid scene.

See the bright colors,

Hear the sounds,

Note the smells.

Notice the sensations flowing through your body.

Feel the sensations that you felt then.

Feel the gratitude increase and flow as these things combine together with the people in the place that you are grateful for.

And recognize that all of these things are coming together in a unique moment,

A moment that will never look exactly the same as it does right now,

And just revel and enjoy the feeling of the uniqueness of this moment of gratitude.

Really feel that flow through your body.

Now let's just take a minute to really enjoy that sense of gratitude.

I'll keep an eye on the time.

Now gently bring your attention back to your rhythmic breath.

And start to notice the sounds in the space around you.

Open your eyes and notice exactly how you feel right now and give that a label.

And give it a score of 10.

And notice how that's changed from when you started this practice to now.

I invite and encourage you to try this practice every day.

Practicing feeling,

Truly feeling gratitude is not only incredibly enjoyable but massively beneficial for you,

Your well-being,

Your emotional health and your mental health.

It brings us greater connection to the things that truly matter to us,

The people that matter to us and the places that matter to us.

And over time we find we are more present to those things,

Those people,

Those places when we are there.

And that presence literally increases our Troy and our experience of life and increases our gratitude for those moments.

And so we can enjoy a virtuous cycle of gratitude and joy and ease.

So thank you for joining me in this daily practice and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you.

Reviews

Wooowww!!! Truly amazing!! THANK YOU!!!!! 🙏🏻⭐️🙏🏻⭐️

Ahhhmazing Thanks 🙏

Oh my what a wonderful meditation . I try daily to practice being great full, really started working with this a couple years ago. Not that I wasn’t before but really feeling it. It’s amazing how much calmer , kinder and more patient I am.
This was just a great reminder for me to continue and really appreciate everything/ everyone
each day. Thank you for this beautiful practice. 🙏🏻💕

So appreciative, much needed. So much to be thankful and grateful for, an excellent reminder.

Beautiful 🌈
Very powerful especially now during our winter lockdown.
I’m very grateful.

One of the best meditations I have participated in. Brought true emotions and gratitude to my heart.❤️🥰🙏🏻 Namaste

Amazingly profound. These meditation brought calm, tears of gratitude and a sense of trust in the goodness of life. Thank you for creating this beautiful practice that I plan to use often.

What a wonderful meditation to start the day!

I really loved this practice! Crossing my path with you was one Of the things that came up to be grateful for. Many blessings and Much Love, Peace and Joy in your Life 🙏