Welcome to this raising gratitude meditation.
My name is Monique.
And the invitation today is to come back to the body and the breath and to awaken and acknowledge the blessings we receive moment to moment.
The intention of this practice is about expanding our awareness of our current experience,
Cultivating attitudes of kind and loving awareness with trust and patience and compassion for self.
To begin with this meditation practice,
I would like to read a beautiful poem by Dana Faulds,
Just for Now.
Just for now,
Without asking how,
Let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now,
Lay down the weight you so patiently bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive you and the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider as your awareness reaches up to meet it.
Just for now,
Allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience.
Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth.
Just for now,
Be boundless,
Free with awakened energy,
Tingling in your hands and feet.
Drinking the possibility of being who and what you really are.
So fully alive that the world looks different.
Newly born and vibrant.
Just for now.
So beginning to start to tune in and finding a sense of comfort and ease in your seat from wherever you are in this moment.
Beginning to slowly and gently expand and open your awareness onto the body.
Noticing as you place your attention here,
What sensations might be arising in the body today?
Noticing or fixing any of these sensations,
But simply just noting and acknowledging the body as it is in this moment by moment experience.
Perhaps noticing the point of contact to the chair or the floor.
Being cradled by a very strong and stable earth beneath you.
Or perhaps you might notice the subtle movement of the breath.
The shift and the change of the breath as it moves and rolls in and out of the body.
Or perhaps you might be noticing any tension or tightness that might be arising in the body as you open and expand your awareness.
And as we begin to settle down back home to the body,
Taking time to just be with the sensations.
We might notice throughout this practice that the mind might wander to thoughts or to emotions.
Recognizing this with kindly awareness,
Acknowledging our humanness.
And that's what minds do as they wander.
We have choice and as we have choice,
We may allow ourselves to wander with thoughts or we might choose to come back to the sound of my voice.
Whenever you're ready,
Back to the guidance of this practice,
The awareness of now.
So when you're ready,
Beginning to bring to mind something or someone that you are grateful for.
You're grateful to have this present moment in your life.
Could be a pet,
A loved one.
Could be a home or a safe place.
Could be the community that you're part of.
Just gently in your own time bringing into your awareness something or someone that you are truly grateful for.
And if you can't visualize this something or someone perhaps holding their presence or the essence of this something or someone with gratitude in your awareness.
And how gently turning that gratitude again towards yourself and bringing to mind the thoughts of sight.
And as you sit here,
Perhaps sensing or visualizing what it is that you're grateful for,
For the gift of sight.
Perhaps it's the sight of a loved one that you're grateful for each and every day.
Or perhaps you're grateful for the colors and the shapes that you receive through sight.
Or maybe it's the beauty of nature that sight allows you to see that you're grateful for the sunset,
The rolling waves of the ocean.
Gently bringing to mind in your own time.
Gently sensing the gift of sight.
Noting with gratitude,
With gratitude the gifts that sight affords you each and every moment.
And now shifting your awareness onto the gift and blessings of sound.
And noting which sounds you are grateful for to receive moment to moment.
Perhaps the giggles and the giggles of a baby,
A child,
A small child.
The voice of a loved one dear to you.
Perhaps the sounds of a beautiful song of a bird far off in the distance.
Maybe you're grateful for the gift of sound,
Music that your ears tune into.
So just sitting with that sense of gratitude for sound.
Sounds of life.
And then slowly bring your awareness now onto the sense of taste.
And perhaps acknowledging here as best as you can all the gifts that taste affords you moment to moment.
The taste of a hearty meal,
A nourishing meal.
The taste of water quenching your thirst.
Or perhaps the tastes of spring and summer fruits fresh,
Juicy,
Ripe.
Just beginning to raise gratitude in your own awareness in your own time.
And noting what tastes,
What gifts of taste you're grateful for.
Now when you're ready,
Slowly turn your awareness into the sense of smell.
And acknowledging as best as you can with gratitude,
The gifts of smell.
The smell of a newborn baby.
The smell of fresh sheets on a bed.
Or perhaps the smells of the sand and the salty sea.
Smells of freshly cut grass.
Just bringing to mind in your own time,
The sense of smell and what it is you're grateful for,
For this sense.
And then tuning in to the sensations of the physical body.
Raising gratitude and awareness.
Learning to become awake and aware to what it is you're grateful for in this very alive,
Alert body.
The physical sensations,
The gifts,
The blessings of the physical body from moment to moment.
Perhaps it's the sense of touch.
Perhaps it's the sense of the warmth of a hug from a loved one.
Maybe it's gratitude for the way that your body carries you each and every day.
It's bringing to mind sense of gratitude for this very alive and alert body and all the sensations that it affords us moment to moment.
And now expanding our awareness outwards.
Beginning to bring to mind something that you are truly grateful for in this present moment.
And if it's not easy to visualize,
Then perhaps just gaining a sense or awareness of what it is that you are grateful for.
Sitting and resting in this awareness with gratitude,
With kindness and patience.
Non-striving here,
But just simply allowing this gratitude to unfold.
Holding this in the light of your awareness.
Absorbing in it.
Enriching this gratitude with your awareness.
As we begin to bring this practice,
Awareness to a close.
Starting to expand your awareness now into the whole body.
Coming back to the body as it's seated here from wherever you are.
Acknowledging this very alive alert body that is present.
Solid and committed.
Acknowledging your presence and your commitment to be here.
The time you have taken today to sit and to practice.
Thank you for joining me today.
Your practice is now complete.
