Hello and welcome!
My name is Stone.
Each week here on Insight Timer,
I host a live gathering with folks so we can practice our skills and discipline of gratitude.
It's called Growing Gratitude and we would love for you to join us.
In this series,
I wanted to share some of what we talk about there so that you can have gratitude support anytime you wish.
You may want to respond to what I'm saying in your journal or you may want to curl up and ponder these things in your heart.
Either way,
I'm grateful you are here.
So much of gratitude work is simply about being present.
Take a few slow breaths now and begin to notice where you are.
When you look around,
What do you notice?
Get specific.
Colors.
Objects.
Beyond the sound of my voice,
What can you hear?
Again,
Be specific.
Notice your breath now.
Notice the temperature of the air on your skin.
Take another breath.
Settle into your own body.
Thank you for being here now.
You know,
Carl Sagan said,
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch,
You must first invent the universe.
We don't often think about that,
Do we?
When was the last time you thought,
Deeply or even just in passing,
About where your food really comes from?
Think about something you've had to eat or drink recently.
What was it?
Take a few moments to really remember.
Make note of any flavors or ingredients.
What was the texture like?
The colors?
Was it warm or delightfully cold?
What smells came with it?
You may want to close your eyes and really call forth the memory of your senses.
How was it served?
Do you remember the feel of the bowl or the plate in your hand?
Maybe the lip of the cup as you brought it to your mouth.
How did this food come to you?
Did you prepare it yourself or did someone else prepare it for you?
Did you serve yourself,
Adding your choices to your bag or your plate,
Or did another person carry the food to you and place it before you or into your hands?
Thank your past self for your role in preparing or finding this food.
Thank the other people who helped you nourish yourself with this food.
How was the food gathered?
Who did that work?
Who brought it to the place where it was prepared?
Did it come from a shop where someone placed it on display,
A restaurant?
Arranged it in such a way that people could access it and gather what they needed?
Where was it grown?
How did that food travel from the place it grew to the place where you found it?
Thank all the hands and effort that went into that journey.
Thank all the people who worked together to bring the food from the soil.
The people you may know or you may never meet,
Who made effort to plant,
Water,
Weed,
Nurture,
Gather,
And then transport the food,
Sometimes with many stops,
To where it could be prepared,
Combined with other foods which were also grown and brought together so that you could access them.
Thank you.
Where did the food grow?
Like the ingredients?
If the ingredients came from plants,
Where did those plants grow?
Imagine the soil,
The sun warming the earth,
Giving energy to the leaves.
If the ingredients came from an animal,
How did that animal live?
What supported its life?
What did it eat?
And where did that grow?
Thank the earth.
Thank the sun.
Thank the water that nourished your food.
We've not even begun to thank the movement of the climate,
The balance of the elements,
The creation of the soil itself,
And the many microorganisms that maintain that soil's health and vitality,
All so that it can support new life growing,
So that you might eat.
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch,
You must first invent the universe.
Thanks,
Carl Sagan.
You are correct.
Today,
I give thanks to the creation of the universe and everything that followed to make my own life possible.
