Hello and a very warm welcome to this practice to support you in cultivating a grateful mind.
It's quite normal that our mind will at times be attentive to difficult feelings,
Insecurity,
Fear,
Anxiety or unease or maybe thoughts of loss or what we don't have or desiring more.
We can acknowledge and accept these difficult thoughts and feelings.
We don't have to indulge them.
Instead we can deliberately shift our mind to a more positive disposition by focusing on all that we already have in abundance.
So I'd like to invite you to find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
You might like to adopt a relaxed but dignified posture.
Take a few moments to settle and relax.
Let go of any holding and tension in your body.
If it feels comfortable for you,
You can close your eyes or if you prefer simply lower and soften your gaze so you can bring your attention inwards.
If you like the idea you could take one or two deeper breaths to help you settle even more.
A full breath in and a long slow breath out.
Then breathing naturally.
Simply observe your breath for a while,
Noticing every in-breath and every out-breath.
Finding your natural rhythm and having your body and mind to settle a little more.
We begin this practice on gratitude.
Start with something simple that you're experiencing right at this moment.
It could be the sound of something outside of your room or building.
A bird or a tree swaying gently in the wind.
Perhaps the warmth of the sun or the heating in your room.
Maybe it's just the experience of comfort from your chair beneath you or the softness of your bed or even the simple wonder of just pausing now in the midst of your busy life to engage in this practice.
Choosing just one thing to notice,
Allow it fully now into your experience.
Let appreciation and gratitude arise and fill your body and mind.
Whatever this thing is,
Be grateful for it,
Be thankful.
Now think of someone that you don't know well but somehow they supported your experience today in some way.
It could be a bus driver,
A person at your grocery store,
Maybe the author of a book that you're reading.
Allow yourself to feel how you benefited from the gift of their work.
Allow yourself to feel appreciation and gratitude.
Next,
Think about all the tools that you use that support your work and your life.
Perhaps your computer,
Books,
Buildings,
Equipment,
So much.
Choose just one object now and consider all that was needed for its creation and all of the people involved in its creation.
Can you appreciate and feel gratitude that you have access to this tool and many others?
If you work,
Can you also feel gratitude for the people you work with or the people that you live with?
Can you think of a particular person whose work or effort directly supports your life?
Appreciate their contribution,
Their good intention.
Perhaps saying in your own mind to them,
Thank you,
Thank you.
Now bring to mind someone that you care about.
It might be someone that you've already thought of.
Just picture them or think about them in your mind and think about what that person means to you,
What you appreciate about them,
About who they are,
Perhaps about what you've experienced together and the effect that they have on you.
And as you imagine them,
Notice what feelings you're experiencing,
What sensations you detect in your body,
Perhaps in the area of your heart.
Let yourself express gratitude towards them.
Thanking them for being who they are and for their presence in your life.
Imagine them accepting your gratitude.
Now bring to mind something in particular that you're grateful for today.
Something you've experienced,
Something that happened,
Something you noticed or something you can now choose to be grateful for,
If you didn't notice before.
Feel the appreciation and gratitude for its presence right here in your life today.
As you bring these people and these things,
These ideas to mind,
All that you're grateful for,
Allow yourself to rest in this experience.
When you cultivate the practice of gratitude,
You might even find yourself being able to be grateful for difficult or unpleasant experiences.
If you'd like to try that,
Bring to mind now an experience in your life that's challenging,
One that you don't normally experience gratitude for.
And you bring a grateful mind to this experience too.
Perhaps you can think about the ways that this challenge may support you or help you to grow or learn.
You offer some gratitude and appreciation and thanks even for this.
And you have gratitude for your body and gratitude for your mind.
Gratitude for the simple fact of being alive in this moment.
And finally,
You appreciate the opportunity to simply pause and experience this practice of gratitude itself.
And for all that you've brought to mind during this practice,
For all of the countless gifts in your life,
Simply say thank you.
For all of the people,
For all that's around you and part of you,
For all that you've experienced,
For all of this,
Thank you.
Allow this sense of gratitude to fill you completely as you breathe in and breathe out.
Settling once again on the breath right here,
Right now,
Fully alive,
Present and grateful in this moment.
You might like to finish as you started with one or two deeper breaths to signal the end of the practice.
A full breath in and a long slow breath out.
If you'd like to extend the practice of gratitude,
You might create the habit of thinking something you're grateful for every morning as soon as you wake up.
Or every evening you could write it in a journal.
You could even try expressing appreciation today to a person who you feel grateful to.
Simply saying thank you can positively affect their mind and yours too.
Now you can continue your practice or you can gently and slowly open your eyes and return your awareness to the place where you are.
