This week let's do a gratitude meditation together.
So come into a seated posture,
Relaxed,
Upright,
Alive and awake.
Gently close your eyes and come alive to what is happening within you now.
Feel the body,
The whole body,
Spreading your awareness throughout the whole body.
If you feel any tension in the body,
Soften around it,
Let it go,
Soften and let go.
Perhaps you've discovered a tension that isn't ready to leave just yet.
Maybe it just needs to be noticed for now.
That's fine,
We're kind to our tensions too.
They can stay,
They're welcome.
You can say to any pains or tension,
Welcome,
I am ready to connect with you,
To feel you,
Ready for your lesson.
Feel that kind and loving acceptance of the way things are,
Here in the body now.
Maybe with this new way of looking at our pains and tension,
They will lessen.
Perhaps leave altogether or stay and continue to teach us.
Open up to life as it is here in the body,
Living through the 10,
000 joys and the 10,
000 sorrows,
Enduring it all.
Say thank you to your body,
Whatever state you feel it to be in,
Say thank you.
All of your life on this earth has carried you,
Cared for you,
And your heart continues to beat even while it breaks.
So thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you.
Sitting here in gratitude if you can,
Take your attention to your face and feel whatever is present.
Tingling on your cheeks maybe,
Or a softening,
The downward slide of the muscles in the face.
Softening into the bliss of letting go.
Relax.
And now take your attention to the corners of your mouth and lift them ever so gently,
Barely moving at all,
Nothing forced.
Just letting the gravity of gratitude pull upwards so you don't have to do the work.
You'll bring a light smile,
Like the smile of a Buddha.
You right now,
An awakening,
Living Buddha.
A gentle smile,
Radiance,
Filling with joy.
And now bring to your mind someone or something that you really love.
That person or that thing that really lifts your life,
That moves you emotionally,
That gift that's been given to you.
Bring it closer in.
If you can visualise it,
Great.
If not,
Can you feel the presence or even just the memory of that which you love?
That which enriches your life.
Bring it into your heart,
Like the rays of a golden sunset,
Pouring in warmth,
Lifting the heart,
Making the heart smile.
So this can be visual,
A picture or a feeling or both.
Feeling the gift that you have been given by the golden presence of that which you love.
Take in these blessings,
Filling you up.
Maybe you'll even cry tears of love and joy.
Wonderful.
Bringing that person,
That thing into your heart.
And filling your heart up with the blessings that this person,
Animal or experience is.
And when you have encased it in your heart,
Wrap your arms around it,
Around your own heart and say thank you.
Dropping these words into the vast ocean of the heart and waiting in the radiant stillness.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And now with all the gratitude you have managed to feel,
Whether you're beaming like a thousand suns inside or if it's not yet noticeable.
And every thing in between.
Come back with that.
Hear into this body now.
And listen.
What can you hear?
Birdsong or traffic rumbling by.
Everything has its place.
It all belongs.
Even the noisy lorry is the sound of bread being delivered to feed your hunger.
If you are gifted with the miracle of sight,
Allow a little light in by opening the eyes just a tiny bit.
And have this gratitude for the sun,
For the life it brings and that in this world there is light.
Allowing the eyes to open very slowly,
Letting the world pour in.
A world made for you.
And can you see something in your line of sight to be grateful for?
A window with a light pouring in.
A plant.
A pet.
Whatever you have overlooked and taken for granted,
Now take it with gratitude.
Look at it mindfully,
As if seeing it for the first ever time.
Unexpected things may be noticed and treasure that when it happens.
Be grateful for that experience,
That open mindfulness of being alive.
That innocence.
That seeing something anew all over again.
And say thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
