Leaning Into Gratitude

This meditation guides you in leaning into gratitude for the gifts of your life, your loving connections, yourself, and your very existence, discovering as you do a deeper sense of enoughness in what you have and who you are.

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more." ~ Melody Beatty

Transcript

Welcome to this gratitude meditation.

I invite you to begin by gently closing your eyes,

Expressing with this simple gesture your intention to turn aside for a moment from the busyness and concerns of your day and your life,

And to go inside for a little while,

Giving time to what is there,

Giving your attention fully to this present moment.

With your eyes closed,

Let your awareness turn to your body and notice the natural rhythm of your breathing.

Notice if it is easy or hard to do this,

Just notice.

Take a deep breath in and then exhale.

Now take another even deeper breath.

Hold it for a moment and then let it go with a really long exhale.

Now take the deepest breath you will take all day,

Filling up as full as you can inside with fresh air.

Hold the breath for a moment and then breathe out fully,

A really long exhale,

Breathing out every last drop of air and letting go as you do of any tension in your body.

Return now to the natural unaltered rhythm of your breath and notice how your body feels to have breathed long and deep and full for just a few moments and to have let go a little.

Notice your body.

Notice that you are here,

That you are alive in this moment.

This moment did not have to be,

But it is.

This moment is a gift.

It is a gift to be alive right here and now,

To be able to spend time in this way.

Resting in this moment,

Consider the reality that gratitude sometimes arises in us spontaneously but is not always natural or easy.

There is so much that is hard in the world and in our own and others' lives.

We may long for more gratitude but feel as if it's beyond our reach as more challenging feelings loom large.

Or gratitude may seem naively blind to things that are painful,

Perhaps even like a betrayal of all that is wrong in the world and all that we want to see change.

These feelings and thoughts can offer important perspectives that need to be honoured and learned from.

But unless we are attentive and careful,

They might also keep us from cultivating deeper gratitude and from experiencing the way that gratitude builds within us resilience for all that life brings and with it the strength,

Openness,

Joy and perspective that we need to keep making a difference in the world.

So let's lean into gratitude for a few moments now.

Let's allow it to reveal to us the many gifts in our lives and the gifts of this present moment itself.

Let's take another deep breath in and exhale.

Now think back over your past week,

Recalling anything that has brought you joy,

Happiness or pleasure recently.

There may be significant events or small passing moments,

Things that feel like momentous gifts,

Hard to forget or small things that would be easy to miss but that nevertheless enriched your life.

There is no wrong or right here and no pressure to think of anything straight away.

Just take your time to let your memory roam freely over your week and slowly let some of the gifts of the week,

Big and small,

Gently rise into your awareness.

When something arises let your attention rest there for a while,

Perhaps filling in some details with your memory or remembering the feeling of joy or pleasure you experienced.

Maybe feeling those good feelings again now.

Let gratitude grow inside you for the simple or significant gifts of your week,

Of your life.

Give gratitude some room,

Say yes to it.

Now as if you are breathing in gratitude,

Take a deep breath and then a long breath out,

As if you are breathing gratitude out into the world.

Again,

Breathe in gratitude deeply,

Let it flow throughout your body and then breathe it out into the world as a way of expressing it or giving it to those who need it the most.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Now think of a person in your life who you love and who loves you.

Again,

There is no wrong or right.

Just take your time and let someone rise into your awareness.

Then allow yourself to imagine this person,

Perhaps visually,

Or the feeling of them,

Of being with them,

Perhaps hearing them speak in your imagination.

In whatever way works for you,

Bring them to mind and recall who this person is to you.

Times you have shared together.

Conversation,

Laughter,

Love.

What you love about them and how they love you.

Notice what it feels like to remember this person and to remember their love for you and your love for them.

Let your gratitude for them grow inside you.

Take a moment now to remember what it is that this person loves and enjoys about you and about being with you.

What are just a few of your particular qualities or gifts or ways of being with them that this person appreciates in you?

And that maybe you can see more clearly in yourself when you are with them.

Remember this person's gratitude for you,

Who you are and simply that you are.

And let it become your own gratitude for yourself.

Can you see what they see?

Can you be grateful for who you are?

Grateful simply that you are?

In this moment,

Know that you are loved,

Cherished and appreciated.

Rest in gentle awareness of the giftedness of your life.

Having become aware of some of the gifts of your week,

The gift of someone who you love and who loves you and the gift of yourself.

Let gratitude grow in you now for all of this.

For yourself,

For your existence and for the loving,

Life giving relationships and connections in your life.

Notice what gratitude feels like in your body and maybe where in the body you feel it.

Does it feel warm or light?

Spacious or soft?

Expansive or strong or something else?

Take a few moments to notice what gratitude feels like to you in this moment and to really feel it.

Sink into it.

Savor it.

Now take a deep breath.

Breathing gratitude into every little corner of your body,

Mind,

Heart,

Spirit and then breathe it out slowly.

Wordlessly expressing the gratitude you carry inside you.

Again take a deep breath of gratitude,

Saying yes to it inside you and for you and then breathe it out into the world,

Offering it also to others.

Now rest in the natural rhythm of your breathing,

Noticing how the body breathes itself without any help from you.

Let this natural rhythm be a breathing in and out of gratitude.

And listen to what Melody Beatty says about gratitude.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough and more.

Gratitude turns what we have into enough and more.

Gratitude turns who we are into enough and more.

Because we are already enough and this moment right here and now is already enough and gratitude helps us to see this and say yes to it and savor it.

As we come towards the end of this meditation,

Notice if you have any deeper sense of enoughness inside you.

If you do,

Just enjoy it now,

Relish it.

If you don't,

Trust that it is there for you to continue to discover and sink into in time.

Whatever you have felt,

Noticed or expressed during this time and whatever you haven't is okay and more than okay.

Close this meditation by simply expressing your gratitude for this time and what it has been for you.

Perhaps with silent words inside or maybe with a small gesture of thanks.

Like a hand on your heart or a gently bowed head.

Like prayer hands or open palms.

In whatever way you like,

Just say a simple thank you.

Consider how you might continue to express gratitude and love to those around you.

Carrying on breathing out into the world what you have breathed in.

Then in your own time,

Very gently and slowly,

Bring your awareness back outside.

And when you are ready,

Quietly open your eyes.

Welcoming yourself into the rest of your day with all the gifts it still has to offer you and all the gifts you still have to offer to the world.

Reviews

Thank You.
A gift you are.!

Thank you for this meditation. It made me smile and cry tears of joy. Exactly what I needed. Thank you 🙏♥️

What a beautiful, heartfelt and soothing meditation! Thank you for a wonderful way to begin my day and to connect with gratitude and light. I I'm so very grateful for your words.