This is a ten minute gratitude reflection to help us become aware and remember all the things that we are grateful for,
That we may forget during the day,
Our busy day.
We can do this reflection in the morning as we set intention for our day or we can do it at night when we are reflecting on the day.
We can begin to settle using the breath to help us bring awareness to the body and bring calm and ease.
Breath in from the nose into the chest and belly.
Releasing belly,
Chest and nose.
Breath in nose,
Chest and belly.
Breath out,
Belly,
Chest,
Nose.
We can begin our gratitude meditation by simply offering gratitude for the breath.
Being grateful that we can breathe in and out without difficulty.
How lucky we are.
Being grateful for the help that we have.
It may not be the help we think we should have and yet we are healthy enough to be present,
To take care of ourselves,
Good care of ourselves,
Take care of those we care for.
To find the resources necessary to provide shelter and food and clothing and medicine for ourselves,
Maybe for others as well.
This is a real big gratitude.
In general gratitude for the body that allows us to move,
Stand up,
Sit down,
To walk.
And all the organs that function sufficiently that we can talk,
We can see the eyes of someone we care about,
The birds,
The trees,
The sky.
We have a voice.
We can hear,
We can smell.
Our muscles are intact.
Most of the time we can lift our arms and drink a cup of tea without difficulty.
Walk to the store.
Walk and look at flowers.
We have gratitude for this body that we often take for granted.
We have gratitude for family and friends that we care for and who care for us.
Gratitude for the life we live that we have sufficient to take good care of ourselves.
That we have the capacity to think,
To be in mental functioning allows us to go about our day and be present.
Gratitude for the material resources that we have in our lives that allow us to live a fairly comfortable life.
We can pause and breathe in.
Noticing the body again.
Breath from the nose into the chest and belly.
And breath out,
Belly,
Chest and nose.
Allowing the breath to help us come back to the moment,
Not get too caught up in the past,
Not get too caught up in the future.
Being present with this meditation,
This gratitude.
We can take the next two minutes to bring into our mind's eye gratitude.
Anything we're holding that we might be grateful for in this moment.
And if our mind wanders,
We bring it right back to the present moment.
Remembering the gratitude we have in our hearts.
Any small or large thing that's current for us.
Low quality,
Bringing our awareness back to our breath.
Allowing the breath to always bring us back to the present moment.
We can always come back to the present moment when we come back to our breath.
The previous breath is already gone,
So we can't go back there.
And the next breath is not here yet,
So we can't be in the future.
When we stay with this breath,
We are in a moment.
So we'll take the next two minutes to bring into our minds,
Eye and our heart gratitude for any specific thing that we're looking forward to in the day,
Or if it's the end of the day,
Or the middle of the day,
Any specific thing that might have happened during the day that we might want to bring attention to.
Perhaps remembering a kindness that a stranger offered to us,
Holding the door for us,
Picking up a bag for us,
Offering us a smile.
We can send some positive energy,
Some gratitude to that kind act.
Or it might have been someone we know,
Someone we care about that offered us a kindness.
We can bring awareness and gratitude,
Sending energy of gratitude,
Positivity toward them.
Or perhaps it's something that we might envision happening today that we're looking forward to.
We can send gratitude toward that activity and that action,
Gratitude for it to happen as we head into our day.
So we'll close our meditation,
Our gratitude meditation,
Offering great joy and gratitude for being present in this body,
This opportunity to be alive.
Another day to have brought purpose to this world,
To this earth,
Toward making it a better place.
Gratitude to the ancestors,
Gratitude for the descendants.
May we leave the earth a better place for being here.
We offer gratitude.
Thank you.
