Good morning.
There is a kind of gratitude that is easy.
Sunsets.
A good tea.
Holidays.
Time spent with those you love.
In many ways,
These are simple.
Straightforward.
There is another kind of gratitude.
One that's harder.
Quieter,
More honest.
The kind that asks of you,
Of us,
To look.
To look and pay attention to those things that are difficult.
And find something real.
And that is what this practice is for.
Allow your eyes to close.
Take a slow breath in and hold it at the top.
And let it out.
That your body settled.
Feel the weight of your body.
Your feet.
Your hands,
Your breath.
Now think of something hard.
Something hard that you've been through.
Not the hardest thing.
To something that was difficult.
Something that cost you something.
Feel it.
Don't push it away.
Sit next to it here just for a moment.
Allow what is there to be there.
Now ask yourself.
Gently.
Without forcing or controlling an answer.
What did that experience ask of you?
What did that experience ask of you?
What did it require you to find?
Within yourself.
Was there but you perhaps.
.
.
Didn't know or didn't realize that it was there.
Perhaps it was strength.
Patience.
And ability to ask for help.
The discovery that you could survive something you thought would break you.
Overwhelm you.
You don't have to be grateful for the pain itself.
Physical aspect of it.
You are allowed to want it,
To have,
Not have.
Have happened at all.
What I'd like you to find.
In there somewhere in the aftermath.
Is something that is yours now.
Something that wasn't yours before.
And allow and take this moment to look deep inside or perhaps it is and has always been sitting on the surface waiting.
To be acknowledged.
Adjust.
What else is there?
There is some.
Perhaps it's wisdom.
For softness and knowing.
The capacity for compassion.
Compassion that only comes from having needed it.
For yourself.
And that's.
That right there,
That is yours.
That hard thing gave you that.
Now let's breathe.
Deep,
Full cleansing breaths.
Filled with acknowledgement.
And sprinkled with wonder.
This practice is not about rewriting what happened.
It's about.
Reclaiming what you became.
As a result.
Let's breathe in again.
End.
Carry that with you today.
Not the story of suffering.
But an evidence of who you actually are,
Deep at your core,
Who you have become.
And ultimately who you are becoming.
And when you're ready.
When it feels right.
Open your eyes.
Good morning.
