A Loving-Appreciation Meditation

This is a variation of the well known Loving Kindness practice in the form of a Loving Appreciation Meditation where we enter moments of quiet reflection and then allow time to express gratitude for the people in our lives and all the benefits with which we are blessed. Interval music is "Peaceful Morning" by Narek Mirzaei of Music of Wisdom

Transcript

Dear friends,

In this meditation I offer you a variation on the loving-kindness type of meditation with which you may be already familiar.

But instead of issuing love and kindness to ourselves and to other people,

We are going instead to issue a type of loving appreciation for all the many good things that we have to be thankful for.

We all have needs and we all have wants,

And sometimes we confuse one with the other.

Maybe having all we need,

Not having all we want,

And therefore not appreciating that all our needs are satisfied every single day.

That is to say most of the time.

So for our first act of loving appreciation we have to give thanks for the fact that we are here.

This is not something to be taken for granted.

It's so obvious that we are here that sometimes we don't stop to think of how wonderful it is that this is the case.

By some extraordinary circumstance each one of us came to be.

It might be thought that these were very ordinary circumstances.

After all we each have a father and we each have a mother.

And children are often the result of a male and female relationship.

But isn't our own existence really amazing?

Biologically speaking there are hundreds of thousands,

If not millions,

Of alternative people who could have come to birth in place of ourselves even with the same parents.

So in our first one minute pause for reflection we are going to give thanks for the simple fact that we are here.

For some extraordinary reason the universe has given birth to us.

In a way it can be said that the universe is expressing itself in us and through us.

Nothing we can do or say can ever adequately repay that gift.

But at least let us be thankful for the fact that we are here.

Our mantra for this part is I am grateful to be here and now.

If we take time to meditate with this gratitude mantra it will help us to become grounded.

We'll appreciate the present moment.

It will help us to reduce,

Maybe remove any stress.

It will put the to-do list into perspective.

It will turn off our tendency to operate on autopilot.

And it will help us to anchor ourselves in the here and the now.

So our first mantra and our first one minute pause.

I am grateful to be here.

I am grateful to be here.

I am grateful to be here.

Welcome back.

Our next pause is to give thanks for our parents.

Now hopefully most of us will have had loving parents but that is not always the case.

But even so our parents are the reason that we are here.

Without our parents we wouldn't have come into being.

In this part of the meditation we want to offer thoughts of love and appreciation for the fact that we have had,

And maybe luckily still have,

Parents.

Insofar as they were kind and loving parents we give special thanks for that.

Insofar as we feel that they fell short,

Fell short of what they might have done or should have done for us,

We offer forgiveness.

We make allowances because can any of us know what we would have done if we had been in their shoes coping with their circumstances.

If our parents are still alive this is our opportunity to make a resolution to be kind to them.

Having our parents still around when we are adults is such a special gift.

Anyone who is missing a parent would do well to listen to the song Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross.

Have a listen to it.

It's a wonderful song.

So our mantra for this part,

I am grateful for who I am.

This mantra reminds us to be thankful for the fact that we are ourselves and to be grateful for what we have become as persons.

This existence of ours is all thanks to the people who brought us into this world.

So I am grateful for who I am.

I am grateful for who I am.

One minute pause.

One minute pause.

Welcome back.

In the next stage we'll give thanks for people who are part of our family or extended family.

People in this category will be husbands,

Wives,

Partners,

Brothers,

Sisters,

Children,

Nephews,

Nieces,

The list goes on.

We give thanks for the fact that these people are part of our lives.

We feel a sense of gratitude,

A sense of gratefulness for any of these people who have inspired us,

Encouraged us,

Helped to keep us on the right track.

And we extend a big thank you to them all.

May they all be well.

And may we continue to appreciate the fact that they are part of our lives.

Our mantra this time,

I am grateful for my family.

I am grateful for my family.

One minute pause.

One minute pause.

One minute pause.

Welcome back again.

Outside our family we have friends and acquaintances that we need to appreciate.

We are all social beings to some extent,

Even the most shy and returning amongst.

All our lives are enriched by the contact that we have with other people.

We would be so much the poorer if any of these people were absent from our lives.

So we give thanks for these people.

We resolve to look out for them in good times and in bad.

This is what friends are for.

And we have to remember too,

That in order to have friends,

We ourselves need to be genuine friends in the first place.

Our mantra this time will be,

I feel gratitude for my friends.

By looking out for the blessing of friends in our lives,

We open a space where we can notice all the good things that we have going for us.

If we make this space for gratitude,

We can bring all these good people to mind on the days when we feel a little bit down,

A little bit under the weather.

And we know that that happens to us,

Happens to us some of the time,

Hopefully not too often.

And so our mantra,

I feel grateful for my friends.

I feel grateful for my friends.

A one minute pause.

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.

Welcome back again.

Our next pause will be to express appreciation for all the usually invisible people whose work makes a difference to our lives.

The people whose work brings us electricity,

Gas,

Fuel,

Food,

Water.

We may never see or know these people,

But if they didn't turn up for work day after day,

Think how different our lives would be.

Think of the farmers who produce the food,

The people who harvest and store and pack the food.

The people who transport food so that it reaches the shops,

Where all we have to do is to stretch up or down to find it on the shelf.

And we can do that so unthinkingly.

We call to mind also people working to provide the public services that we don't notice until something goes wrong.

We don't give it a second thought when everything sails along,

But when it goes wrong,

We find it so easy to moan and complain.

We remember people working in hospitals,

Doctors,

Nurses,

Support staff,

Ambulance drivers.

Hopefully we may seldom need these people,

But when we are in trouble,

Isn't it wonderful to know that they are there ready to come to our aid?

And then there are the more visible people that we encounter in the course of our days and our weeks.

People delivering post,

Collecting the bins,

Cleaning our roads and footpaths,

Fixing our traffic lights.

And all the people whose work comes to us at the touch of a switch.

Think of news readers,

People giving out the weather forecast,

Entertainers,

Singers,

Actors,

Filmmakers.

All these people are making life a little easier and more enjoyable for all of us.

We hold all these people and other people like them in our thoughts and we give thanks for all that they do for us.

For this we use the mantra,

I feel gratitude for the invisible people who support the life that I live.

Another one minute pass.

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Welcome back.

Next we stop to briefly consider the wonders of the natural world.

Think of the earth,

The dawn,

The sunset,

Daylight,

The moon and stars at night.

Water and land,

Animals and plants and birds.

So much beauty surrounding us and so many reasons for gratitude.

Think of the seasons,

Each with its own individual beauty.

Our mantra for this section will be,

I am grateful for the earth and its seasons.

Just think of earth asleep in winter,

New life emerging in spring,

The glory of summer and the amazing colours of autumn.

The changing seasons remind us of the different stages of our own lives.

They encourage us to notice the beauty of each of these stages.

The inevitability of change teaches us to accept change as it comes.

It reminds us that after each shower there's always the sunshine.

So our mantra for this next one minute pause.

I am grateful for the earth and its seasons.

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Welcome back again.

And we remember too that the beauty of the world extends beyond the purely natural world.

People have made a huge difference to the world as well.

Admittedly,

Not all our interventions have been good.

But look at the wonderful achievements of science,

Making us more aware of the world and its wonders.

Telescopes allowing us to see the most distant stars and galaxies.

So far away that the light we see has left those places years,

Centuries and even millennia ago.

Microscopes allowing us to see things that are far below the limit of our sight.

Even subatomic particles.

Amazing.

And what about the wonderful examples of architecture,

Art and music and so much more.

And the inventions that allow us to see parts of the world that we could never hope to visit.

You can log on to the likes of HAGO and be brought on a live walking tour of some of the most remote places on earth.

Inventions like this allow the possibility of an online meditation such as this.

Here we are encouraging one another.

United by technology.

A technology which would have been dreamt about only a few short years ago.

So even as we rightly worry about the impact which humanity has had on the natural world,

We have to give thanks for all that humanity has achieved.

We must hope that the knowledge that we have acquired and the technology we have at our disposal will help us to take steps to remedy the problems facing the earth as a result of our being here.

Our mantra for this section will be,

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

This mantra reminds us that we are enough.

That we have enough.

And that very often we may have much more than we need.

It comes back to noticing the difference between needs and desires.

We need to take the time to think about this so that we can put the desires in second place and better realise that most of the time our needs have been met.

This mantra is a reminder that what we have is truly enough.

The mantra is,

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

I look around and I am beyond blessed.

Welcome back.

I would like to end this meditation with some thoughts coming from the Native American tradition.

It's a well accepted fact that in that tradition there is an exceptional relationship with nature and gratitude for the gift of life.

There is this natural unity with the earth.

The words coming to us from the Native American tradition encourage peace and harmony.

They teach us that peace requires gratitude.

So we are to be thankful for the living world.

Because our relationship to the earth is the basis of our sustenance and our peacefulness.

These are words from the Six Nations Indian Museum and the Tracking Project.

Mother Earth connects us to a perpetual process of creation.

And she continues to provide all we need to be happy and healthy.

The quote goes on,

Nearly every social,

Cultural and political event that takes place at the Onondaga Nation begins and ends with what are called the words that come before all others.

These words that come before all others are known as the Thanksgiving address.

The Thanksgiving address concentrates our minds and gratitude on what nature provides.

The address acknowledges the people,

Earth,

Waters,

Plants,

Animals,

Birds,

Bushes,

Trees,

Winds,

Sun,

Moon,

Stars,

As well as the unseen spiritual forces.

It reminds us of all the connections there are between human beings and other living beings in the world.

It's a wonderful reflection in its own right.

And this is how the Thanksgiving address begins.

The people.

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue.

We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.

So now we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

And it goes on,

The Earth Mother.

We are all thankful to our Mother the Earth,

For she gives us all that we need for life.

She supports her feet as we walk upon her.

It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time.

To our Mother we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

And the Thanksgiving address goes on to recite many of the things that we are to be grateful for.

The waters,

The fish,

The plants,

The food plants,

The medicine herbs,

The animals,

Trees,

Birds,

The four winds,

Lightning and thunder,

The sun,

And then what is described as Grandmother Moon,

The stars,

The enlightened teachers,

And finally the creator,

Where these are the words that are offered.

Now we turn our thoughts to the creator,

Our Great Spirit,

And send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of creation.

Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth.

For all the love that is still around us,

We gather our minds together as one,

And send our choicest words of greeting and thanks to the creator.

Now our minds are one.

And the Thanksgiving address ends with these closing words.

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words.

Of all the things we have named,

It was not our intention to leave anything out.

If something was forgotten,

We leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.

So what I've given you there is a summary of the Thanksgiving address from Six Nations Indian Museum and the Tracking Project.

This is another reminder of the importance of celebrating all that we have and giving thanks for all of it.

Let's have a final one minute pause for reflection before our final prayer.

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Welcome back.

To end this meditation I have found a prayer.

It's called May We Look With Gratitude Upon This Day.

And it was written by Michael R.

Lettuck.

May we look with gratitude upon this day for the beauty of the world,

For the first radiance of dawn and the last smouldering glow of sunset.

Let us be thankful for physical joys,

For hills to climb and hard work to do.

For music that lifts our hearts in one breath,

For the hand clasp of a friend and for the gracious loveliness of children who remind us of the wonders of life.

May we be appreciative above all for the concern and love of those around us.

For the exceeding bliss of the touch of the holy which suddenly awakens our drowsy souls to the blessed awareness of the divine within us and within others.

For all of this and for the countless other blessings present in our lives,

Let us be grateful.

Amen.

So thank you very much for checking out this meditation,

For giving it a try.

I hope it brings you to a place of gratitude and that it points the way to a life of happiness.

Namaste.

Reviews

As a follow-up on one of your shorter meditations on Gratitude I was fortunate to listen to and reflect on this more comprehensive meditation on being Grateful. How wonderful and all-encompassing it was! I literally feel ‘beyond blessed’. Thank you and warm greetings sent over to you and yours. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻🎼🎶🌈

Lovely gratitude guidance and mantras to live with gratitude and love.✨🙏🏼💜💜💜✨

Tony Brady has a soothing voice and humble disposition. Thank you Tony for the emotional content as well!

Thank you for sharing this medication. I appreciated it.

Namaste to you and your beautiful soul. Your words enlighten me when most needed.

This is every bit as wonderful as I hoped it would be. Thank you Tony. I put it on my Go-To list and use it often. 🙏🏻💜🌸🕊✨

Tony,

Thanks this was a beautiful reflection. It touched on so many things to be grateful for. Thanks so much for sharing. Namaste 🙏

Beautiful 🤩

Loved this guided meditation! Felt grat afterwards

Thank you, Tony. This was my “church” service today. Didn’t know you were a visiting pastor, did ya? :-)

Thank you Tony... I'd never really condidered the idea of 'mother earth' that is supporting, sustaining and loving us. Wonderful! 🙏

Powerful, gratitude meditation. Thankful for you dear Tony. We must wake up and go to bed in gratitude.God bless you, Tony. 🙏👼🌺✝️🛐🫂🕊🕊🕊

Tony this is a wonderful reminder to keep awareness of all in our lives. Go raibh maith agat for this and the encouragement your shared wisdom gives me. ✨🙏🏽✨🌷✨🤗✨

🧚‍♀️💕🧚‍♀️

Your kind words and wisdom bring out the best in us. 🙏🏻🌺

Thank you Tony.🙏💜

Thank you Tony for this wonderful meditation.
Deep gratitude to you always for your kind words of wisdom and support here and in your group.

Blessings 😇💜🙏🕊🌻

I feel grateful for being able to listen to this meditation.

This meditation is a jewel & a blessing 🙏

What a absolutely wonderful meditation Tony. There is so much to be great full and thankful for including myself. So happy I found this meditation for this day. I hope you are doing well and as always I look forward to spending my mornings with you. 🙏🏻💕