Thank Your Lucky Stars

We are blessed with benefits beyond the wildest dreams of those who have gone before us. Reflect. Give thanks. We take a little time out for reflection on all some of the benefits with which we are surrounded and which, in the hurry of our busy lives, we may have failed to notice. Resolve to express our gratitude in kind actions.

Transcript

Dear friends,

Welcome to this meditation which as the name suggests is on the subject of gratitude.

Believe it or not you are among the most privileged people ever to have walked on the face of the earth and you are among the most privileged people alive today.

That's the reason why we are here today.

We will be talking about gratitude in just a few minutes.

We begin as usual by adopting a comfortable and relaxed posture in a quiet corner if we are lucky enough to have one.

Maybe we can take up position where we can see the sky outside.

But if we are lucky enough to have one,

We can take up position where we can see the sky outside.

Let's stay with those thoughts for a few moments.

Our opening thought comes from Daphne Rose Kingman.

This is what she says,

A celebration.

Thanksgiving acknowledges the miracle of life.

It says that we live in a world of beautifully interacting thankfulness.

So what have we to be thankful about today?

Just take a moment to think back on countless thousands of years of human life.

It would be hard to find what might accurately be called the good old days for the average person,

The average man or woman in the street.

Life might have been bearable to some extent for the few people at the top.

But even kings,

Queens,

Emperors would stand in awe of us if they could see us now.

People whose lives we have been blessed with.

They would stand in awe at the opportunities with which we are blessed today.

Cynthia Ozick tells us we often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

So let's take a little time out for reflection on some of these good things.

These are things with which we are busy lives we may have failed even to notice.

Think of the people in our lives.

Think of our talents,

Our good fortune,

Our reasonable health,

Our sufficient belongings.

Just look around and think.

Let's allow ourselves a little time for reflection on all these things.

Welcome back.

So here we are,

Surrounded by so many reasons for contentment,

But in a world which is still so unequally divided.

A thought of that inequality should unsettle us,

And that's reasonable when you come to meditate.

Meditation is not a comfortable sit on a cushion for a lucky minority living in a world of plenty.

Meditation helps us to see things as they really are.

And sometimes what we see is a need for action to put things right.

In Buddhism the term you find is engaged Buddhism.

Engaged Buddhism calls us to look at how we spend our lives.

It asks us to consider how our lives have an effect on other people.

It asks us to consider how our lives have an effect on the planet.

You don't need to be a Buddhist in order to see the call for action that arises when we reflect and meditate.

Let's think over the ways in which we might help to make this world a better place.

Let's see if our life might make some little difference.

Maybe we might find that we can leave the world a little better than we found it.

These reflections don't mean that we must run for political office.

Maybe it does for some of us.

But it does mean all of us looking at our daily choices.

How can we share what we have in talent or material goods?

Can we offer people an opportunity to get on their feet?

Give them a start.

Can we think about what we buy?

How far has it travelled?

What about the labour conditions?

People who endure pain so that we can have what we go out to buy?

Again,

All this is an opportunity for reflection.

So how might we transform our feelings of gratitude into positive actions arising from our abundance?

That's the question.

So we'll allow ourselves a short period during which we can reflect on that.

Welcome back.

The call is not that you should change the whole world.

But you can change your own world.

You just need to make a difference to the life of even one person.

It's like that very familiar story about the boy on the shore rescuing a starfish.

You've possibly heard it before.

There are various versions of this story floating around.

But the original idea seems to have come from The Star Thrower,

Published in 1969 by Laurel Isley.

This is one of the variations.

Early one morning a man was walking along the shore.

A big storm had passed and he found the vast beach littered with starfish.

These were washed up as far as the eye could see,

Stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance the old man noticed a small boy approaching.

As the boy walked he paused every so often.

As he grew closer the man could see that the boy was pausing and occasionally bending down to pick up an object.

He would pick something up and throw it into the sea.

As the boy came closer the man called out,

Good morning.

May I ask what is it you're doing?

The young boy paused,

Looked up and replied,

Throwing starfish into the ocean.

The tide has washed them up onto the beach.

They can't return to the sea by themselves.

The boy continued,

When the sun gets high they will die unless I throw them back into the water.

The old man replied,

But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach.

I'm afraid you won't really be able to make much of a difference.

The boy bent down,

Picked up yet another starfish.

He threw it as far as he could out into the ocean.

Then he turned.

He smiled and said to the old man,

It made a difference to that one.

So we should never doubt our ability to make a difference.

And never forget that our good fortune and the gratitude that follows from it urges us to make that difference.

Never doubt that every ordinary person,

Someone just like you and me,

Can make that difference.

Our closing thought,

Like our opening reflection,

Is also from Daphne Rose Kingman.

Saying you're welcome affirms that we live in a world awash with treasures,

With miracles and blessings.

That we are blessed with an endless array of people,

Moments,

Experiences,

Surprises,

Magic,

Curiosities and beautiful coincidences to which our only delighted,

Ecstatic and unchanging response should be thanksgiving.

May your life continue to be filled with endless reasons for gratitude.

Namaste.

Reviews

Beautiful meditation. Thank you Tony for your thoughts and insights. ❤️🙏

Tony, I can’t believe I haven’t heard that session before! Wonderful, thank you!
The Star-thrower brings me back to the wonderful humanist movement of the 1960s—as did the movie I saw yesterday, A Complete Unknown, the story of Bob Dylan’s early fame and artistic development. The folk music, Desiderata, the quest for equality and fairness in the world, the messages of non-violence, the many musicians and artists who beamed those ideas around the world. They is always here, but not always in ascendancy. All the more reason to keep practicing it in our own corner of the world.
Thanks for shining the light!
Donna

This eased up my suffering tonight. Lots of wisdom and ideas to take into each day. I’m looking forward to sharing the starfish story with my friends 🙏🏻
Thank you, Tony

Thank you yet again Tony for this lovely meditation. A lovely start to my day

Thank you 🙏 Tony 💖
Your meditations are so thoughtful, I love your perspective and how your words make me smile 😊. You are always such a bright spot in my day 🤗🤗🤗

May we be able to throw back as many starfish into the ocean, today and in the days to come. Namaste 🤓🙏🏻🍀

Loved the starfish story and the meaning behind it. You always give me such wonderful insight. I hope you are doing well. Blessings and thank you. 🙏🏻💕

A beautiful reminder of how blessed we are and that the smallest actions can bring about big changes. Thank you Tony✨🙏✨

“It made a difference to that one”. I’ll take that with me today.

Giving many thanks for this wonderful meditation 🧘‍♀️

I loved the starfish story especially. I will tell this story to someone one day too.
Thank you and namaste

Dear Tony, Thank you for this humbling morning reflection. My tulips grew six inches last night. Spring has arrived. Enjoy this new day. Peace. Mary

Thankfulness + action = Making a positive difference. Thank you for the beautiful reminder, Tony.

Lovely pace to this, really appreciated the pauses to absorb what you were saying.

Thank you Tony! 🙏

Thanks for another meditation that honors the soul.

Just what I needed! Thank you 🙏

Thank you Tony Christmas Blessings to you

So much beauty and wisdom in this reflection - especially the starfish story. Thank you Tony 🙏💕

Amazing!!! This was exactly what I needed this morning ❤ thank u!!