So this is an introduction into the meditation on appreciation or gratitude.
The idea of this meditation is to try and internalize this emotion or this feeling into our minds.
And there's a lot of confusion about what we mean by appreciation or gratitude.
Some of the wrong ways of thinking about it is that you're trying to be more positive,
You're trying to put a good light on things,
You're trying to change reality to make it sort of more pleasant.
The reality is very different actually.
What we're doing with appreciation and gratitude is through recognition that what we have in our lives is dependent upon others,
Is dependent upon many different factors which are not necessarily ourselves,
Then we come to move away from this negative attitude of self-concern,
Overly self-concerned,
Overly self-obsessed with our own issues and problems and things of this life which only cause us more suffering and mental disturbance.
So the attitude of appreciation or gratitude is moving away from oneself and letting the mind appreciate and move out to others,
Not because that's unreal but because that is the way that we exist.
We exist very much independent upon others.
The majority of things we have in our lives come through the kindness of others,
Our body,
Our education,
Many of the things,
Our food,
Our clothes come through independence upon other living beings and recognizing that,
Appreciating that is not going against reality or trying to put a positive slant on things but is the way things are,
Is very much in tune with reality.
So this meditation on appreciation and gratitude is doing that.
Now this is an analytical meditation rather than a calm abiding one and the way that we approach an analytical meditation is that we analyze,
We think about things in our mind that will be guided in the meditation,
What we're trying to consider and think about.
And when we come to a conclusion or we get a feeling from that analysis then we take that feeling and we give our – we employ our calm abiding or our focus within our minds to stay with that feeling.
And being with that feeling,
Resting with that feeling,
Focusing on that feeling is the way that we internalize the conclusion of our analysis.
So in this case we'll be thinking about the things we have that – of the freedoms we have in our life,
Freedoms from being born in difficult places,
In war-torn places,
In places where there's famine or there's no freedom or difficult situations like that.
We're free of those difficult situations,
That's one aspect.
And we think about the things we do have in terms of being human and being educated,
Being open minded,
Being able to learn new things,
Having the things around us,
The availability of new things which we can learn.
So we think about the freedoms we have in our lives,
We think about the advantages or the endowments we have in our lives and we think about the meaning therefore that our life has,
The potential that this life has.
And we also recognize that having such a life is very rare,
That very few people actually have the life that we have.
Therefore by doing that we come to that conclusion of our analysis,
We get to that sort of feeling of appreciation for what we have,
Of gratitude to others for what we have.
And when we get to that feeling then the way that the analytical meditation works is that we then focus and hold our attention for a few moments upon that feeling and that's the way that this sense of appreciation and gratitude is internalized.
If we can do that,
If we can internalize gratitude and appreciation then life becomes much more special.
Every day becomes more meaningful.
What we realize we can do with our lives is much more meaningful.
And most importantly of all that sense of self-concern and focusing on ourselves in a sense of isolation and separateness from others is broken down because that's the root of unhealth,
Of bad health within our minds is isolation or separation.
And we break away from that by understanding and recognizing,
Showing appreciation and gratitude.
The meditation itself will follow.
Thank you.
