Looking Around Your Room In Gratitude

I invite you to go into one of the rooms in your house and look at it with fresh eyes. It can fill us with a sense of comfort and gratitude when we pay attention to the things around us. These blessings can disappear into the background through overfamiliarity. To help you on your way with your "looking around in gratitude" project, here is a look around the room where I sit for my meditations. See what noticing brings to mind. Photo by voronaman111 on Envato

Transcript

Dear friends,

Today I would like you to go into one of the rooms in your house and look at it with fresh eyes.

It can fill us with a sense of comfort and gratitude when we pay attention to the things which we have around us.

These blessings can disappear into the background because of over-familiarity.

After all,

These things are always there.

They're always with us.

I'm not one for looking back,

And it is important to stay present,

Even in our planning for the future.

But a little bit of nostalgia can produce thoughts of gratitude and thankfulness,

And these are important feelings to have.

To help you on your way with your looking-around-in-gratitude project,

I thought I would look around the room where I sit for my meditation,

And let you know what I see,

And what their noticing brings to mind.

So,

If you haven't already done so,

You might find it useful to close your eyes.

Relax,

And join me as you imagine the scene.

First of all,

Looking out the window,

Across the way,

There is the house where neighbours of ours have lived,

Since we all moved into this little estate almost 50 years ago.

We are blessed with wonderful neighbours,

Old and new.

We,

And the people across the road,

Are getting older,

Of course.

But strangely,

I can't remember,

All those years ago,

Ever stopping to notice with gratitude,

The fact that we were young neighbours,

Starting out together in this place.

There's a lesson for the future in this.

I see on a shelf by the window,

A photograph of my mother-in-law.

Fran's mother,

Now sadly passed away.

I think of her wise and funny sayings,

And how she and I enjoyed a magical day,

When,

After years of trying,

I finally won tickets to admit us to the winter solstice event.

This happens at Newgrange,

A megalithic tomb as old as the pyramids,

About 50 miles from Dublin.

The tickets gained us admission to the small,

Central chamber,

Into which,

Weather permitting,

Of course,

Light enters at dawn,

On and around the mornings of the winter solstice.

Magically,

The sun did shine into the chamber on that day,

An experience to remember.

Looking to the right of the window,

I see a keyboard,

Which I bought second-hand,

Years ago.

I have tried to play it on and off over the years,

And my feeble efforts caused me to express admiration,

Whenever I see people playing the piano with ease.

One of my few regrets is that I skipped piano lessons as a foolish child.

Beside the keyboard,

There's a guitar,

Which,

As you know,

Is a six-stringed instrument.

My wife,

Fran,

Makes an effort,

And she plays quite successfully,

Every so often.

How I wish it could be played with only one string.

The chair I'm sitting on as I write this,

Is the chair where I listen to inside-timer meditations most mornings.

At times,

I miss,

Of course,

And,

When that happens,

I ask myself,

Do I miss because of my confused state,

Or am I in a confused state because I missed the sitting?

I suspect the latter is the case.

It's a simple chair,

But it's wonderful to have a location for regular practice,

And to know that when you sit yourself down there,

You're immediately transported to another place.

On my left,

There's a little music player.

This is connected to four speakers,

Fixed high up in the corners of the room.

A gift provided by a friend who's no longer with us.

She's remembered with gratitude each time this machine is played.

To the right of the music player,

There's an African drum,

Not as easy to lift now as it was when it was bought.

Fran and I enjoyed a number of drumming sessions over in the UK some years ago.

In our enthusiasm,

We bought this African drum,

And we brought it back here with us.

It brings us back to the hypnotic sound produced by a large group of people drumming together.

Into the late evenings.

I'm glad we gave this a try.

It's a reminder of the happy experience,

And as we know,

Experiences are more important than things.

Beside the drum,

There's a glass-topped wicker table,

And on the table,

An incense holder.

The burning of incense helps to create an atmosphere for meditation.

On the same table,

There's a salt lamp,

A gift from Fran's sister,

And it provides a beautiful,

Soft,

Pink atmosphere in the evenings.

And on the table is a brass meditation bowl,

Reminding me of the weekly live sessions,

Which were held in an intercultural centre here in Dublin up to the time of the COVID disruption.

Above the table,

You will find on the wall a cloth image of the Buddha.

Long ago,

I heard this quote,

Which was said to be from the Buddha.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is said to be true.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions just because they've been handed down for many generations.

But after careful observation and analysis,

When you find that anything agrees with reason,

And is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,

Then accept it and live up to it.

I have come across a website which is described as dealing with fake Buddha quotes,

And what I've read to you there is listed as one of these allegedly fake quotes.

But I'm happy to think that somewhere along these lines must have been the Buddha's approach to learning.

And I'm happy to think that this is not a bad approach at all.

Use your reason and live and let live.

To the right of the table,

There is a wicker bookshelf with a curved top.

This was salvaged from a skip quite a few years ago.

And now that I think of it,

I seem to remember that the table came to us in the same way.

The wicker bookshelf now holds a collection of books,

Mostly on the subject of meditation and mindfulness.

You could call it a body,

Mind and spirit collection.

One row of the bookshelf is dedicated to Dublin and architecture.

I've had to put a stop to the habit of adding to this collection.

On the floor of this room,

There's a pale green carpet.

And near the door,

There's a larger green mat.

Another refugee saved from a skip.

And that mat helps us to avoid creating a worn track on the way into and out of the room.

The mat on the carpet provides an opportunity for the practice of patience.

Because,

Although I don't believe the house is haunted,

The mat seems to move out of alignment time after time.

And of course,

Putting it right is an exercise in bending.

Highly recommended to help preserve fitness.

Finally,

There's a big stone sitting on the floor.

You'll be reassured to know that this is not sitting in a place where you'd be likely to trip.

I've no idea where it came from,

Nor do I know when or how it arrived.

But it acts as a reminder that there can be a certain solidity in our world of change.

Everything changes.

And when these changes are not to our liking,

We take comfort in the fact that this too shall pass.

But insofar as we have some or any control,

It is helpful if we can manage not to have too many changes to take place at the same time.

And there you have it.

A trip around my room with some of its memories.

Oh,

And I nearly forgot to mention,

At one end of the room,

There's a cupboard with sliding doors.

And behind it,

A confused assortment of tools,

Paintbrushes and bits and pieces which are or might someday be useful.

I carried out a clear your clutter operation in this house in the last little while.

And this cupboard is next on the list for attention.

But for now,

It's a case of out of sight,

Out of mind.

And being behind sliding doors,

It will have no effect on my plan to sit here in this room in mindfulness tomorrow morning.

I look forward to hearing how you get on,

On your own trip down memory lane in your own room.

Namaste.

Reviews

This was such an enjoyable learning experience as I visualized your room. Those little snippets of humour made me giggle with my shut eyes Tony! Such a lovely and cozy little room carrying so many memories and lessons in gratitude and reasoning! Thank you Tony as always for this special gift of your insights. With love to both you and Fran and gratitude, Tony, Tanusree ❤️🙏

P.S. I might be going to Dublin this summer to visit my daughter.

I’m certain that this will become a favourite meditation - plenty of food for thought (and, having recently visited the Pyramids, the reminder of Newgrange might give rise to a weekend trip!) Thank you, Tony, for sharing it, I hope that all is well with you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Precious reflection 🙏

Loved this Tony. Thank you

I felt I am at your home while listening to the track. It surely holds lots of treasures and good memories. Should be in interesting experience for me to do the same. Thank you 💕✨🙏🏻

Thanks for helping me appreciate my surroundings in a mindful way. 💜🙏☮️

What a delightful journey! I love this amd will try it here. In fact, I suspect it will assist me in making choices of what stays and what goes in declutterring! Thank you for allowing us a glimpse of your special place and special memories. Alway a sacred gift when we share. Blessings to you. 🙏

A good reminder to cherish our lives and the memories we create along the way. The drum was a surprise to hear about. The keyboard brought to mind the ukulele my husband bought during our trip to Hawaii. He never learned to play but the memories of our time there flood back to me when I take the time to admire it. A wonderful exercise to stop and reflect.

I cant believe the amount of memories, of connections and of gratitude this wonderful talk/ meditation had for me..Thank you Tony for ypur guided tour of your room too.

Tony this is a magical talk - thank you so much for sharing all those touching personal memories that the items in your room evoke.
I too have been doing declutter sessions in my home over the past year and it’s brought me so much joy to gift and donate a lot of my possessions as well as lighten my spirit with being so grateful for the items I have kept as well as the empty spaces I now enjoy.
In my meditation room I have only kept a few items that spark wonderful loving family memories, special trips and just a few indulgences that still spark joy every time I use them eg my Tiffany lamp and my Galileo bronze statue lamp and a small model of the Eiffel Tower that one of my brothers brought home for me on his first trip to Paris. I also have a picture of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that my Mum gave me when I was a very little girl. It’s always travelled with me where ever I moved to.
I have a small area dedicated to the Buddha as well.
I am grateful everyday for all the blessings we enjoy.
Thank you as always - you brought joy to my morning.

Well done, Tony! We enjoyed our tour of your room. We were expecting to be served a spot of tea with you and Fran. How fun that would be! Thank you for this nice time.

Tony, what a delightful peek into your home! I feel like I’ve had a visit with you and Fran, and you regaled me with stories of memorable times in your lives. Thank you!
I’ll post a bit about my favorite room on the group.
Donna

Thank you Tony. A meaningful adventure while sitting still.

Thank you for this reminder to pause and reflect on where I am right now…a room filled with memories of joy and love! It has bought comfort and clarity in this moment which had been confusing and made me restless…

Loved this, thank you! A synchronicity for me as just as I sat down to meditate this morning in my own little meditation room, I had a huge feeling of gratitude for this simple yet sacred space. I then opened up my Insight Timer app and this meditation was there at the top of the list…Divine timing…Namaste my friend…🙏

Thank you, dear Tony, for this private Dublin visit in the room in which so many precious memories are cherished and where you live in the here and now. It’s similar to my upstairs room, where music is played and songs are sung each and every precious day. Thank you for sharing. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻