Today we will focus on gratitude for ourselves just as we are.
Settle into your space.
Land here in your beautiful body that does so much for you day after day.
Can we greet ourselves with gratitude and without judgment right here right now.
I invite you to close your eyes or soften your gaze to allow your focus to turn inward.
Place your hands gently in your lap or on your legs palms facing up in order to receive gratitude.
Take a deep breath in and an audible exhale out.
One more deep deep breath in and an audible exhale out.
You do so much for yourself and for others.
You carry so many weights on your shoulders.
It's okay now and then to put those weights aside.
Package them all up as if they were in a backpack and gently put that backpack down.
Let your shoulders relax and feel light and free.
As you breathe in imagine you are taking in the breath through the soles of your feet up to your knees.
Send the breath up from the feet to the knees and back down.
Now as you breathe in draw the breath from the soles of your feet to your waist and slowly back down.
Breathe in and now draw the breath from the soles of your feet all the way up your legs to the light in your heart center.
Feel the torso gently expand with the breath and fall as you send the breath back down.
Now as you breathe in breathe from the soles of the feet through the heart center all the way to the top of the head and then all the way back down to your feet.
Do this one more time breathing in from the soles of your feet up through your legs through your belly through your heart center to the top of your head and then all the way back down.
Feeling gratitude for your nourishing life-giving breath going through the entire body.
If your mind has wandered away gently bring it back to your breath.
Our lives are complex and full of many different situations.
What stories do we tell ourselves about our lives,
Our hopes,
Our dreams?
What does your inner voice whisper to you?
It is easy to focus on the blank spaces what we think is missing from our lives that would lead to ultimate happiness.
We often compare ourselves to others who we think have what we are missing.
Like every tiger has unique stripes like a fingerprint,
So is each of us unique in our own way.
Sometimes when our inner critic is strong and we focus on our own flaws,
Focus on all the things that we can't do or don't have,
We blind ourselves from seeing our own special gifts.
We put up a shield of perceived efficiencies that also keeps everyone else from seeing our special gifts.
We can choose to focus on gratitude without pretending things are different than what they are.
Gratitude for all that we have and all that we are.
Even a small act of gratitude can be the seed that can grow.
Finding moments of gratitude in every day and using our senses for mindfulness and presence will continue to change our mind and body responses to our challenges.
I now invite you to think about something you are grateful for,
Something small,
Something that happened today before you arrived here for this meditation.
It could be the smell of your morning coffee,
It could be the fact that your car started,
It could be a tree that you drove by as you went out to do errands.
One small thing.
Think about this thing and why it made you feel grateful.
How does gratitude feel in your body?
Do your shoulders relax a little more?
Does your body soften?
Does your breath slow and deepen?
What other changes do you notice as you feel grateful?
Now visualize your body in the room where you are sitting in your space just as you are right now.
You are up above looking at yourself in your body,
Meditating in your space,
Breathing right here in your space.
What arises when you see yourself?
Notice your thoughts without judgment.
If you feel your inner critic coming out,
Wrap your breath around those thoughts and feelings to give them space and let yourself continue to relax and soften.
As you continue to breathe,
Silently say thank you to yourself for your unique gifts,
Your volunteer work,
Your beautiful crafts,
The poetry that you write,
The family members that you support,
The children that you tuck into bed at night with a story,
Your grandchildren as they run around and play in your yard.
Say thank you for your curiosity and willingness to try meditation right now here with me and all the other hundreds of wonderful things that make you unique and special to this world.
Thank your body for supporting you and carrying you throughout the world day after day for its ability to send you messages and for its ability to heal.
Thank your mind for its thousands of unique thoughts every day.
Thank your heart for your capacity to love yourself and to love others.
Continue to notice how it feels in your body to feel grateful.
You are perfect.
You are powerful and I am grateful for you.
Take a long slow deep breath in and a long slow gentle exhale out.
Gently open or raise your eyes and return to your body in your space.
Namaste.
