Dear friends,
This is a meditation which I hope you will find useful for those times when you might just feel a little down,
Maybe a little anxious,
Nothing serious but maybe just feeling a little blue,
You know the feeling.
We all have some days like this,
Hopefully not very often.
I believe that if you give these few moments of reflection an opportunity,
They will bring you back to a place of gratitude,
Remembrance and happiness.
And we begin by closing our eyes and taking one minute to come into this present moment.
Taking a deep breath in,
Holding the breath for a second or two and then letting the breath out.
Mindful breathing creates a welcome pause.
It helps to bring us back into the present moment where peace can be found.
So let's give ourselves one minute for this deep,
Mindful breathing.
Welcome back.
First I'd like you to allow your breath to return to normal and as you take an ordinary in-breath,
Say to yourself these three words,
I am grateful.
And as you breathe out,
Think of someone or something that you are grateful for just now.
It might be a life partner,
A parent,
A child,
A friend,
The fact that you have somewhere to live,
The fact that you have the means to listen to a meditation.
On each out-breath call to mind just one of the many benefits you have in your life just now.
We'll allow two minutes to breathe in and out reflecting on some of the great number of reasons we have for thankfulness.
Welcome back.
Back.
Our next pause for reflection is along the same lines as the last but this time we'll consider something different.
This time on the in-breath I remember,
Just the two words I remember and this time on the out-breath bring to mind some good deed that you've performed which brought to be a life-changing good deed,
Just some simple act of kindness that brought happiness to someone and it brings happiness to you when you think back on it now.
Again two minutes for reflection,
Breathing in and out in remembrance of some of the good you've done,
Some of the simple acts of kindness that you've done.
Welcome back again.
We've just one more section in our meditation and again this one is a time on the in-breath I want you to think of five words,
I was so happy when,
I was so happy when and on each out-breath please recall some event in your life that brought you great happiness,
Maybe a time when you laughed heartily,
A time when you had great fun or just some or with a group of people.
So again just two minutes breathing in and out to the ģ
ėė¤ Welcome back again.
I hope you enjoyed these short periods of reflection.
I hope this meditation has reminded you of some of the many good things that you have going for you.
I hope it helped you to recall some people in your life whose love for you is so ever present that these good people can be taken for granted.
We need to remember people like this when we pause for reflection.
We need to recall too those good things that each of us have in our lives and which are so familiar that we can forget just how lucky we are to have them.
I hope in part two you were reminded of some of the good things you have done for other people.
The opportunities you have created are used.
Each day offers us an opportunity to show kindness,
Compassion and concern.
To send out positive ripples into the world.
Every day we perform these little acts of kindness as a matter of routine.
But it helps if every now and then we pause to remember the good we have done and allow those good feelings to encourage us to do still more.
Finally in part three I hope you were able to recall very many times in your life when you broke your sides laughing.
Either while you were alone reading a book or watching a film,
Hearing a joke,
Receiving a funny card or simply a moment of happiness in the company of someone else.
Our lives are peppered with these little incidents.
If we called them to mind on those days when we feel a little out of sorts we are reminded that yes life has its ups and downs but if we are down today we know that everything changes and we can expect to be up tomorrow or the day after that.
If it just happened that it wasn't easy for you right now to recall any of the events under these headings,
Remember today is a new day and tomorrow is another new day.
And in the time ahead you can watch out for these everyday moments of gratitude,
Kindness and happiness that help to make life worthwhile.
May you be blessed with gratitude,
Kindness and happiness all the days of your life.
Namaste.
