Meditation for Thursday 11th July 2024
There has been a tradition in yoga and meditation of incorporating an attitude of gratitude into these practices.
Some meditators incorporate formal prayer before or after their practice and others the simple act of thinking about who and what they are grateful for. The two are not mutually exclusive.
A few reasons to practice gratefulness….
- It reminds us of the positive things in life. It makes us happy about people, whether they are loved ones or strangers we’ve encountered.
- It turns the bad into good. E.g. Having problems at work; be grateful we have work. Be grateful we can learn from challenges.
- It reminds us of what’s important. It’s hard to get stressed about paying bills when there is a roof over one’s head.
- It reminds us to thank others. Saying ‘thank you’ to someone can make a big difference in that person’s life. Calling someone, emailing them, stopping by to say ‘thank you’ is important. It will bring happiness to others and will make us happy.
- Sometimes it’s helpful to be grateful for the negative things in our life. There’s always two ways of looking at things. Something might be stressful, sad, unfortunate, and difficult but the same thing might be looked at in a more positive way. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
An inventory of the things we are grateful for is a good way to end the day
followed by the stillness of meditation.
Before meditation tonight let’s look at our day and take a minute or so to consider what we are grateful for.
Meditation
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