Building Hope Through Gratitude The crisis makes the world seem pretty dark and hopeless.
Still countless acts of kindness,
Goodness,
Heroism are happening every day in your community and there is much to be grateful for and hope for.
In this meditation you will build hope through a gratitude practice.
This is Suresh and we will do a practice called Naikan.
The practice of Naikan comprises reflecting upon three questions.
What have I received?
What have I given?
And what troubles and difficulties have I caused?
You can sit comfortably with your back and neck straight.
If you prefer to lie down,
Make sure you have support such as a pillow beneath your neck and knees.
Now take a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through your nose and exhaling out of the mouth with a ha sound.
Let's try it.
Last time.
Now start to scan your body for any tightness and gently send your breath into that area.
Consider that there are many things for which to be grateful.
You might be grateful that you are alive,
Breathing and listening to these words.
Now consider the question,
What have I received?
The answer could be as simple as a smile on a recent Zoom meeting or someone emailing or calling or messaging to check on you and provide you some resources.
Or it could be something more complex.
For example,
You might be grateful for being able to eat a fruit,
Thankful to the tree that produced it and the string of frontline workers who made the fruit available in the store for you to purchase or an Instacart employee delivering it to your home.
Now let's take the next two minutes to reflect on this question.
What have I received?
There's no right or wrong answer,
Everything that comes to you.
And if you're getting distracted,
Come back to that question,
What have I received?
And start to wrap up your reflection and bring your attention back to the breath.
Now,
Consider the following question.
What have I given?
Again,
Comb through your day and reflect on your action.
Your answer could be as simple as making tea for your family or taking your dog for a walk or feeding your cat or taking care of your father.
Or it could be a specific action such as motivating a friend to go on a run or sharing your favorite recipe with your network or even posting a picture of your view from the window for others to see.
Or maybe it could be something that's even having a bigger impact such as a volunteering activity you engaged in,
Using 3D printer to make face shields for healthcare worker or doing a direct donation to a social justice cause or to a migrant family.
Now,
Let's take the next two minutes to reflect on this question.
What have I given?
And the more specific you can think of,
Try to picture that very moment that that action happened.
You can let that reflection go and start to focus again on your breath.
Finally,
Consider the following question.
What troubles and difficulty have I caused?
We often think of the trouble and inconveniences others have caused us.
But what inconveniences have we caused others?
Maybe you forgot to wash your hands before opening the fridge.
Or maybe you burnt that sandwich.
Or you arrived late to an online meeting and kept others waiting.
Try to be specific and avoid judgment.
Let's take the next minute to reflect on the question,
What troubles and difficulty have I caused?
You can let that reflection go.
Start to notice your breath.
And you can end this practice with a message of gratitude for simply being able to ask,
Answer and reflect upon these questions.
Thank you for joining me today.
This is the sixth and the last in the series that I created for this crisis.
I hope you found all of them beneficial.
I'm also making the electronic copy of my book available for free for anyone during this crisis.
