This meditation is built upon a profound teaching about the connection between humility and gratitude from the Hebrew language.
The Hebrew word for thanking is Hodaa.
And here's the thing,
Hodaa does not just mean thank you,
Hodaa also means to admit.
Gratitude and humility intertwined.
And what's the connection?
The answer is that when I say thank you,
I'm admitting that I had a lack that was filled.
When I demonstrate deep gratitude,
I'm also expressing the humility that I was not able to do this alone.
That I understand that I am a person that can't exist on my own little island.
When I pause and allow myself to be full of gratitude,
I'm demonstrating the fact that instead of shutting off from new experiences and new connections,
I had the humility to make the space to receive.
So join me as we get quiet and take a few moments to connect to this word,
Hodaa,
And the profound message that it teaches us.
So find yourself in a comfortable position without any distractions.
Just allow yourself to come into a state of calm,
Letting go of any tension,
Any tension in your head,
In your neck.
Feel free to roll your neck and let go of any tension from that neck,
Your shoulders,
Your whole bodies.
Just come and feel really relaxed and present in this moment.
Coming to our breath,
Breathing in deeply through your nose,
Noticing the cooler air as you inhale,
And as you exhale,
Noticing the warmer air as it comes out of your nose.
Breathing in calmly,
Accepting the vitality,
The newness of life,
And as you breathe out again,
Showing up in the world,
Being you,
Showing who you are to the world.
Once again,
Breathing in deeply through your nose,
Filling yourself with air and life and hold for a few seconds,
And then breathing out again,
Calm,
Present in the moment.
There's nowhere else that you need to be.
And in this moment,
We're going to go through each of the body parts and we're going to exercise Hodaa,
We're going to exercise gratitude and thank our body,
Thank our body for taking us on this journey of corporeality in this world.
How often do we take the time to thank our body?
So starting with the right foot,
Touch it with your mind,
Let it get really soft and thank your foot.
Thank your foot for giving you balance,
Holding your space in this world,
For allowing you to walk and to make your way and Gav,
Just skip back to the way I'm going to speak about the body.
It's going to be easier if I just talk about the legs together because otherwise it's going to be repeating,
Okay?
So skip back,
So let's go from here.
Starting with your feet and your legs,
Just touch your feet and your legs with your mind,
Remaining nice and quiet,
Just touch them with your mind and let them get really calm.
Okay,
Sorry,
Scratch that again.
Nonsense.
Here we go.
Not from the beginning,
From the leg part.
So first we'll start with our feet and with our legs that carry us through this world,
That take us on this journey.
So just focus on your feet,
Your ankles,
Right ankle and your left ankle,
Your legs,
Just the ankles up to the knees and then the knees up to the torso.
And now turn to your legs and just thank them.
Thank your legs for carrying you through this world,
For standing you up on those two feet,
For providing the support,
For allowing you to visit and to walk through this wonderful world which we live in.
Thank your legs.
And now your hands,
Fingers and your arms,
Touch them with your mind,
Let them get really soft and supple.
And now thank your hands,
Your fingers and your arms.
Thank them for allowing you to write,
To type,
To text,
To wave,
To touch,
To move,
To be active in this world with your hands,
With your arms,
Your fingers.
Thank them coming into your tummy,
Your belly and your torso and your chest.
Thank all your internal organs,
Your stomach for digesting all your food and separating out the nutrients and the waste matter.
Thanking your stomach for doing that job,
Your lungs for breathing,
Your heart as it pumps the blood and gives you life,
Your kidneys with its filtering,
Every part of your body just thank it,
Spend some moments now,
Thank your body.
Now as you move up to the head,
Noticing the ears and the work they do,
Allowing us to hear,
To bring the outside world and all of its sounds into our system.
Thanking the ears,
Thanking the mouth and the teeth,
Your tongue,
Your nose and your nostrils,
Your eyes for the work they all do automatically,
Constantly,
Thank them all.
And finally as you come to the top of your head,
Thanking your mind and thanking all that's inside your head allows you to be able to think,
Relate,
The good and the bad,
Thanking them all.
And as we do that,
We now shift from the Hoda'a aspect of thanking to the Hoda'a aspect of admitting and thanking now the Creator for this gift of life.
I thank the Creator for my body,
My soul,
My sight,
Smell and touch,
Realizing that it's not me that keeps my heart beating,
It's not me that keeps my mind from working,
I have Hoda'a,
I can't admit humbly that it's not me.
And now I interact with the world differently,
I see the world is my school,
There's lessons to be learned everywhere.
When I know everything,
There's no room for new insight,
There's no room for surprise,
No room for magic,
But Hoda'a I admit,
I admit I'm not perfect,
I admit that I need you,
I admit that I'm not the done deal,
I can embrace humility which frees me from the need to appear to others as a perfect human being who never makes mistakes,
I can embrace humility which frees me from the need to appear to others as more than I really am,
I can no longer fear mistakes and I can be open to acquiring new knowledge and skills.
As you breathe in to this calm,
Centered,
Focused system embracing humility,
Allow yourself to feel respect for others,
There's no need to feel that you are stronger,
Wiser,
Wealthier or better than anyone else,
Hoda'a,
Grateful for all that comes our way,
Thankful for the downs as well as the ups,
There is still so much more to know,
There is still room to grow,
Thank you.
And whenever it's right for you,
Take in one last deep breath from this meditation and as you open your eyes once more,
Re-engaging with this world,
Take this message of Hoda'a,
Gratitude and humility with you on your way.
