Hello and welcome to this meditation on gratitude.
Gratitude is a wonderful gift that can be nurtured and developed through the practice of being mindful and more connected to the present moment.
So as we begin,
Take a moment to just settle in and get comfortable and allow your body to be at ease.
And as you're settling into your body and being present with your breath,
I'll share this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
He said,
Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you and to give thanks continuously because all things have contributed to your achievement.
So as you settle in and you're in this quiet and comfortable place,
Take a moment to close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
See if you can relax any tension in your body.
Noticing if there's tension in your shoulders,
Your forehead,
Your eyes,
Any parts of your face that you can relax and let go a little bit more.
Any tension in the throat or neck.
And just scan your body down to the arms and the legs and the feet.
And just noticing in the back as well as the tummy.
Just allowing everything to be more relaxed and comfortable and at ease.
And then you can bring your awareness back to the breath.
See if you can just slow the breath down,
Breathing slowly and gently.
And as you settle into your body and being present with your breath,
I'd like to share a couple of things on gratitude before we actually step into the practice of gratitude.
Because I think it's important to remember that we're not trying to conjure up a feeling of gratitude necessarily,
But more it's a practice of acknowledging.
The research done by Dr.
Robert Emmons points to this,
That as gratitude is an acknowledgment,
It's a practice of acknowledging the goodness in one's life.
It's more of a state than a feeling.
And it's an acknowledgment that we have received something that is supporting us or helpful to us.
And second is that gratitude is not only acknowledging but recognizing.
So paying recognition to that source outside of you or that someone outside of you.
So we can be grateful to other people,
To animals and the world around us,
To the universe.
And if you believe in a higher power,
You can be grateful for that higher power.
So these two stages of gratitude comprise of the recognition of the goodness in our lives and then how this goodness came to us,
Externally,
Came to us.
In this way,
You can bring your attention to something that you are grateful for,
Something that you could acknowledge,
Such as your breath.
And in this moment,
You might offer a simple expression of gratitude,
Such as,
Thank you.
Remember,
There's no one right way to do this.
So we're not trying to have some feeling of gratitude,
But more of an act.
It's an inner act of noticing,
Acknowledging,
And recognizing.
So it might be something simple like the nature that is around you,
Or even the structure,
The home,
The building that you're in,
In this moment,
Or the surface beneath you.
You might reflect on an act of kindness,
A kind word,
Or a deed that came to you from someone else.
You might offer a thank you.
You might think of a meaningful pet or animal in your life and offer a thank you.
And of course,
These are just prompts.
If it doesn't feel good to focus on something that we mentioned here today,
Don't worry about it.
You might bring to mind someone who is close to you,
A family member or friend.
You might just acknowledge them for a moment for being in your life.
You might also think back to individuals from your past who have helped you.
And maybe there was someone along the way who gave you encouragement or some type of support.
So you might acknowledge them and give a thank you for that person.
Again,
Remembering that there's no wrong or right way to do this.
And if something doesn't feel good to focus on,
If it is potentially challenging to have gratitude for something,
Say if you have some difficult physical issues,
Some health challenges,
And it's hard to find gratitude for your body in this moment,
That's okay.
Just see if you can practice focusing and bringing an awareness to those things that you can acknowledge and willingly give recognition for.
All right,
So when you're ready,
You can just take another deep breath or two and slowly open your eyes.
And I hope you can continue to practice gratitude throughout your day today,
Just recognizing,
Acknowledging those gifts and blessings that you have.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
