Dear friends,
Welcome to this meditation which is designed to lead you on a grateful walk down memory lane.
I hope it will leave you relaxed and leave you with a feeling of thankfulness.
It will help you recall many of the good things which have accompanied you on your journey of life.
But first we must take a moment or two to come into this wonderful present moment.
This is a momentary stopping point between past and future.
Point in time where everything happens.
So see if you can find a comfortable place where you'll be less likely to be disturbed.
Close your eyes for a second or two as you take in a mindful breath.
Take the opportunity to look within.
Breathing in and out,
Just notice in gratitude the fact that you are here,
Alive and aware in this present moment.
Simply breathing in,
Simply breathing out,
In grateful appreciation of the here and the now.
This is from Slow Me Down by Wilfred A.
Peterson.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal march of time.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Give me amid the confusion of the day the calmness of the eternal hills.
Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values so that I may grow towards the stars of my greater destiny.
Now let us take a step back in time to the time of our childhood.
Look back on the people who loved us and cared for us in our earliest days.
People who took care of us,
Played with us,
Had fun with us,
Who were with us as we started to walk and talk.
The Santa Claus people of our early years.
Let's relax for a while in the happy memory of these people and their kindnesses.
Then we went through the rite of passage and the difficulties and the doubts of adolescence.
In these times there were people who were close to us and helped us through the ups and downs of those days.
There were times when we thought we knew it all,
Other times when we had the greatest of doubts,
But we made it true.
Let's spend a while thinking of the people who put up with us and helped us to get through this necessary,
Sometimes painful passage into adulthood.
School days over,
Working lives beginning,
New relationships,
Moving out of home,
Maybe establishing families of our own.
As the song puts it,
Those were the days my friend.
We thought they'd never end.
We'd sing and dance forever and a day.
Think of the people and the circumstances that supported us as we set out into the brave new world of adulthood.
Next we take a little time to think about our benefactors of recent times,
The people who support us even now,
People whose care and love for us is so unquestioned that we might even take them for granted.
Just now let us remedy that by giving thanks for the good people,
The reliable people and the good things that surround us day by day.
Let's relax in a moment of appreciation for our life in general,
The fact that we are here,
The fact that there is anything rather than nothing.
The wonder of our existence is a cause for endless gratitude.
We can ask ourselves why anything and then why me?
Having been so inundated with goodness and blessings,
What can we do but resolve to offer kindness and care in return?
So let us now resolve to be fun and delight to the young,
Reassurance to those enduring growing pains,
Support to people generally,
Especially as health and fitness gives way to older age.
Let us be a help to people as they struggle to let go.
Constant change and letting go are facts of life that all of us must learn.
We must learn to accept this and in doing so we can be helped by the support of others.
Let helping others be our mission in life.
Let's take a moment of quiet as we near the conclusion of this reflection.
Just close our eyes,
Notice our breathing,
Notice any sounds in the world around us.
Breathe out a sigh of happy contentment for all these good recollections before we return to the work of the day.
A thought before our closing bell.
I expect to pass through this world but once.
Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature.
Let me do it now.
Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.
Thank you for joining in this period of reflection.
May your every activity be inspired by a feeling of gratitude for all the good things of your life.
May you find your life filled with ever more reasons for gratitude.
Namaste.
You
