I listened to this meditation this morning and thought it might be nice to share it. Faye is a lovely teacher at the Mindfulness Association. It reminded me that gratitude is a quality of the heart, something that we need to cultivate. Like a plant in the soil it needs the right conditions... space, time, light, warmth and food to bloom & grow. Gratitude has felt quite mechanical to me over the past while and that is the problem with just listing it in our heads, if you are not feeling it, it is good to take a break and nourish other qualities instead like care and kindness. Faye talks about savouring and lingering and I love this. When we notice a moment of joy or something that makes us smile (even something tiny) it is a good idea to pause and let it sink in, really feel it in your body. 10 breaths is said to be a good amount of time to create a new neural pathway in the brain so we can try that. Your mind & body might fight against this, mine certainly does, so it needs a level of commitment and openness to see what transpires over time. I am going to give it a go over the next couple of weeks and observe the quality of my mind. I hope this helps anyone who has been struggling a bit with gratitude, like me.
Savouring & Gratitude Meditation
Orla x
p.s. grateful just now for the sun shining through my window, breathing, beginning again.