Another beautiful day to be thankful for!
Today I am grateful for health and life… For the infinite love of and for my incredible Twin Flame husband and our two boys… For a nature hike filled with hills and trees, gentle breezes and lilting steps… For peaceful time alone in the house (a precious commodity!), spent cooking with so much appreciation for the life force of the food, and time to eat together… For the opportunity to help people through my work and to prosper in doing so… For a warm home and even-warmer heart.
What are YOU thankful for right now? (comments welcome)
Thanksgiving may be over for 51 weeks more but every day that ends in Y is a day of blessings! MondaY, TuesdaY…
I invite you to share your thankful, heart-full reflections in comments on this site, as well as your own practices of gratitude. For example, my husband does gratitude journaling daily, listing what he is grateful for. I, too, journal with Spirit daily and always sign my love letters to the Source of All Good things “TYG” – Thank you, God! As a family, we give thanks with each and every meal and bless the food that it may turn into energy to fulfill our life purpose and be God’s hands here on Earth. I also take gratitude walks, create gratitude books with my children, and strive to live life as one Great Full praise for Creator and all of Creation. See my earlier entries for 5 Great Ways to Be More Great Full.
I don’t claim to be 100% “there yet” (if there is such a thing), but most people who know me say I am one of the happiest, most positive people they have ever met, and I certainly feel good, so I must be doing something right! I know that Life is a work in progress and that we can choose to feel grateful, to feel peaceful, to live in our hearts, moment by moment…
A Gift of Gratitude and Peace for You
So here, as my gift to you today, is a new, consciousness-enhancing meditation that will help you bring your awareness to the present moment and all of its delights, as well as calm, center, connect with the divine within and around you, and open your heart. Inspired by both Buddhist and yogic meditation methods, yet timeless and universal, this practice can transform your life – and your perception OF your life, which is at least as important, since the outer reflects the inner. The Breath of Gratitude Meditation is a simple yet profoundly powerful practice that will enhance your appreciation of life, the Universe and everything – instantly! Try it for free on my blog and see how much heartfulness and gratefulness (great fullness) you can allow yourself to feel.
Here is how you do the meditation, which, by the way, is portable, requires no props, altars, other people, special places, or resources of any kind, because you already, always, all ways, have ALL you need, within you and around you, right here, right now:
Sit peacefully, placing your hands over your heart chakra, that place where you feel strong emotions, in the center of your chest. You will know it’s the right spot when you feel an inner shift, like an “Ahhhhhhh” just by gently touching yourself there, like you are cradling yourself with love.
With your focus on your breath, begin to breathe IN something you are thankful for, anything that you appreciate right now. It could relate to your past, your present or even your future. With each breath OUT, send out gratitude to the Universe (God).
You are essentially experiencing a stream of heart consciousness that will change and flow with each breath as you maintain a focus on receiving blessings (inhaling) and sending out love and gratitude (exhaling).
For example, my Breath of Gratitude stream of heart consciousness went something like this, i.e. these were my thoughts and feelings accompanying my breaths:
Breathing in peace. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in beauty. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in joy. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in my husband. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in food. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in my oldest child. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in my youngest child. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in a good home. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in a beautiful Thanksgiving this year. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in music. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in laughter. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in breath itself. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in friends. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in my dog. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in a new computer (coming soon!). Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in work I love. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in life. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in this moment. Breathing out gratitude.
Breathing in God. Breathing out gratitude.
and so on….
Of course, the heartful, mindful appreciative awareness you experience will be different from my own. In fact, it will be different from YOUR own because it will be new each time you do this meditation, from minute to minute and day to day.
I did this meditation in silence today with one of my private practice clients for about 10 minutes to begin our session, and we both felt an immediate and deep shift into greater awareness, appreciation and peace. Doing this Breath of Gratitude Meditation will enhance your spiritual path, and facilitate your “gratitude attitude” throughout the day, and throughout your life. As I shared in my earlier blogs, thankfulness is one of the best ways to keep the faucet of blessings open!
Why the placement of the hands over the heart center? Can it be coincidence that EVERY world religion and spiritual path recognizes the importance of this part of the human body and energy field? Did you ever wonder why humans the world over, throughout history (and herstory) pray by placing our hands together, in front of this center? Why, when we feel strong emotions, we place our hands over our chests? The heart contains a form of intelligence and intuition all its own, which is why Native American elders told Carl Jung, “We see why you white people are so unhappy so much of the time. It’s because you make decisions from your heads instead of your hearts.”
In Book 1 of my LoveLife! series, The Radical Self-Love Workbook, and in intuitive healing and coaching sessions, teleseminars and personal growth trainings, I share many more proven, holistic practices for your mind, body, heart and soul that are easy to fit into your busy life, field tested over 15 years in private practice with thousands of people. I have studied meditations all over the world and, in fact, designed and taught a Multicultural Meditation for Busy People program at Kaiser Permanente for years. I have also practiced meditation on a daily basis for 29 years, am an ordained interfaith minister as well as an intuitive life coach, and bring this expertise and personal experience to my teachings, healing and coaching work as well as my writings and, of course, meditation audios.
According to The Institute of Heart Math, a scientific research facility and think tank dedicated to studying and exploring the electromagnetic energy of the heart field and its universal importance for health and happiness, breathing with a focus simultaneously on appreciation and on the heart center (a.k.a. heart chakra or field) is the single most effective practice for increasing joy and inner peace.
So, divine being, enjoy The Breath of Gratitude Meditation!
Enjoy your life!
Many thanks for visiting my blog and for shining your light in this world!
With love,
Sage
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
- Rumi
www.LoveandSpirit.org
www.SoulMatesMatchmaking.com
P.S. Please share what YOU are thankful for, in this infinite moment…and your own tips for living more “great fully” in your comments below. Thanks!
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