In honor of Thanksgiving, I am happy to share.a meditation on Gratitude.
You can listen to my Gratitude meditation here.
Thanksgiving is a great reminder to us all to be thankful and have gratitude. However, there is power in regularly practicing gratitude. By doing so, you can:
Increase your well being
Increase your happiness
Reduce your stress
Increase your trust in yourself and others
Sleep better
There are a variety of ways to practice gratitude. In Shawn Achor's book, The Happiness Advantage, he describes a practice of gratitude that includes documenting three things you are grateful for every day and sharing those things with the people you love.
Another way to practice gratitude is to meditate on all that we have to be grateful for. I developed this meditation on gratitude to assist you in doing this.
To practice Gratitude on your own:
Choose a comfortable position… you can sit on the floor, on a cushion or a chair. You can lay down on a comfortable surface. Choose whatever position is most comfortable for you.
Relax any physical tension that is being held in your body. Soften your belly; relax your eyes and jaw and allow your shoulders to naturally fall away from your head.
Set the intention to let go of everything that has been happening up until now so you are present in the current moment.
If you haven’t already, you can close your eyes.
Become aware of the fact that you are breathing.
Notice the rhythm of your breathing.
Notice the feeling of your breath as it fills your lungs and expands your chest as you breathe in. And the feeling of the air exiting from your nose or mouth as you breathe out.
Allow your attention to just focus on the sensation of your breathing, as you breathe in and out.
Begin to feel a wave of relaxation wash over your body. If it helps you can feel this wave as a sense of warmth. The way the sun feels on a beautiful summer day.
Begin to feel the warmth wash over your body starting at the top of your head, slowly flowing over your face and down the back of your head.
Flowing down into your neck and shoulders
Flowing down your arms, slowly flowing passed your elbows and all the way to your fingertips.
Feel the warmth spreading down your back,
Flowing down your chest and abdomen,
Flowing down your hips, your bottom,
Flowing down your legs, slowly flowing passed your knees, into your ankles
And slowly flowing all the way down to your toes.
Feel your whole body awash with the warmth of relaxation.
Now ask yourself, “What am I grateful for?”
“What am I grateful for?”
As you ask yourself, “What am I grateful for?” allow any thought or image to come in response.
Maybe it’s a person, or it’s an experience you had, or just the fact that the sun is shining.
Whatever it is, hold it in your mind.
And then ask yourself “How does this make me feel?”
Notice how the gratitude feels in your body.
Breathe into that feeling.
PAUSE
Think of breathing in oxygen as if you are breathing in that feeling of gratitude. Feel the gratitude fill your lungs, seep into your heart and be pumped throughout your body.
PAUSE
Now remember that even if you just have lungs and you can breathe, you have something to be grateful for.
And if you have a heart that’s beating, you have something to be grateful for.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart and into your bloodstream
And remember, if you have legs you have a blessing that not everyone has and you have something to be grateful for. Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow into your legs.
If you have legs that can support your weight, allow you to walk run or skip, you have a lot to be grateful for.
Send your gratitude to your legs.
Whatever functionality your legs have, whatever they allowed you to do today. Be grateful. You have a blessing that not everyone has.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your bloodstream, into your legs, down to your feet.
And remember, if you have healthy arms and hands, you have a gift and a blessing that not everyone has. Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow into your arms.
If you have arms you can hug someone with, and hands that can write, draw, cook, then you have a lot to be grateful for.
Send gratitude to your hands and arms.
Having arms and hands is something we can so easily take for granted but if we remember the gifts that they are and the ease they afford our lives, we can be grateful for them.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow through your body.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart and into your bloodstream, into your legs, down to your feet, through your arms, to your hands.
Reflect on the gift that each of these things is to your life and feel gratitude.
And remember if you have healthy organs, whether it’s all or some, you have a gift and a blessing that not everyone has.
Send gratitude to your internal organs.
Having organs that work together to digest food, a blood system to provide nutrients, skin to keep it all together, the strength of your bones, this is a gift.
Reflect on the gift that each of these things is to your life and feel gratitude.
Send your gratitude to them for doing what they do, just for the simple function of digesting food as this is a blessing that not everyone has.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart, into your bloodstream, to your organs, into your legs, down to your feet, through your arms, to your hands.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude and let it flow through your body.
Since you are hearing my voice, you have ears that can hear. And they can hear not just my voice but also the sounds of the things that you love. Music, wind rustling through the trees, the voice of a loved one.
This is a blessing not everyone has.
Send your gratitude to your ears.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart to your bloodstream, to your organs, into your legs, down to your feet, through your arms, to your hands, to your ears
If you have eyes and you can see, colors, art, the faces of your loved ones, and so much more then you have a gift that not everyone has.
Send your gratitude to your eyes.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart to your bloodstream, to your organs, into your legs, down to your feet, through your arms, to your hands, to your ears, to your eyes.
If you can hear my words and you can understand their meaning, then you have a healthy mind. A healthy mind that can grow and allows you to function in this world. To take care of yourself, which is a blessing not everyone has.
Send your gratitude to your mind.
Inhale the feeling of gratitude into your lungs. Let your gratitude flow through your heart to your bloodstream, to your organs, into your legs, down to your feet, through your arms, to your hands, to your ears, to your eyes, to your mind.
Feel the gratitude flowing through your body. Filling your lungs and your heart and expanding out to your fingers and your toes.
Now expand that gratitude, inhale the gratitude into your lungs, to your heart. Let it flow through your bloodstream, through your whole body. And then let it return to your lungs and exhale the gratitude into the space around you.
Now take a moment to reflect on other things you are grateful for. People in your life, experiences you’ve had, anything that brings you joy.
Think of breathing in oxygen as breathing in gratitude. Feel the gratitude fill your lungs, seep into your heart and be pumped throughout your body. And then let it return to your lungs and exhale the gratitude into the space around you.
Remember that this feeling of gratitude is available to you at any time, in any place, whenever you need it as you have so many blessings and so much to be grateful for.
Bring your awareness back to your breathing.
Allow your attention to just focus on the sensation of your breathing, as you breathe in and out.
Notice the feeling of your breath as it fills your lungs and expands your chest as you breathe in. And the feeling of the air exiting from your nose or mouth as you breathe out.
Whenever you are ready, you can come back to this space and open your eyes.