Gratitude Meditation Archives - Mindful Happiness

April 7, 2018 By Admin

The Great Mother of Gratitude Meditation

Sit in silence and take a few very slow, very deep breaths in and out.
Relax within your personal comfort with eyes opened or closed. If you prefer your eyes to be open, hold you head level and gently gaze down a few feet in front of you. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply.
Let go of tension in your jaw, in your neck, and in your shoulders.
Do your best to rest your mind.
When your mind wonders away, simply remind yourself that this gratitude meditation is FOR YOU.
Begin each statement below with inner, loving speech – as “I have gratitude for…”
Being alive today, experiencing my precious human life;
My ever-beating heart;
My lungs;
All my functioning senses;
My smile;
Having clean running water;
Having running hot water;
Sleeping in my bed;
Eating food today;
My job with all its difficulties;
My relative safety;
My family;
My friends;
My pet/s if I own any;
The unconditional love I have received;
Having experienced love of some kind in my life;
My relative good health;
The people, places, and things that have helped me to experience joy and happiness;
My relative personal happiness;
My relative freedom from greater suffering;
Not starving like so many children in this world;
Being able to speak my truths in freedom;
Not being bombed and shot at like in war zones;
Not fleeing gigantic forrest fires;
Not fleeing gigantic mud slides;
Not fearing for my life in gigantic storms;
Not living in the deep despair of utter poverty;
Being “good enough” as I am;
Being as I am – how and what I am;
Mother nature and her wonders; and,
Being able to repeat this gratitude meditation as often as I wish to do so.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton Sangha

Author of Mindful Happiness

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

December 3, 2016 By Admin Leave a Comment

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is life

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life

The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted. For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. Yes, he advises us to more deeply appreciate the earth and all it does for us. For Thanksgiving Day he suggested that we smile at the entire universe for supporting our existence; the food we have eaten comes from the interbeing of many forces: earth, sunshine, rain, seeds, and the people who farmed and transported it. Hopefully we all practiced mindful, appreciative eating
on this holiday. Hopefully, we all practiced some form of gratitude. And hopefully, we did not forget those who are less able to eat a good meal on such a day. Hopefully, we reached out with gratitude, compassion, and generosity to those less fortunate than ourselves. This is the kindness of people. This is a special form of joy.

Pema Chodron, another very famous Buddhist teacher, advises us to have an open, kind heart. Even if we cannot locate it exactly, we can “feel” the inner tenderness of our soft-heartedness. Perhaps under that inner tenderness we shall also discover a special kind of human sadness, a sadness that feels as natural as it does uncomfortable. She notes that such a sadness is an inherent, natural sadness that humans experience. Perhaps it is part of our long genetic history; perhaps it is an outcome of daily witnessing (via media) the suffering of so many people; and, perhaps it is an outcome of our own personal suffering. Human do have ample supplies of
emotional pain. All people suffer; all people experience joy; and, all people experience times of neutral boredom. This is theWAY it is. This is part of our human tenderness in life. So have the courage to feel your tenderness and joy as well as your suffering.

Gyalwang Drukpa of Tibetan Buddhist fame, suggests that we can utilize active compassion to combat fear of differences, fear of others. Humans have common experiences; some of these experiences include uncertainty and fear. Usually there is greater personal fear when we confront diversity – people, places and things different than ourselves. These reactions often come in times of great inequalities in human experience. He notes that fear thrives on concerns about differences. It can become the basis for hateful aggression. To bring peace to our fears we need to embrace such differences through highly active compassionate behaviors. If we can celebrate human differences, and if we can welcome them with deep awareness and curiosity, we combat fear. Tolerance and acceptance of others is the higher way of life. Can we do it? It requires compassionate action!https://www.amazon.com/How-Train-Wild-Elephant-Mindfulness/dp/1590308174

For more information refer to Chosen Bays, J. How to Train a Wild Elephant... p.143 . Also refer to Thich Nhat Hanh. How to Live… Chodron, P. The Pocket Pema Chodron, pp. 39-40 ,and the August 2016 presentation given by His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa at the Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

New Edition in Production…Coming soon!

December 31, 2015 By Admin

Ideas about Attitudes of Gratitude – M. J. Ryan

Attitudes of Gratitude Thoughts and Applications

M. J. Ryan presents some interesting practices in the book, Attitudes of Gratitude (1999). Here are some ideas. Hope you will practice some of them soon. As The 14th Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh suggest, we should always appreciate the preciousness and miracle of human life – our own life no matter what the challenges are.

Understand that your emotional mood and the quality of your thoughts depend on where you place your attention and reflection. Do your best to pay more attention to the softness and warmth of your human heart and soul. Pay more attention to positive experiences and less attention to negative experiences.
When you are plagued with GIANT problems or BIG emotional reactions to not-so-giant problems, look into the nature of the problem itself to see if any solutions arise. Life is all about arising and falling experiences – both good and bad. Causes and conditions present and lead to pleasure, pain/suffering, or neutrality.
Pay much more attention to the little joys (“wonderment”) you may be missing by being on autopilot and rushing around trying to be happier trough material gain. Wealth and fame are nice, but they DO NOT bring lasting, inner happiness. Your happiness is an INSIDE JOB!
Do your best to be in the present moment of experiences. The past is gone; you cannot change it. The future is not here yet; you cannot control it. Your real power comes from responding to whatever is now in your present moment experience.
Pay much more attention to what is working for you now rather than what you desire and crave from the past or the future. If you are not present-minded, you cannot appreciate and have gratitude for what exists now.
Reflect upon and honor your close friends, your family, and your ancestors. Use any of their spiritual supports to do well in adversity and to do great in happy experiences.
Practice meditations on appreciation, gratitude, and loving kindness. These practices build your capacity to be happy. These practices also improve compassionate actions and self-compassion. Do you have self-compassion?
Periodically, live a whole day as if it were your last day living on earth. Notice! See what you decide to do.
In the final analysis, Buddhism informs us that life on earth will contain suffering, joy, and neutrality. All three conditions will occur in your experiences. You cannot escape suffering! How you respond will determine your level of satisfaction or your quality of life in the long run. Be happy! Be at peace! Be in the present moment!

For more information refer to Ryan, M. J. (1999). Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your life. New York: MJF Books.

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By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image below to Order

August 30, 2015 By Admin

Meditation on Gratitude for Helpers

Meditation on Gratitude – Why it is so Important

The daily rapid vibrations from our fast-paced and sometimes dangerous world may impact us in ways that make unhealthy norms of being. The struggle to feel good enough, to have enough, to be somebody, to keep up with the raging ads about what you need NOW and WHY you need it NOW all stimulate our over-active/reactive minds. Limbic dominance is a very real thing in today’s stressed-out and material survival mindset. Such “craziness” and common greed also impact us by diminishing our true self’s position in the world, at home and at work. The promises of HELP via technological advances have failed to make life easier, and – in fact – make our identity and property up for grabs by the next and the next criminal hacker. Technology has if anything simply speeded up what we are expected to do. Often it adds to our daily stress levels. Such insecurity challenges us for much of the working day. Some of us place 100% of our energies into helping others is systems that are also NOT-SO-HEALTHY, thus having little emotional power to engage in positive ways once the work day is over. Daily mindfulness, meditation, walking meditation, and yoga may help you improve emotional status – even making you happier and feeling safer. One form of meditation that may be very helpful is meditation on gratitude.

Meditation on Gratitude for Helpers

Since I cannot possibly know about all of you, I apologize up-front if the norms I note below are things that you DO NOT have. If you over-focus on things I note that you do not have, do your best to remain on task in this meditation. Try NOT to make story-lines and images about noted entries that you do not have. As you practice this meditation, if you experience distractions do your best to return attention without evaluation to the suggested tasks at hand. If you experience serious discomfort, please stop the meditation.

Sit in a chair or lay on the floor. Place yourself into a posture that is comfortable. Close your eyes if ok. Take a few cleansing, long, deep, slow breaths all the way into and out-of the lower belly. (Note polyvagal and limbic cautions.) Simply rest here right now. This in itself is something to have gratitude for.
Now as you relax, loosen muscles, loosen your jaw, and simply pay strong attention to the flowing of your life-breath. As long as you are breathing, you are ALIVE. Give some gratitude for your breath, the breath that keeps you alive during your entire life.
Pay some gentle attention to your heart and lungs, which also keep you alive. Experience some gratitude for these tireless life-supports in your body.
If your vision is ok, be certain to note some inner gratitude for your eyes. The eyes that visually open up the world you inhabit.
If your hearing functions well, give a brief moment of gratitude to the fact that you can hear what is going on all around you. Another opening!
If your physical mobility is ok, listen for the sign of gratitude for the fact that your limbs are functioning. Lately, as I age, I have noticed that physical movements I have had gratitude for over the year are even stronger. I am sure that as I age, movements may not be so easy tho achieve.
You most likely were sleeping in a bed in a house before you came here today. Give some gratitude to that reality.
You know that you can drink water in Vermont; it is cleaner than in some others areas of the country. You also know that you can breathe relatively clean air here; it is cleaner tan in some other areas of the country.
I am sure you ate something today, or could have eaten if you wished to do so. Having food to eat is another important thing to have gratitude for.
You most likely have at least one friend or family relative that you can count on for support when needed. If you have a pet, that pet may be your unconditional support being. If this all fits your reality, take a moment to experience inner gratitude for this experience.
You can know that you are relatively safe here. Safety in today’s world is something that is more and more rare. So take a moment to feel your inner gratitude for the relative safety you feel right now in your body.
Last, if you have been fortunate to experience true love with another person (even if you have lost it now), take a moment to hold yourself in gratitude for this loving experience and what it has done/does for you.

Let today be the day you NO LONGER take for granted the many benefits you do have. Cherish them and keep having personal gratitude for them.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image blow to Order